Jerry Gallion
Player History
1973-75 WASPS FC, London
1975-78 University of Miami RFC
1978-81 Crescent City RFC, New Orleans, LA
1981-84, 87-90 Severn River RFC, Annapolis, MD
1984-87, 90-92 New Orleans RFC, New Orleans, LA
1992-94 Houston RFC, Houston, TX
Coach History
1983-90 United States Coast Guard Rugby
1984-90 USA Armed Forces Rugby (Combined Services)
1992-94 Houston RFC, Houston, TX
Administrator History
President: Crescent City RFC, Severn River RFC and New Orleans RFC
Vice President: Louisiana RFU, Potomac RFU, Deep South RFU, True South GU 2012-present
President: Eastern Rugby Union 1987-90
Member: USA Rugby Board of Directors 1987-90
Alternate USA Rugby Congress Member: USA Rugby South 2014
USA Rugby Congress Member 2015-present
Biography
A multi-sport high school athlete, Jerry was recruited in 1965 to play football at the Coast Guard Academy by legendary coach, Otto Graham. He acquitted himself well on the offensive and defensive lines until a serious knee injury sidelined him in his junior season. As a senior, Jerry served as an assistant line coach for the CGA Bears.
After commissioning and two tours afloat, including an inter-service transfer into the Navy and a tour in Vietnam, Jerry was posted to the U.S. Embassy in London. His choice of neighborhoods proved fortuitous, as, when enroute to the Embassy one day on the London Underground, he was recruited to play rugby for Wasps FC, where he worked his way through the sides in 1973-75 and was profoundly affected by the intensity, integrity and camaraderie of the sport.
The Coast Guard then selected Jerry for graduate training in law and transferred him to the University of Miami, where he received his J.D. in 1978, keeping his hand in the sport with the University of Miami RFC when his studies permitted. In his initial assignment following law school, in the legal staff of Commander Eighth Coast Guard District in New Orleans, Jerry continued his playing career in earnest with Crescent City RFC and began what would become a multi-decade involvement in the coaching and administration of rugby in the United States. He served as president of numerous clubs and as an officer of various unions over the years, including two terms as a member of the USA Rugby Board and two terms as president of the Eastern Rugby Union. After a hiatus to focus on his business career, Jerry returned to serve the game in 2010 and has served two terms as a USA Rugby Congress Member, representing the Southern Conference, and as a member of the core team which prepared USA Rugby’s Strategy 2020 strategic plan.
Jerry served for 20 years as an officer in the United States Coast Guard, including service as a deck watch officer, navigator, vessel inspector, marine accident investigator, and legal officer, retiring from the service in 1990. His legal service included duties as the chief of the Coast Guard’s Administrative Law branch, as policy adviser to the head of the Coast Guard’s marine safety and environmental protection programs, and as counsel to various federal safety advisory committees. Following his retirement, Jerry entered private admiralty law practice with the New Orleans firm of Phelps Dunbar, specializing in collision litigation and oil pollution, regulatory and vessel transactional matters.
Today, Jerry is Corporate Counsel for Kirby Corporation, a publicly-traded marine transportation company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Kirby is the largest United States domestic tank barge operator, transporting bulk liquid products throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, along all three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. Through its diesel engine services segment, Kirby provides diesel engines and reduction gears used in marine and power generation applications worldwide and also distributes and services diesel engines, transmissions, pumps and compression products, and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including hydraulic fracturing equipment, for land-based pressure pumping and oilfield service markets.
Jerry earned a Bachelor of Science degree, with honors, in oceanography from the United States Coast Guard Academy, a Master’s degree, summa cum laude, in management from The Johns Hopkins University, and a Law degree from the University of Miami. He is a member of the bars of Texas, Louisiana, Florida and the District of Columbia, and of the Maritime Law Association of the United States. He has served as a member of the federal Towing Safety Advisory Committee, as co-chair of the Hazardous Substance Response Planning Subcommittee of the federal Chemical Transportation Advisory Committee, and as President of the Texas Waterway Operators Association, the trade association representing the barge, towing and harbor service providers serving the industries and shippers of Texas. Mr. Gallion serves on the Board of Directors of The Barnabas Group–Houston, the Board of Directors of the Faithful Fathering Initiative in Texas, Inc. and the Industry Advisory Board of the Top Quartile Performance Institute.
