Alumni Stories: Gerry "Dumper" Henson

I started at WWU in the fall of 1966...a 21 year old freshman...and I was a varsity wrestler for the '67 fall and '68 winter qtrs.  At that time I was wrestling in the 175 lb class and didn't have to do anything to make weight.  The two guys I was competing against in that class were good and I hadn't wrestled since I graduated Auburn High School in '63 so I wasn't seeing a lot of time wrestling in meets and was frustrated.

Anyway, the coach and I did not get along and I only wrestled the one season.  My girl friend at the time knew Larry Willman and suggested, in the spring of '67, that I talk to him and she introduced us.  Larry and I chatted a couple of times and he convinced me to go out and give rugby a try.  I wasn't an instant success at rugby but there was a group of us in Auburn that played touch football (it was actually tackle) most fall weekends in the 4 years before I decided to further my education, so I was familiar with contact, was really fast and had good hands...and I fit right in with the character of Rugby...and I liked beer. So for me and Rugby, the rest is history.

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The pic is a reminder of the great friendships that develop through the game.  Ken Miller and I ended up being roommates for years, Al Needler got me an introduction, and a job, to the folks at Secret Harbor Farms in Anacortes, and Larry Willman, was, well, Larry.  An incredible young man from a small town, Naches, in Eastern Washington, with a great gift of gab.

Both Al and Larry have passed and I was honored to be asked to speak at Larry's memorial after his passing.  I miss them both, as they started me down a life's road full of experiences, and people, and places, I would never have met or seen, that would never have enjoyed had I not taken Larry's invitation to "give rugby a try"!  Truly life changing and a dream, really.

I could never give back to rugby all that it has given me.