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Name: Emilio Jorge Francisco Xavier Signes Lagos
Email : emilio7@aol.com
Height: 6'
Weight: 190
Birthplace: Paterson, NJ
Birthdate: (Gemini)
Residence: Bethlehem, PA
Occupation: Technical Consultant, Information Services, Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Marital Status: Married to Heide. Children: Carmen-Anita, Heide, Stephen, Ricardo
High School: Xavier (NY).
College: M.I.T.
Years Played Rugby: 10 (1968-78)
Years Coaching Rugby: 17 (1974 -> present)
Position: Coach (once pretended to be a back row forward)
Club: Bethlehem RFC, Lehigh University
Previous Clubs: Allentown, Bethlehem Hooligans
Eagle Coaching Experience: National Sevens Coach 1987-90
USARFU Management Experience: USARFU Board of Directors, 1988-90;
Chair, National Sevens' Committee, 1988 -> present.
Territorial Coaching Experience: All for Rugby East. Head Coach: U-23/North XV, 1984; U-23 XV, 1985-88; U-25 XV, 1989; Sevens, 1984 -> present? Assistant Coach: North XV 1983, ERU Scotland Tour 1986; Women's XV, 1990 -> present.
Local Union Coaching Experience: All for East Penn. Head Coach: Senior and Junior XV, 1982-87; Sevens, 1984-86. Assistant Coach: Senior XV, 1977-79.
Most Valuable Teammate: Brian Hoffert, Hooligan United, Tom Trexler, Allentown.
Most Difficult Opponent: As a player, Al Little and Clarence Culpepper. As a coach, George Betzler.
Favorite Player: Lance Manga
Hardest Player: Jim Demyan
Most Dynamic Player: Barry Williams, Patti Jervey
Smartest Player: Charlie and Jimmy Wilkinson
Most Interesting Player: Terrence Titus
Toughest Opposing Team: 15s: Whitemarsh; Philadelphia/Whitemarsh.
7s: Duck Brothers and Fiji.
Best Memory in Rugby: East beating Pacific for ITT 7s' Championship in Orlando, 1985. Eagles' 1988 Hong Kong Plate Championship. Bethlehem's 1978 Ontario Sevens championship. Taking the Atlantis players to my father's home town in Spain (Gata de Gorgos) while at the 1988 Benidorm Sevens.
Biggest Disappointment in Rugby: Too painful to mention here.
Tours: Eagles to Hong Kong, 1987-90, to Sydney 1987-89, to Sicily 1990; ERU to Scotland 1986; Cougars to Melrose Sevens, 1986-88; Atlantis to Scotland, 1987, to Spain, 1988, to New Zealand, 1990; MARS to England & Wales, 1977 (only tour as player).
Best Country Visited: Scotland.
Biggest Influence on Career: George Betzler for pushing and dragging me every step of the way; John Ryan (Wales) for convincing me that it's worth aspiring beyond mediocrity.
Comments on US Rugby: The players are wonderful. Coaches, referees and managers, too. The further we get from the playing field, however, the more likely our people are to contribute to the global warming phenomenon.
Area in which US Rugby has improved the most: Well, in 1989 we beat Wales . . . in sevens . . .
Area in which US Rugby needs most work:
Rather than talking about far-away pipe dreams (when the US crushes New Zealand in the World Cup and we get 100,000 fans to domestic rugby matches), we ought to be working on our present and near-term future.
We need to find ways to best utilize the talent (playing and administrative) that we already have available and committed to us, and we need to take realistic approaches to increasing the quantity and quality of our personnel.
We ought to be promoting sevens instead of downplaying its significance; we should be using sevens to get non-rugby players into the game and the American public to watch the game.
Other Sports: None beyond dilettantism.
Leisure Interests: Collecting degrees of questionable significance; translating post-surreal quasi-perverse libertine Spanish plays into English; contemplating the bizarre and avoiding housework (related activities); trying unsuccessfully to keep up with my son Rik's advances in computing. At one time rugby was a leisure interest.
Significant Books: Moby Dick; Don Quixote; Woody Guthrie: A Life; The Great Bridge; The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love; One Hundred Years of Solitude. Anything by Poe. The first 50 pages of most Vonnegut novels.
Favorite Film: Amadeus.
Goals in Rugby: Continue to: a) help players enjoy the game,
b) help teams win championships, c) learn as much from players as they learn from me, and d) enjoy my association with the game. See Bethlehem prosper.
Personal Goals: To learn how to relax (and enjoy it!)
Best Referee: Ed Sorenson, Ed Browder, George Yasso.
Best Administrator: Bill Haffner, Dana Bateman, Jami Jordan.
Best Field: (Playing surface -- Renegades Field, Orlando). (Filled with people -- Government Stadium, Hong Kong)
Best Coach: John Ryan (Wales); George Henderson.
Best Manager: Bob Davis, Joe Reagan, Betsy Kimball.
Best Captain: George Yasso and Joe Hanley (Bethlehem); Tommy Smith (Eagles).
Copyright 1999-2024
