If I played rugby and had been on the winning team at the Elvis 7s, I would have won a guitar bearing a Troy McCall drawing of the King wearing a beret.
The tournament, presented by the Memphis Blues Rugby Club, was August 5th at McBride Field in Tobey Park.
I asked tournament director Harrison Lampley to tell me who came up with the guitar idea. “It was one of our colleagues, Dan Brewer,” Harrison says. “He found the guitars I think in a pawn shop. We changed trophies a few times over the years. This year, the first place trophies were the guitars and the little busts of Elvis were the second place trophies.”
Harrison says that, “Troy did the art and we printed those wraps at Van Wraps (Gallery) on Madison. They gave me a little tutorial on how to wrap them. I did one the night before at my kitchen table and one the morning of the event.”
Kudos to Harrison’s wife, Taylor, by the way. “My wife is pregnant and we had a baby shower (last) weekend. And somehow we fit it all in.”
They used vinyl material like what they use to wrap vehicles. But next year, he said, “we’re going to go with acoustic guitars, ’cause the electrics were a little too difficult.”
Acoustics, he says, “have those flat faces and electric guitars are just hard to wrap. The ones this year are cool ’cause they look like knockoff Stratocasters. But we’ll go with acoustic. That will be more authentic to Elvis anyway.”
Why is Elvis wearing a beret in his drawing? “The Rugby World Cup, which is contested every four years, takes place in France next month,” McCall says. “Since 2011, when the RWC was in New Zealand, I’ve always tried to connect the Elvis 7s graphic theme to the country where that year’s World Cup competition was being held. (In) 2015 it was in England. And Japan in 2019. And, of course, this year, France. Vive Le Memphis!”
That slogan is also on the guitars as well as the 2023 Elvis 7s T-shirts, which feature McCall’s drawing.
The Arkansas Griffins won the men’s division and the Little Rock Women’s Rugby Club won the women’s division. It was the latest competition for the Elvis 7s, which I’ve covered for decades, and it’s uniquely Memphis.
Ruggers play to a soundtrack of Elvis music heard over a loudspeaker. In previous years, players with shaggy side whiskers competed for prizes in the Mr. Sideburns Contest. They had to sing a snippet of an Elvis song. Even if they couldn’t sing.
There were a lot of former players who I’d photographed over the years, including Matthew Wrage, Kyle Baker, and Devin Faletto. It was like a “This is Your Life Covering Elvis 7s.”
Gibs Kell of the USA South Panthers, 19, wore bushy sideburns, but they were artificial and removable. Not like veteran rugger Chris Claude, whose chops were real.
But it’s great to see players like Kell continue the tradition of celebrating Elvis through rugby. He’s 19 years old.
The hits keep on coming.
