It's a sunny afternoon - smoke from the grill permeates the air, friends raise their beverages (frequently) and watch a group of young men with a clearly impaired sense of personal safety smash into each other in a contest of athleticism, barbarism, and later, hepatic fortitude. Sound familiar? While much has changed at P&S, the Rugby Football Club is proudly, stubbornly stuck in its ways. Students come and doctors go, but this unique tradition has weathered the times.
This fall, we celebrated the 45th anniversary of the club and the 35th anniversary of the Wood Tournament. The late Dr. John Wood Jr. was the driving force behind the creation of the Rugby Club in 1972. In 1981 he tragically lost his life steps from Presbyterian Hospital where he was a surgical resident. The following fall, the Club he founded named an annual tournament in his honor, and we've held it with heartfelt tenacity ever since.
John C. Wood Jr. (MD, P&S '76) Memorial Tournament
Wood Memorial Tournament 2017
In our last tournament, the 45th anniversary since the founding of the club and the 35th consecutive year that we held a tournament in memory of the late Dr John Wood, Jr., teams from P&S, NYU, Cornell, and Yale confronted each other in an epic day of rucking, mauling, beer drinking, and most importantly of all, legendary sportsmanship.
