Washington state native Kellen Gordon played in Major League Rugby between 2018-2024. He represented the Seattle Seawolves for his entire MLR career.

A native of Kenmore, WA, Kellen Gordon grew up in Athletics and Football before being introduced to rugby by friends. He joined Redmond Rugby Club and represented Redmond as well as the Eastside Axemen and Washington Loggers as he grew up through high school. Gordon attended Central Washington University where he continued to play rugby, representing the CWU Wildcats while at college.

Following his graduation from CWU, Gordon headed across the world to New Zealand to play with Canterbury’s International High-Performance Unit, his first experience of professional rugby. He returned to the US and joined Seattle Rugby Club, playing in the BC Men’s Prem until 2017, when Major League Rugby was getting started ahead of the inaugural season in 2018. Gordon signed with the Seawolves for their inaugural season, and would never play for another team in MLR. He appeared in all 9 games for the Seawolves in 2018, starting 4 times and appearing as a reserve in both their playoff games including the 2018 Championship game, where Seattle defeated the Glendale Raptors to claim MLR’s first ever Shield. Gordon returned to the club the following season and once again appeared in every single Seawolves game that year, starting 6 times and scoring the only two tries of his career to help Seattle to their 2nd Shield in as many seasons, defeating the San Diego Legion in the 2019 Championship Game. Kellen Gordon is the only Seawolves player to feature in every single game of both of their back-to-back Championship run.

Kellen Gordon would represent Seattle again in 2020, appearing in all 5 games before COVID-19 shut the season down. At this point, Gordon retired from professional rugby for the first time. However, the opening game of the 2021 season saw the Seawolves face the SaberCats in Houston, where Gordon was at a specialised care facility for his son. The injury-ravaged Seawolves reached out to Gordon to join the reserves, but suffered an injury after he came on that forced him to retire for a second time. By 2022 Gordon had returned to Seattle, and Head Coach Allan Clarke convinced him to come out of retirement for one last season. He earned 11 appearances as a reserve for the Seawolves in 2022 including in all 3 of their playoff games, helping the team to their (and his) 3rd Championship Final. Unfortunately this time, they fell to Rugby United New York in New York, and Kellen Gordon hung up is boots for a third time.

He continued to play club rugby with Seattle Rugby Club, and when the Seawolves were hit by the injury bug once again in 2024, Kellen Gordon was there to answer the call, coming out of retirement for a 3rd time. He earned 3 final appearances for the club that year, before finally retiring for the 4th and final time at the end of the season. In total, Gordon earned 47 appearances across 6 seasons with the Seattle Seawolves, starting 10 times and completing just shy of 200 tackles. He finished his professional career as a 1x MLR Runner-Up and 2x MLR Champion. He currently serves as Seattle Rugby Club’s Director of Rugby and Men’s Head Coach.

achievements

• 2022 MLR Runner-Up: Seattle Seawolves
• 2019 MLR Champion: Seattle Seawolves
• 2018 MLR Champion: Seattle Seawolves