Meet the Men of SLU Rugby
🏉 The Coach
When Bill "Binky" Brandt passed away in the summer of 2004, someone had to pick up the whistle. That someone was Justin Whitton — SLU Law Class of '91, former player, and the man who would spend the next 13 seasons building on Binky's foundation while carving out his own legendary chapter.
Under Drago's leadership, SLU Rugby climbed to new heights. In 2015, the team finished 4th at the D-II 7s National Championship. The following year, they went one better — finishing 2nd in the nation, falling only to the juggernaut Minnesota-Duluth in a rain-soaked final broadcast live on USARugbyTV.com. Along the way, they beat Salisbury and Lindenwood-Belleville in knockout rounds that nobody outside St. Louis saw coming.
The rugby world had written them off. Drago hadn't gotten the memo.
⚖️ The Man Behind the Title
Before he was coaching, Whitton was playing — and studying. He earned his law degree from SLU while simultaneously playing rugby, a combination that would shape the rest of his career. He didn't just learn the game on the pitch; he learned it in the courtroom, too.
His resume reads like a rugby governance highlight reel: Former Chairman of USA Rugby Congress, World Rugby Judicial Officer, first Commissioner of the Big Rivers Rugby Conference, and former Commissioner of the Gateway Rugby Conference. He's held roles with the Midwest Collegiate All-Stars and has been one of the most influential figures in American collegiate rugby governance for over two decades.
But ask anyone who played for him, and they won't talk about titles. They'll talk about Drago.
🥊 The Man They Called Drago
The nickname came from the players. It stuck because it fit. There's a certain intensity to Justin Whitton that announces itself before he opens his mouth — the kind of presence that makes a room go quiet and a scrum go straight.
But Drago wasn't just about intensity. In 2016, when two former players — Sam Binz and Paul Monahan, both Class of 2013 — tragically passed away within months of each other, Whitton stood at Sam's funeral and delivered a eulogy that moved the entire room to tears. He dedicated the team's National Championship run to their memories.
"To Sammy, and to many of the men in this room, I am known simply as Drago."
He was a coach who drove 14 hours to North Carolina on a shoestring budget, who watched his players haul dorm furniture to fund their own road trip, who then stood in the rain and cried when they nearly won it all. That's Drago.
💒 The Wedding Crashers Connection
It is widely rumored — and vigorously denied — that the 2005 hit film Wedding Crashers was loosely based on the life and times of Justin Whitton. The details are disputed. The denials are emphatic. But the evidence, as they say, speaks for itself.
Those who were there say the stories are true. Those who weren't there say the stories are exaggerated. Those who were there and say the stories are exaggerated are lying.
🏆 The Zulu Record
In the world of collegiate rugby, there is an unofficial but widely recognized record that belongs to one man: the most unwarranted Zulus in rugby history.
A "Zulu" — for the uninitiated — is the act of streaking across the pitch after a victory, wearing nothing but a rugby sock. It is a tradition as old as the game itself and as controversial as its name suggests. Most players earn their Zulus through triumph. Drago's, by all accounts, were issued with a confidence that bordered on prophetic.
The exact number is classified. What is known is that it has never been surpassed, and likely never will be.
📹 The Captain Kenny Tapes
In the spring of 1999, before Drago was coaching — when he was still just a lawyer who played rugby — the SLU Rugby team took its annual spring break trip to Freeport, Bahamas. Armed with a camcorder, a case of beer, and the unshakable confidence of men who had no business being in the Caribbean, they documented everything.
What those tapes captured has become the stuff of SLU Rugby legend.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
— Justin Whitton, when asked about the tapes
🏆 The Legacy
Justin "Drago" Whitton coached SLU Rugby for 13 seasons, took the team to back-to-back National Championship appearances, served as one of the most powerful figures in American rugby governance, and somehow still found time to keep the Captain Kenny Tapes hidden from the authorities.
He is, by any measure, one of the most important figures in SLU Rugby history — and quite possibly the most decorated coach to ever hold a whistle and a law degree at the same time.
He still hasn't confirmed the Wedding Crashers thing.
"He was one of the most selfless, giving men. It's kind of ironic that it was his heart attack that killed him, because that was the biggest part of him — his heart."