Hey guys - I have various sizes of these pics. If you want to print them out, let me know, we'll see what we can do.
photos sized down but not working yet steve
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Steve, As promised...attached are the earlier pictures that Kathy
sent to me of Dale and Jeff on top of Grand Dad's Bluff...
Let me know when you get them... Semper Jensen, Scott
(Click on any photo to enlarge.)
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Dear Steve,
My apologies that this thank you is so long overdue. It's difficult to express the gratitude I feel toward you and the others (Scotty, Jeff, Mark, MJ, Al, et al), who took the time to share their memories and photos of Dale on the website rugbyconnect. The fact that it created a place for you and others to share fun times and kind words is truly appreciated. The stories took me, and I'm sure many others, back to more care free days. It's hard to believe that I had been with Dale 25 and a half years before he passed away. I miss him so much. I miss his smile, his inspiration, and his love.
Thanks to all of you who were able to make it to the visitation. It was good to see you all. I hope to get together again soon under more pleasant circumstances.
As you may know, I lost my job of 17 1/2 years a few weeks before Dale passed (they needed to replace me with a registered nurse). Now that I have closed downthe car lot, and have passed the karate school over to Dale's partner, I'm concentrating on remodeling my house. I hope to be able to sell and move to the LaCrosse area to be near family and friends before starting a new career.
Wish me luck! This will be a big change for me and the boys, who, at this point in their lives, understandably, don't relish the thought of moving.
Thanks to you all for the friendship you shared with Dale and me. Like Dale, you are forever in my heart.
With Love, Kathy
P.S. I attached a few photos I thought you might enjoy.
(CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE.)
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According to Dan Ritter, the alumni game is on the first weekend in May, I believe the date is May 3rd.
He will be sending an e-mail relatively soon.
Roger
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Steve,
I'm the outgoing president at UWL (Rats RFC) and I've just come upon your website through
youtube.com I've attached some photos from the past year, including a team
photo with our new jerseys. I didn't figure out how to post/add pics to the
site yet, hence I'm E-mailing you.
But I would just like to extend my thanks
to all the alumni who continue to support the team, we used donations from the
last Alumni game to purchase them. Thank you guys again.
Phil Paulsen
menrugby@uwlax.edu
paulsen.phil@students.uwlax.edu
Below: Back Row Left to Right: James Herro, Tom Jahnke, Tom Debacco, Ed Bremberger, Andrew Hagen, Dave Marek, Troy Syrjanen, Kyle Carrabine, Scott Staehler, Ben Mueller, Steve Russel, Mat Leitzke, Phil Paulsen, Brandon Shifflett, Judd Eastman
(Click Photos to Enlarge)
Front Row Left to Right: JR Welch, Scott Debacco, Alex Koivisto, Dan Liska, Kenshi Setoguchi, John Awowale, Geoffrey Puls, Jimmy Taylor
ps. Links to the two rugby videos I made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMccMPwbyTs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TthgbA6W1U0
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Steve, Roger Groll emailed me and let me in on the bad news. I was shocked to hear that Dale passed so young in life. I am currently in Lexington VA and working in the NROTC unit here at VMI. If you could please include me in the email distro list for the "Rats." I've kind of been away for a while but would like to get back involved with Alumni parties, etc. I am also an Asst. coach for the VMI Rugby club which is great fun. Take care, Mark Martin Commander Mark Martin Executive Officer Naval ROTC Unit Virginia Military Institute Lexington, VA 24450
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Steve, My pleasure on sending the pictures...and please feel free to post the original e-mail I sent to Gravel IRT hearing of Dale's passing...
Subject: RE: Dale Jensen Gravel, I just received your e-mail this morning, and the phone messages from both you and Roger Riley...as I was TAD out of the office and up to the Pentagon for the past week...I must say that I was truly shocked to hear of Dale's death...as I have never known someone more full of life than Dale...If there was one person I thought would live forever, it would have been that crazy SOB! You know, even thinking about him now, at a sad time like this, still brings a smile to my face...
When I get the chance, I will have to scan in some pictures I have of Dale and us from the Old Rugby Days, including some at my folk's house in Sauk City back in 1984/85 or so taken on our way down to play UW-Madison...
In fact, I was just back in Wisconsin this past August, and my folks asked about Dale, as they remember us sitting around the kitchen table drinking beer until five in the morning, eating Korean kimchi and dried fish that Dale had stuffed into the back of that old two door blue Ford or Mercury he had back in the day...and the whole time my Dad and Dale are ganging up on me, and calling me a "Puss" because I had joined the Marine Corps, and not the Army Special Forces...God I was sick that next day...but we still played...terribly, but we played...and good enough to win if I remember correctly...
I have never had more fun in my life than I did with Dale...of course, there is a reason for that...because most of what we did with Dale would be considered "Politically Incorrect" nowadays at best, and may actually be illegal to some degree...Hahahaha!!!!! As Jeff Asmus said in his e-mail to you all...he had never danced on a table naked before until he met Dale....well, I had never sang "Singing in the Rain" semi-naked before while standing in a crowded bar either, nor handed a toll booth guy a beer instead of money to get us through the Illinois Toll System near Chicago on our way to play Northwestern while wearing a piece of white tape on my forehead saying "Jensen" either...but I did them both...and too many other semi-illegal things, which just seemed natural when Dale was around...and most of which I think I still have pictures of... I was really looking forward to seeing him again come this Spring after we retire, and move back to our home in Wisconsin...The last time I saw him was when I took our son Matthew to the EAA Fly-In at Oshkosh, and we stopped by their house to see Dale, Kathy and the boys, maybe back in 1996/1997 or so...He hadn't changed much, that is for sure...still crazy as ever...
