By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Midway through his college career, Roger Mazzarella was ready to become a cop.
He was struggling academically, and when it came time for him to register for classes, he couldn’t sign up for those he needed.
The registration back then was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Student Union. All the departments were set up to register students. He was wandering around pondering his future.
Bob McGeein noticed him. Mazzarella confessed his dilemma. He was thinking of leaving college and heading back home.
That, McGeein told him, would be a mistake.
So together they visited the tables where they were registering students for the various biology courses he needed. The first one already was full. The capacity was 12 students. McGeein told the person to add Mazzarella’s name. He did as instructed.
That was easy, McGeein told Mazzarella. They continued.
Mazzarella ended up with a 3.8 GPA for the semester. He stayed at BGSU and graduated in March 1973, and began a 35-year career teaching science at Bowling Green junior high.
Staying at BGSU also allowed him to leave his mark in a different field: rugby.
Mazzarella was on the university’s first team which started playing in 1968. He continued playing beyond graduation and took over as head coach. He remains involved even after passing the reins over to his son, Tony. He now serves as Director of Rugby Operations and primary recruiter. As a coach and captain Roger Mazzarella posted a 1,285-216-47 record, an .856 winning percentage. He has also captained or coached the club to 26 straight Mid- American Conference championships, eight national championship appearances and 16 Ohio or Michigan Collegiate Conference titles. The team won the National Championship in 2018.
No other team on campus can boast of that kind of success.
On Saturday as part of Roger Mazzarella Day in Bowling Green, the rugby field on campus was dedicated in his honor.
The christening of Roger Mazzarella Rugby Field is just the beginning, said Kurt Weaver, of the Rugby Alumni Association. While the naming reflects a legacy of service and success, it also marks the beginning of a new chapter.
More improvement is left to be done – permanent stands, locker rooms, and restrooms. Weaver said a couple times: open your checkbooks.
The BGSU Rugby Alumni Association was the driver behind raising the funds to get the field named for Mazzarella.
[RELATED: Renaming of BGSU rugby field to highlight Roger Mazzarella Day on May 6]
“This is a first step,” Weaver told the scores of alumni who showed up for the naming, and for the other activities including a Saturday evening banquet.
Mazzarella said that the field’s location on the edge of campus was intentional. When Sam Cooper, then athletic director, was approached about the creation of a rugby team, he inquired of a friend at OSU about what was involved. Put them as far away from anyone else., he was told.
The field predates, Mazzarella noted, the building of the city wastewater treatment plant. The wastewater flowed through the Poe Ditch which bounded the field on two sides. When anyone anywhere in town flushed the toilet anything that went down flowed by the field a half hour later. And when there was heavy rain, the field flooded leaving sewage on the field.
Now campus has moved closer to the field.
The current field was built, Mazzarella said, with money that was supposed to be used to landscape the College Park complex. That was again thanks to McGeein.
On hand was the sole surviving founder of the club, Roger Holliday. The other founders were Jerry Nicolosi and Tim Fox.
Holliday played the sport when growing up in England. The club was founded in 1967 and started playing matches in 1968. He never played on the team but he helped trained Mazzarella, who came to rugby from the football team, and the others.
As a club team rugby gets little financial support from the university. “Everyone paid their own way,” Holliday said. Only recently has there been money to pay the coach.
BGSU Athletic Director Derek van der Merwe said that club sports are an important part of the university’s identity. Club athletes have higher grades, higher graduation rates, and maintain closer ties to the university.
At BGSU about 700 student athletes are involved in club sports.
At the naming ceremony, State Sen. Theresa Gavarone delivered a proclamation from the State Senate in honor of Mazzarella. She recalled as a student attending games to cheer on her friends who were on the team.
Mazzarella noted the team’s most important connection with Gavarone: She and her husband, Jim, own Mr. Spot’s sandwich shop that specializes in Philly cheese steak subs. He recalled a plaque in the shop that honored those who spent more than their paychecks on food. Every name listed, he said, was a rugby player.
