History of The Amazons
A Decade of Ignorance, Five Years of Enlightenment, A Score of Leopard Print, and A Whole Lotta Roger
The Twin Cities Amazons were formed as a women’s rugby club in Minnesota in 1982. The club was formed by a number of recent college graduates of Minnesota universities and private colleges who wanted to remain active in an amateur sporting environment and (let’s face it) thought starting a team would be a good way to pick up guys. The Amazons credit Tammy Cowan, Susie Dehen, Cinders Martin, Kim Henderson-Tillman and Cathy Ward Kramer as their “founding mothers”. Thank you Ladies!!!
Until 1984, the Amazons played most of their games in Minnesota against collegiate teams. The exception to this was the team’s annual road-trip to Winnipeg, Canada to play the “SNAFU” tournament. This tournament allowed the Amazons to play teams from across the United States and Canada.
1985 was a big year for the Amazons. Besides placing second in the All-Minnesota Rugby Tournament, the Zons decided to “take the next step” and increase their level of competition by joining the Midwest Women’s Rugby conference. This enabled the Amazons to play teams from across the upper Midwest and earn a regional ranking. Other teams in the Midwest region include Chicago, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, and Michigan. Joining the Midwest helped build the Amazons into a club that would, within a few years, become a highly competitive team contending for the National Championship.
This same year, the Amazons were well represented on the Minnesota Select Side Team. This is a team compiled of the best players in the state who compete against other states Select Sides. Players are then chosen from their State teams to compete on the Midwest Select Side, and finally the United States Eagles National Side. Since 1985 the Amazons have consistently increased the number of women playing on the Minnesota Select side and have had as many as 15 of their players on the team at one time! In 1985, the year the Zon’s debuted on the Minnesota Selects, one player was invited to play on the Midwest Side. That player was Anne Barry. Rumor has it, though that she only accepted to increase her chances with a certain guy…
In 1989, after a hard fought battle against local rivals from the University of Minnesota, the Amazons won the Midwest Territorial tournament. This resulted in the Amazons making their first trip to the Women’s National Championship – Yea Zons!!! The eight top women’s teams in the nation met in New Orleans to compete for the national title. Little is remembered about the games, but there is a good story about “Myra and mud-wrestling” that comes up whenever the tournament is mentioned.
Since 1989, the Amazons have made it to Nationals every year except 1992, a year which has been erased from everyone’s memory. At the National Championship in Boston in 1994, the Amazons beat the West, lost to Berkeley and beat Chicago to earn a third place finish, our highest achievement to date. It should be noted that we had to borrow uniforms for the final game as ours were mmm mm mmisplaced? We attained our most stunning achievement dressed in the Maroon and White of our Minnesota rivals, the U of M Valkyries! Talk about an ugly history!
1989 was a banner year for the Amazons. This was the first year that Amazons made it onto the United States Eagles! (Vicki Middaugh played in ’87, but she hadn’t yet realized her true identity as a leopard-skin-cat-eyed-glasses-wearing Amazon.) Over the past 8 years, members of the “Amazon/Eagle Elite” include, but are not limited to: Tanya Fry, Morgan Whitehead, Vicki Middaugh, Autumn Arvidson, Terese Taylor, Julie Grey, Gwen Gunter, Michelle Boyer, Sandy Meredith, Justine Sleezer and most recently Myra Sandquist. Chris Trucano has represented the Amazons on the Developmental National Team and several Zons once played for the Under-23 National team (the Eaglets). They include Nicole Richard, Linda Morrison, Reebok Radtke, Liz Snodgrass and Anna Brown.
One of the Zons’ best bragging rights was achieved by Julie Grey who played for the Eagles in the final of the World Cup championship vs. England! Yea Julie!!! And don’t forget Morgan Whitehead who played in the first World Cup in 1991 that the Eagles won, Terese Taylor who played in the 1998 World Cup in Holland and Myra Sandquist who represented in the 2002 World Cup in Spain. One of the Zons original players, Sue Wachholz-Dorrington now lives in the UK, and has played hooker for Great Britain and England. She holds over 16 international caps and was one of four women to organize the first Women’s World Cup in 1991 which was held in Wales. Sue played in the 1991 and 1994 World Cups for England, and was named captain for their match versus Scotland in the ’94 World Cup.
The Clubs first full-time coach (little known fact here) was Steve Lorinzer. It didn’t take him long to get smart and GET OUT. Our beloved Roger Bruggemeyer picked up the pieces in the spring of 1983 and remains the Amazons devoted Head Coach. He is assisted by Terese Taylor, John Reed and Vicki Middaugh. All give a remarkable amount of time and talent to the team and have been the cornerstones of the Amazons success. Roger is a Level I, II and III USA Rugby coaching instructor. In addition to his duties as coach of the Amazons, Roger has coached Midwest Senior Women’s All Star Team (winners of the 2002, 2003, and 2006 National All Star Championships), East Valley High School and the St. Paul Pigs.
The Amazons accomplishments over the years are too numerous to list in detail, but some highlights should be noted. The Zons have played in Winnipeg’s “SNAFU” every year since the inception of the team. We have won consistently, except in 1992, which has been erased from everyone’s memory. I believe, however, that the second place trophy was last seen flying through the uprights! In the Fall of 1991 the Amazons went on tour to England and Wales and played 4 games against some of the top clubs in the United Kingdom. During the summer of 1998, we went back across the pond to spend a couple weeks beating up on Irish clubs, and in 2001 we returned to play teams in England and Holland.
The 2007 National Championships found the Amazons finishing the season 4th in the nation. The upcoming season looks to be an eventful one with the Zons making a run at the “Big Show” once again and a tour of Italy in Spring of 2009!