The world is a much less exciting place now that Dale has gone... I would appreciate if you could get me his address and a phone number in so that I can call Kathy at some point down the road to offer our condolences... Thanks again for letting me know... Semper Fi, Scott Lieutenant Colonel S.B. Frosch, USMC United States Marine Corps Representative 505th TRS Air Combat Command Hurlburt Field, Florida
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Steve,
You did a really good thing by starting the UW-L Rugby Rats website...it
was too long in coming, and I am damned glad someone did so...
I am still on Active Duty in the U.S. Marine Corps, and will be until I
retire next Spring (Official Retirement Date is set for 6 June 2008)...after
twenty three plus years of Active Duty in the Marine Corps, including seven
major combat operations, the last of which was spent as a Battalion Commander
in the Al Anbar Province or Iraq... we are beyond tired, and ready to slow down
a bit...plus, I am actually looking forward to maybe growing out a pony tail
and a goatee...well, maybe not the pony tail, but just letting my hair down in
general, and finally relaxing a bit...
The reason I am sending you this e-mail directly is that the military
network/firewalls do not always allow me to post e-mails or pictures to Non-
DOD websites...as such, if you do not mind, I am going to send you a couple of
e-mails and some scanned in pictures of Dale and us from "Back in Day"...
You have my permission to post all below, and any/all to follow...
We are looking forward to seeing you (all) again starting next Spring
after we retire back to Wisconsin...
Semper Jensen &
Ziggy, Ziggy, Ziggy...Oy, Oy, Oy!!!
Scott (Frosch)
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10/1/2007 12:21 PM
If we are lucky once in a lifetime someone like Dale Jensen comes into our lives. He had the unique and rare ability to make everyone around him better. When you were down on the ground he was there first and picked you up. You were never alone or in trouble when he was on the pitch he was always with you. If you needed support he carried you and was always with you and without fail was always right beside you when you needed him most.
The ability Dale had to embrace adversity and the love he had for the challenge of the game of rugby carried over in how he lived life. It should be a lesson and an example to us all on how to live.
I will never forget how he was with me on one cold icy day in February. In an Arctic Fest (UW-Stevens Point) tournament with our backs to the wall in a pitch that was slush and pure ice water. Dale the was the only one man wearing shorts and he was acting like a Polar Bear on a holiday. He was the only one still excited to be playing in overtime. 7 men take the pitch freezing and on the verge of hypothermia. Madison drives the ball to our 5 meter line. Then Otto some how some way wins the line out. Tuttle agrees to run the ball and pass as oppose to kick it for touch. In the only time Jimmy O (Oldfield) and myself ever passed the ball more than once to each other. I eventually have a break away but I am losing my balance stumbling trying to stay upright. Then I hear over my left shoulder WITH YOU! I turn and pass to the man who is smiling ear to ear and grinning at full speed. No body in there right mind should have been there.
No one and no body other than Dale would have had the stamina perseverance and the willingness to follow down field just to support a fellow rugger. But there Dale was as always. WITH ME ONCE AGAIN! I can still see Dale in my mind as he scored the winning try with a Swan dive back into the slush just like it was the 4th of July and 70 degrees.
That memory is ingrained in my mind and is my fondest memory of the game we loved and played with passion and camaraderie. We won that Arctic Fest Tournament because of one man who made 14 other men play harder longer and tougher than we ever would have or could have played with out him. He led be example rather than words and never asked for anything in return except that you gave it your all and left nothing on the field.
Because that is all he ever did. It required an effort from some but with Dale it was just second nature and ingrained in his personality.
I thank God for allowing me to the reward of playing football and Rugby and becoming friends with a man of tremendous pride an incredible unselfishness for others and a passion for life that should burn within us all. A man who graced our presence with such honor and character like few others I have ever meet or ever known.
I am a better person for having meet him knowing him and having shared the field with him. I truly know now in my heart that heaven is indeed is a better place because he is there.
I will miss you Dale but I will never ever forget you!
Alan Resch
Photo Courtesy of Scott Frosch
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9/30/2007 5:34 PM
UWL Ruggers,
Since Dale's funeral was scheduled for Monday several people went up to the viewing today (Sunday). Among them were Skippy Blake, Dick Brewer, Scott Dreher, Al Resch, John Otto, Jim Oldfield, and Chuck Gilman and Dave Tuttle. - thanks to those people for their commitment in honoring Dale's life.
Dale was again working for the military, at Fort McCoy, at the time of his death. Since Dale was such a long serving member of the arm forces, his family is being suitably compensated through insurances, pensions and educational funds. They have assigned a person to deal with all financial issues so that Kathy and the kids are OK.
On another note, Skippy Blake says that Otto looks fantastic after his medical scare.
That's all for now,
Roger Riley
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