Bundles of Roy

Roy Roberts has dozens of stories to tell about the Harvard rugby club.

There's the time one player sat down at the piano in a pub in Wales and the team kept the bar open an hour and a half past closing time, the biggest money night in its 100 year history.

Or the evening the team went out gambling on Nassau Island in the Bahamas--"we saw empires built and frittered away."

And numerous nights on the road spent persuading strange girls at far-away colleges to let a few players throw their sleeping bags on the floor, ultimately charming the ladies into preparing a pre-game brunch the next morning.

"Wherever you go with rugby, they always try to show you a good time," he explains. Roberts' four years with Harvard's intrepid ruggers--he was president of the team this year--have bred a spirit of confidence and happy abandon around him that lets everyone know, without question, that Roy is going to be a big success. This fall Roberts will take his show on the road to Hollywood, where he will "try to get involved in some sort of entertainment, preferably film." Having worked on four years of Hasty Pudding and Kirkland House shows, he wants to produce motion pictures as a prelude to a career in restaurant and resort development. "There's a lot of night life involved in restaurants; the people are very interesting," he says. "And everybody eats."

Roberts owes his business training to the rugby club. Since rugby is not an official Harvard sport, the club's council must manage finances, schedule matches, and provide all sorts of supplies to the team. The president's job ranges from planning an overseas trip every year to provisioning beer for each Thursday's "drink-up and sing-song," But to Roberts, the rugby team is more important as a center of character-building through "concentrated enjoyment" among the nearly 100 players.

"It's such an emotional thing that you remember it off the field, and talk about it," he says. "It's not just the game but the environment around it." By leading the team through intense practices and games with an unfailing sense of mission, Roberts "has been the heart of the rugby team for a long time," according to second-year player Peter Green.

More than most ruggers, Roberts has helped fashion the mythic legacy that surrounds the club--beer on the sidelines during games, raucous road trips, the unspeakable annual pig roast, and one of the-finest won-lost records in the country.

Roberts has thrived at Harvard and speaks glowingly of the opportunities the College has presented him. His peers call him a man gifted with happiness and marked for success. He says he's happy here but eager to play rugby in Australia and New Zealand this summer and then take on Hollywood in the fall.

"It's like when you set your alarm for 8:00 and wake up just before, because you're anxious to go," he says, sure that his life will continue to move from one exciting story to another.

The spirit and confidence Roberts exudes, along with his substantial build (he resembles Alley Oop), have earned him an unwanted nickname--Bundles. "He brings a lot of joy to everyone, so we call him Bundles of Roy for every girl and boy," explains Green.

Who calls me Bundles?" Roberts responds.