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By Billy Matthews, Club Historian

San Luis Obispo RFC was formed in 1966 by a small group of County residents, Dave and Don Sturges, Al Coehlo of Arroyo Grande and Lee Overbeck. In the early years (1967-70) SLORFC was a non-funded, fully chartered club on campus of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The pipeline for the club came from the college’s gridiron football team, which was known for its hustle and aggressiveness. These became the trademarks for the rugby club, and still remain so.

The club nicknamed themselves, the “Grogs” with the reputation of being a hard-hitting, hard-partying club. Vic Rivera was a leader in both categories. After a match against Irvine Coast RFC in 1971, he became the first ever “All Coast Belly Bumping Champion” as he bumped Chunky Butler into submission at the infamous rugby bar in Newport, California, “Blackies-By-The-Sea”.

Victor began his career in 1967 as a hooker and has been the filament weaving together the three periods of the club’s history. He was capped in 1979 for 300 1st XV appearances. In the early 70’s the club enjoyed a period of stability with David Ritchie as coach and team leader. Ritchie had played scrum-half, prior to joining SLORFC, at UCLA under the direction of Dennis Storer (coach of the Eagles).

Ritchie added a touch of finesse to the club’s other qualities. At the same time, Rivera, Vic Eklund and Phil Kinney ended their gridiron football careers and with 15 other retiring gridironers, moved over to the rugby pitch. It was 1971; the Grogs had their best season ever. Ritchie was voted MVP at the prestigious Southern California Championship Tournament where the Grogs were the semi-finalists. He was also named to the first-ever Grizzlies (all California) touring side to Canada. That year the Grogs finished 13th at the National Tournament in Monterey.

In 1972, with the addition of other gridironers, including Marc Sindel and Greg Peters, they finished division play in a first place tie, but lost the championship trophy in a mathematical process of elimination. The club now had 40 players.

In 1973, Thom Dimmit, the reigning #8 in California, joined the team. Dimmit was on tour in 1970 with the California Universities Tour of Australia, which went 8-1-1 and was the most successful America tour ever. In 1971, he was on the Grizzlies tour to Canada with Ritchie. His vast international experience was immediately felt as SLORFC went 15-5 in 1973, and 16th at Monterey. Dimmit added a new dimension to the rough and tumble style of play that characterized the forwards with an opened style of loose play.

In 1974, many of the “old boys” departed from San Luis Obispo to play elsewhere. With the departure of Dimmit, Ritchie and others, the 1975 season ended 7-3. Doug “Bubba” Smith stepped in to handle the leadership. Politics, combined with the college’s administration rescinding school funding of a club containing non-students, “drove the boys off the playground and downtown”.

The Grogs split. Several more fine young gridironers came out in 1973 to replace those leaving. Unfortunately, it was a continual learning situation. Matt Cavanaugh, Tom Borink and Chuck Brown provided the necessary traditional link for the SLO City Club to start up in 1976. Under the dominant leadership of Rivera, they welded a club together apart from the University. They were hard put to assemble one full side; the club numbered only 18 men. The club’s administration was handled by Rivera. Matt, Roy Collier and the return of David “Pluff”, Rivera, a Southern California Rep side hooker. The 18 rambled around the Southland, sometimes playing back-to-back weekend matches. They were always competitive.

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