Chicago Union Announces Major Signings for 2021

Today the Chicago Union announced a series of signings for the 2021 season, confirming rumors of several notable players bolstering an already strong initial wave of contracts. Drew Swanson, Peter Graffy, Pat Shriwise, Keegan North, Kurt Gibson, and Joe White have all signed 1-year contracts with the team.

Drew Swanson returns after his rookie season with Chicago where he earned All AUDL Rookie First Team honors with 24 blocks, tied for 4th in the league. Peter Graffy and Pat Shriwise were stalwarts for the Madison Radicals over the past 7 seasons, including the team’s championship win in 2018. Keegan North joins the Union ranks as a versatile player with experience on the Cincinnati Revolution (2015-2016) and Indianapolis AlleyCats (2018-2019). Kurt Gibson rejoins the team as a veteran leader on title teams at the college, club, and AUDL level. Perhaps the most interesting signing in this release is AUDL rookie Joe White, a young prodigy that helped the club team Chicago Machine nearly capture a national championship in 2019.

These six additions now bring the roster to 16 for released names by the Union so far:

  • Charlie Furse (captain), 1 year
  • Drew Swanson, 1 year
  • Jack Shanahan, 2 years
  • Jason Vallee, 2 years
  • Jeremy Burril (captain), 1 year
  • Jesse Johnson, 2 years
  • Joe White, 1 year
  • Keegan North (formerly AlleyCats), 1 year
  • Kurt Gibson (formerly Roughnecks, Growlers, Spiders), 1 year
  • Nate Goff, 3 years
  • Ross Barker (captain), 1 year
  • Pat Shriwise (formerly Radicals), 1 year
  • Pawel Janas, 3 years
  • Peter Graffy (formerly Radicals), 1 year
  • Tim Schoch, 1 year
  • Von Alanguilan, 1 year

The Union has concluded final player evaluations through an invite-only tryout process and will be announcing the full 2021 roster next week. The AUDL regular season will begin in June and will conclude on August 21, with postseason playoffs to follow and a championship weekend on September 10 and 11.

The official Chicago Union game schedule for the 2021 season has not been finalized yet. Union Season Tickets can be purchased through the team’s website, and individual game tickets will be added once the home game schedule is announced in late March.