How it all started...
In 1972, the Red Deer Titans Rugby Football Club
was established by the ancient ones: Jake Jacobs, Cor Ouwerkerk, Ron Stengler,
Aydon Lemmon, Dave Thomas, Craig Ashley, Vern Caddy, Bill Greenwood and many
others. Practicing out of the Red Deer College and playing a series of
friendlies, the Titans won a few games against a few Calgary teams.
In 1973 the Titans entered officially in the
Calgary Second Division winning Provincial Titles in 1973 and 1975. The Club
won Edmonton Rugby Union Second Division Championships in 1976, 1981, 1993 and
1998; Third Division Provincial Championships in 1987 and 2002. Two Junior Boys
titles were won in 1981 and 1982.
During the 80’s the Club committed to bingos to generate
funds to match with grants for a new rugby complex. Because the City of Red
Deer was not able to move forward on the Maskapetoon Recreation Plan the Titans
were able to put their matching grants toward the purchase of their own private
rugby playing facility.
In the fall of 1990 the Club struck a committee lead by
Heinz Kaul, Craig Soderquist, David Graham, Norm McDougall, Lou Purnell, George
Vickery, Mike Halliwell and others to locate and purchase property to develop.
The fifteen acre spot was purchased for $65,500 on December
28, 1990. The next two years were spent trying to achieve permission from the
County of Red Deer to develop the land under discretionary zoning for
recreation purposes. The Club went ahead laying the foundation for the amazing
fields we have today by landscaping and seeding the pitches.
Finally after two years of lobbying and public hearings we
received permission, thanks to a petition signed in favour of the development
by many of the immediate neighbours, who could see their property would be
enhanced by a beautiful rugby park next door.
Construction began in 1993 with the small change room acting
as both clubhouse and change rooms.
1994 marked the first club matches played at Titans Rugby
Park. Team photos of the participants can be viewed on the Clubhouse wall.
Titans won all three of their matches that day. Yes, we ran three senior men’s
teams in 1994.
Funding for the development took a big step forward with the
contract for Event Staff at the Westerner in the early 90’s thanks to the hard
work of old boy, Bill Vanson. Because of
this contract, the Club has been able to generate thousands of dollars to finance
the park and rugby programs over the years.
Each year dedicated members have stepped forward to lead the
time consuming but rewarding duties of organizing and performing the event
staff responsibilities for all events at the Centrium and Westerner such as
Rebels’ Hockey, Concerts, Horse Shows, Rodeos, Monster Trucks, etc.
Throughout the last two decades the Club has made good use
of Titans Rugby Park to support high school rugby in Central Alberta, promote
youth rugby, support women’s rugby and develop rugby at the senior men’s
level. We hosted the Alberta Summer
Games Rugby in 2006 with our girls winning gold and our boys winning silver.
With our continued efforts to develop rugby in our own
community we have seen successes measured not only in winning rugby games but
increases in numbers of participants at the junior, high school, grade nine and
youth levels.
Information contributed by Norm McDougall
Have additional information on the history of the RED DEER TITANS? Please forward any information to RD_Titans_Rugby@hotmail.ca
