Tulsa Rugby Team Organizing Jared Shoemaker Memorial

Family, friends and rugby teammates met up at McNellie's in Tulsa to remember Jared Shoemaker. His rugby buddies are raising money to buy a special memorial for him. So far.. they've raised over

Tuesday, December 19th 2006, 10:38 am

By: News On 6

Family, friends and rugby teammates met up at McNellie's in Tulsa to remember Jared Shoemaker. His rugby buddies are raising money to buy a special memorial for him. So far.. they've raised over 11-hundred dollars for the memorial.

Shoemaker was killed earlier this year in Iraq... and even though his death is fresh on their minds... his friends on the Homefront don't want people to forget his sacrifice.

Jared Shoemaker served his community as a Tulsa Police officer, and his country as a U-S Marine.

He also loved to play rugby on the pitch on Riverside. Then, the unthinkable happened earlier this year. The man his rugby buddies called "Superjock", was killed in Iraq.

William Taylor, Tulsa Rugby:" We holler his name before every game. We only lost one game this entire season and it was the last one and it was to a division one team, we're a division two team, so they're substantially better than us."

The Tulsa Rugby team wants everyone to remember Jared. They decided to raise money to buy a bench in Jared's honor. At first, they ran into some trouble.

William Taylor, Tulsa Rugby: " I called the River Parks Commission, just as a cold call, and asked them about the benches, and they told me we're sorry, we're pretty much done, and I said, Oh well, I'm with the Rugby club. And immediately, they said, Oh, Jared Shoemaker, oh yeah, anything you need, you got it."

Taylor says Jared was so good at Rugby, he'd always get singled out as the player of the game. But off the field... he didn't want the spotlight.

William Taylor, Tulsa Rugby: " He'd probably be thinking, what's all the fuss about for me? So he was a very humble person. So that's probably what he'd be thinking, why all the fuss for me?"

The Tulsa Rugby team retired Jared's jersey, and gave it to his wife. As for the bench, it will sit near the pitch. Taylor jokes that Jared was so tough, he probably wouldn't sit on it for rest.