Posted by Chris Taberski As far as Rob Peraza the rugger, the thing that I admired the most was that blessed with all his athletic ability, he could have been as cocky and arrogant as he wanted to be - and could have backed it up. But he never was. He went out on the pitch and let his play do the talking. He was a natural leader who made everyone around him better, because everyone wanted to play well for him. The year after winning the state championship (the same season in which Rob was named MVP of the tournament in Syracuse, as well as the season that the Peraza family hosted the entire team at their home for a weekend, feeding 20 hungry ruggers) we were horrible. So to all the current ruggers, whenever you find yourself touching the ball down for a try because of a lucky break, or you are just having a good day, make sure that after the game you look up, tip your glass and thank the guy upstairs for looking out for you. Chris Taberski, "Homefront"
on 10/2/2001, 3:17 pm
I really admired Rob. Everyone did. He was an amazing athlete, and even better guy.
We lost a majority of the A side to graduation, and needless to say, we were struggling. Rob was in grad school at the time. Besides the fact that he had all of his graduate studies, all of his friends that he was used to playing with were long gone. And, after 5 years in Allegany, I am sure his mind was looking ahead to other things, not the rugby team.
But he still showed up whenever he could, and he was always on the pitch at 1:00 on Saturdays. No one asked him to. But he was there because he knew that we needed his help, because that was the kind of guy he was.
Cheers, Rob
'96
Message Thread:
« Back to thread