John Dyduck

My connection to Whitemarsh goes back to the very earliest days of the club, when I played at St Joe's College with Tom Bullock, the son of Whitemarsh founder, Fred Bullock. Fred only had a handful of players, not enough for a full side, and some of the guys would play with St Joe to gain some experience and to get a match in. They didn't know that we had no idea what we were doing. During this time, I had a singular experience. I played 2nd row behind, then prop, Al Little. Actually, he had a very short career as a prop; one match. He decided then and there that forward play was not for him, and abandoned us for the backs.

The earliest connection I had with Philly was in the second game I ever played. In that match, as a 17 year-old I got steamrolled by some old man with gray hair. He looked as old as my father. It was Buddy Kane. Welcome to rugby, sonny.

I joined Whitemarsh out of college in 1969 and have been there ever since. Loyal or stupid, who knows? My intro into the administration of the club was in '76 when our treasurer left town with the bank account and I got to take over that mess. Later I got to be club president and when the merger with Philly came to pass, I was the first president of the merged club.

Trying to make a list at this stage of my life would only give me the opportunity to forget someone, so I won't. But I will say that I've had the honor of playing with some really great athletes and made the acquaintance of some really interesting people. Interesting has a whole different meaning in rugby world. In the real world the appropriate words might be weird, eccentric, pathological, peculiar or, possibly, criminal. There are stories that still make me laugh, even though I've heard them dozens of times and was there when they first happened. We had lots of good times and a few sad times, but I wouldn't trade the experiences, the lifelong friendships, or the permanent limp for any of it.

John Dyduck