Tyson Meek

Tyson Meek began his rugby career at 11 years of age by breaking founder Al Velie’s son Will’s record for the youngest player in Oklahoma Rugby history. Fortunately for the sport of rugby that record has been broken many times over since. Tyson played his first game for the A-Side at the age of 16 in what would be Larry Naifeh’s last game for the club. Founder Tarzan Wilson played number eight in that game against Little Rock, Meek played 9 and Naifeh 10. Meek’s early playing days at OU led to selection to the High School All American Team, which toured New Zealand the summer of 1998 between Meek’s Junior and Senior years of high school. Meek then founded the Norman Colts in 1999 during his senior year of high school.

After high school Meek pursued his first athletic love and played Div. I College Football at Texas Christian University. This experience was important for Meek’s development as an athlete. He was named Scout Team Player of the Year in 1999 and 2000 as a Ladanian Tomlinson teammate. After limited playing time in his second year with TCU Meek decided to pursue his opportunities playing rugby and spent a season with the Dallas Harlequins. At Jon Velie’s insistence Meek transferred home to the University of Oklahoma in 2002. During Meek’s time at OU he captained the team to a Big XII Title by emphatically beating a highly ranked Colorado team and was awarded numerous club awards.

During college Meek spent 3 summers playing for the Gentlemen of Aspen in the Summer Mountain XVs league and for the Aspen 7s team in order to hone his craft. In his second appearance for the Gentlemen at the 7s National Championship Meek was noticed by current USA National 7s Team Coach Al Caraveli. A few months later Meek was selected to tour Singapore for the esteemed Atlantis 7s Team. Meek scored trys often and was the standout player for Atlantis in Singapore.

Meek’s performance in Singapore and for the Gentleman of Aspen 7s team led to his selection for the USA Eagle 7s team in 2004 while still a senior at OU. 2004 was a busy year for Meek beginning when he received his first International 7s cap for the US in Wellington, New Zealand. Meek went back to Singapore for the 2nd time in as many years, played in the most prestigious 7s tournament in the world in Hong Kong, and also participated in the first ever IRB World Series Event in North America, the USA 7s tournament in Los Angeles (now played in Las Vegas). Days after graduating from the University of Oklahoma Meek played for the US again in the Cayman Islands winning the World Cup qualifier after which Meek flew directly from the Cayman Islands to Denver, CO, to compete in the College All Star Event with the Western Rugby All Starts. The West All Stars won the National Championship and Meek was named a Collegiate All American. Meek flew directly from Denver to New Zealand to attend the world renowned International Rugby Academy New Zealand (IRANZ) and play for the Upper Hutt Rugby Club. Meek later returned to the U.S. to assemble with the All Americans and participate on their tour to Canada to wind up his whirlwind year.

Meek returned to New Zealand to play for the Nelson based club Stoke and continued to participate with the Eagles 7s team in 2005. Meek was joined at Stoke by Oklahoma teammate Luke Turner. At the conclusion of the Southern Hemisphere season Meek went to England for his first contract with the Bristol area team Western-Super-Mare. Quickly realizing that playing for Western-Super-Mare was not helping his chances of making the US 15s team Meek returned home to the US to play for the Denver Barbarians in the Super League. Meek led the league in trys scored and was selected to the US Hawks the inaugural season of the North American 4 (NA4). Meek impressed at the NA4 and was selected for the USA Eagles to play in the 2006 Churchill Cup.

Meek started his first match for the Eagles against Ireland A and came off the bench against the New Zealand Maori. Meek also started against Canada and the Bahamas in a World Cup Qualifier. Meek’s time with the Eagles earned him a professional contract with the Nottingham Rugby Club in England. Meek returned to the US after the UK season for the second edition of the NA4 and to compete for a spot on the USA 2007 World Cup Squad. Meek was named to the 36 man World Cup roster, but was not included in the 30 man traveling squad and was instead an injury reserve.

Meek again played for the Denver Barbarians in 2008, Captaining the team to the Super League Semi-Finals before losing to eventual Champions New York Athletic Club. Meek once again played in the NA4 in 2008 before leaving for another professional contract in Spain. Meek played his final professional season for La Vila Rugby in 2008/2009.

Meek attended the International Rugby Academy New Zealand Coaching Course hosted in Denver, CO, the summer of 2009 in preparation for his transition into coaching. During his first year of law school at Oklahoma Meek volunteered some time to OU Rugby as a skills coach, but was unable to commit to full time coaching because of the demands of the first year of law school. A Dean’s List Honor student now in his second year of law school Meek has taken the same ‘all in’ approach to coaching as he did to playing the game and helped lead the Sooners to an undefeated 2010 fall season.