They were self-made men, an unholy mix of farmers, doctors, vets and teachers. Rugby was important, very important, but it didn't pay the bills.
They were tough and uncompromising ... and that was just the backs.
But, with apologies to Arthur Stone and friends, Waikato rugby was never famous for its backs. The union was built on the work of the front eight and at the fulcrum of the pack was Warren Gatland, a bustling, barrel-shaped hooker and noted set-piece technician.
"He was a short No 8, but hellishly skilful. He realised at five foot three [laughing] he was never big enough to be a No 8 so he made the change to the front row and became one of the best there."
In a team of big personalities - Buck Anderson, Richard Loe, Ian Foster and John Mitchell were teammates - Gatland's word usually held sway in the changing rooms.
"We'd warm up and have these little rituals we'd do, but Gatty's big thing was to stretch his hamstrings and give everyone else advice," outstanding flanker Duane Monkley recalls. "It was remarkable how he would come up to me and question the way I was standing at rucks.
"I'd be looking at him thinking, 'Why would he be bothered thinking about what I'm doing?' Most of us just worried about our own games but he could see things in other people and how they could do things better."
Most of the time the advice was well-intentioned and well received, though Monkley laughs at the recollection of Gatland trying to advise gifted fullback Andrew Strawbridge how to take the high ball.
"That didn't go down so well."
According to Monkley, he wasn't averse to the odd bit of kidology either.
"Gatty had this theory that if we ran out of the tunnel faster than the opposition, we'd win the game.
"There's no rhyme nor reason why that'd be true, but because Gatty said it, we believed it.
"We'd pride ourselves on running out of the tunnel faster than the opposition and it wasn't till years later that it struck me that he would never have seen the opposition run out because we always came out second."
Like most of the forwards, Gatland had the misfortune to play during Auckland's era of greatness, so their international aspirations were limited (Gatland was more likely to contract haemorrhoids sitting on the bench than get a run ahead of Sean Fitzpatrick). Instead they had to content themselves with leading Waikato to a national championship, something they achieved in 1992.
That wasn't the only reason 1992 was a big year for Gatland and Gordon.
Gatland had taken over as player-coach at unfashionable club Taupiri, where Gordon was a player. They won promotion in 1989 and added a Waikato premier title in '92.
A love affair with coaching had been born.
"He enjoyed the challenge of working out where your strengths were and how to maximise them when developing game plans," Gordon says. "We had a few good players and a few holes and he was very good at promoting our strengths and covering up our holes."
Some would say an ideal quality for coaching Wales, who, with a limited playing base, have struggled for depth in recent years. He has been lauded for his courage in selecting youth when the trend in this part of the world has been to develop experience, but there's a danger of giving Gatland too much credit there - in some cases the experienced players had been tried and found wanting, so a youth policy was the only viable option.
There's no doubting that he has been in vintage form this tournament.
Tactically he has been astute enough to guide Wales to their first semifinal since the inaugural event in 1987 and there have also been signs of the sense of mischief that Gatland brought to the team as a player.
At times he can come across as dour, but Gordon says that's a front, it's not the real Gatland.
Last week, as England's tournament went from bad to terminal, Gatland credited his players for being great ambassadors. This week, he admitted they were not angels and that he did not take any pleasure in England's woes.
He backed the All Blacks' right to bring in Matt Todd to train with them, at the same time admitting he was calling on six local players himself.
But perhaps his most subtle ruse was to call for an entertaining weekend of semifinal rugby.
"Hopefully both teams go out and play some good rugby and we end up with two semifinals that reflect this game in a really positive light," he said.
"Everyone's conscious of what happened in 2007 when it became a kick-fest. There wasn't many tries scored and if we get two good semifinals it will be good for the game globally."
It'll also be good for Wales, who are more suited to an open game that is not dominated by the boot.
But he already knew that, of course.
