Xavier University Athletics
Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1991
- Class:
- 1977
Rob Sieber, a member of the three-man team which captured two straight U.S. Intercollegiate Indoor Polo Championships in 1976 and 1977, also lettered two years in soccer, serving as team captain one season.
Sieber, who tragically died in a polo-related accident, comprised one third of the team which included brothers Jake ('79) and John ('79). Their coach was their father, Robert Sieber.
The three brothers were introduced to the game by their father, who spent five years as their teammate. The four Siebers' Queen City Polo Club became the best in the five states of the Mid-States Circuit. Their five-year record, 98-2, included a remarkable 65-match win streak that stretched over three-and-a-half years.
The famous Sieber brother trio, who played a hard riding style of outdoor polo, brought that same style to the indoor arena. In fact, in 1976 Xavier became the first midwestern university team ever to win the national championship in indoor polo, a sport dominated by eastern schools like Cornell. Before the 1976 tournament, the Siebers had never even seen an indoor college polo match.
Rob Sieber and his brothers shocked Yale (24-12) and Cornell (25-11), the Ivy League's overwhelming favorites, to capture the 1976 championship in Darien, Connecticut.
Before defending their title in 1977, the Sieber team proved that 1976 was not a fluke. The team travelled East in 1977, beating Cornell (11-10) and Yale (16-7), establishing the Siebers as the favorites to repeat as national champs in 1977.
The brother trio proved the prognosticators correct, winning the 1977 title. Senior Rob Sieber scored 12 points, helping XU thrash Yale 32-2 in the Semifinals. The trio rallied from a two-goal deficit in the Finals, scoring the last six goals to give XU a 13-9 win over 1975 National Champion California-Davis.
Rob Sieber displayed his excellent athletic ability for Xavier in soccer and polo. He will be long remembered as part of the only back-to-back national champions in Xavier history but he also played well on the soccer team.
Sieber helped XU's soccer team finish 8-5 (1975) and 3-4-3 (1976) in his junior and senior years, including a 1-0 win over UC in 1975.
