As the spring semester reaches midterms, men’s rugby returns to the field after a somber start to the semester with the death of team member Raymond Rattray.
Rattray was a fifth-year philosophy major at SUNY New Paltz who was killed in a hit-and-run incident Jan. 23 on Route 208. The investigation is still ongoing by the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office.
To honor his life, memorials were placed on campus, one in the Atrium and another next to the Gunk where students can place flowers and other items to honor his memory. His friends also hosted a memorial service on Jan. 27 for people to gather and celebrate the life of Rattray.
“We filled SUB 62,” said Caleb Persanis, third-year scrum-half and captain of the team. “Standing room only. We had 100 seats and they were gone by the time the memorial started. So many people were standing outside. Lines went out the door.”
New Paltz Rugby Football Club will honor Rattray each game by wearing black armbands for their 2024 spring season.
They began their season on March 3, playing two games against SUNY Oneonta. The Hawks were victorious in both games, walking away from the den of the Red Dragons with a 27-0 and a 21-5 win.
The game was a fun, muddy way to get back into the season. “It was quintessentially messy,” said Ryan Brown, third-year eight man. “The entire field was mud. It made it fun. It was a pretty loose learning environment for the new guys. Everyone was slipping and sliding, so if you messed up, it wasn’t that obvious. Super happy with how the whole team played.”
The team added new talent this semester including Matt Yates, James Bello, Parker Karinsky, Jemir Foy and Luke Ramjug. Up until the game at Oneonta, they had not gotten the chance to practice outside due to the rain and were limited in how much tackling and technical skills they could learn.
“We were throwing these guys to the wolves a little bit,” said Sean O’Hehir, a fourth-year flanker. “Oneonta, they hit hard and they’ve got some big dudes. These kids went out there and they just threw their bodies on the line. They were getting it done.”
After starting the fall semester with nine returning players, the New Paltz men’s rugby team has built up a roster of nearly 30 players. Most of these players are brand new to the sport with this team being their first introduction.
“Most people are just looking for a new sport to pick up,” said Brown. “We like to think of the team as more than just a sports team. We’re kind of a community.”
“It’s just like a friend group to a degree,” O’Hehir added. “We’re just a bunch of buddies at the end of the day. These are my friends next to being my teammates.”
The rugby community, not only at New Paltz, but across the country has a tight-knit bond spanning the distance. Persanis described this with the outpour of support and solidarity the team received after the loss of Rattray.
On and off the field, Rattray’s impact touched people deeply.
“We were playing Oneonta last semester when Ray was on and he hadn’t made a huge impact yet and you could see he was ready for something,” said Persanis. “One of the Oneonta guys was running down the sideline … and it was only Ray. All of us were like, ‘Come on Ray!’ Out of the blue he just runs up, hits the Oneonta guy and brings him straight out [of bounds].” The team then celebrated and gave him his much-earned congratulations in their group chat after the game.
In a similar instance of another great tackle by Rattray, Josh Holland-Weiss, third-year outside center, recalls his friend sending a video of the moment to their group chat and asking Holland-Weiss what he thought of the play.
“I get excited for all these guys’ successes, but I don’t think I remember a single moment where I was more happy for a person,” said Holland-Weiss. “I knew how much he wanted to make an impact and when he started making that impact, we were all very, very proud of him, very excited for him.”
Rattray was a dedicated member of the team from the time he joined. He devoted his time to learning the sport, getting in shape and playing the game.
“When he first started coming to practice, he was just trying. He was out there hustling,” O’Hehir said. “Then, as time went on, we all love the game, but that guy loved the game like he’d been playing since he was in diapers.”
Every win and loss mattered to him. The team’s rivalry against Vassar College became his.
No one on the team was more hyped up to play against Vassar last semester than Rattray. “Ray didn’t really have any reason to be upset with Vassar, he was new to the team,” said Holland-Weiss. “He was so disappointed when he found out the game got canceled.”
In the Hawks’ upcoming tournament against Vassar and Seton Hall, Tony Brown, Vassar’s coach and head of the Tri-State Rugby Conference, plans to honor Rattray with a moment of silence before the start of the game.
“There’s a lot you can take away from Ray,” O’Hehir said. “Like loving something and just committing your whole being to just trying to become sick at it is just incredible. I wish I spoke to him more about other things he’d done because I feel like he could have just done anything.”
Persanis added on by simply saying, “He was Ray.”