Rhys Barlow offered his services as a board member when Wellington Rugby reorganized itself in 1996 - but wasn't selected.
About 15 months later a vacancy resulted in board chairman Murray McCaw inviting Barlow to join the group - and he became chairman when McCaw in turn stood for the New Zealand Rugby Union's board and was selected.
So it was a rapid rise, but Barlow always impressed with his calm, methodical approach to life and to his work.
A member of the University Club, he was unlucky as a good halfback to have to sit on the Wellington bench while Ian Stevens had the job from 1968-70 but he managed the New Zealand Universities' spot a few times over that period.
Barlow says Wellington was still struggling financially when he came on to the board in 1997, but he says things were better than they had been.
"At the start of the pro era Wellington was, to be honest, probably insolvent," Barlow says. "It was a very fine line. I remember Murray (McCaw) telling me the only way they got the balance sheet into the black was by revaluing Strand Park up to government valuation."
Then came the stadium. Construction was close to starting when Barlow made the board, and not far off being used when he became chairman.
"The biggest turnaround for us was the stadium. I remember we had a membership drive late in 1999 which got us a huge number (14,000) of members just on the promise of the stadium. That compared with 1800 members at Athletic Park."
What the stadium has done, says Barlow, is open up rugby to the family and women who kept away before because of the poor facilities at Athletic Park.
"The public hadn't been used to these kind of facilities before the stadium was built. And the whole region got behind it, right through from Wairarapa-Manawatu-Hawke's Bay-Taranaki etc."
So Barlow admits he inherited a "fairly solid base" as chairman. The stadium has gone from strength-to-strength, and therefore so has the monetary base of the union - although he insists administration has to take a strong line with results in this professional era - resulting in changes to Wellington (and Hurricanes) coaching structures following disappointing results in 2002. Barlow says there's a thin line between financial success and failure.
"The key to it all is winning teams. We were fortunate the Hurricanes got back on track (2003), but that 2002 NPC effort was disappointing. If that had been followed by another disappointing (S12) season, we would have been in trouble."
Therefore Barlow is very much of the opinion that while a new coach deserves a couple of seasons to sort himself out, if he is not performing by then a change has to be made.
Why? Simply because public expectations would not stand for a third losing season.
His biggest disappointment from his time as chairman?
Failure to get the Rugby League Park training facility up-and-running. That should - finally - be working this year.
His bouquets?
To David White as a fledgling CEO introduced by McCaw who became highly successful, and to Graham Mourie for establishing training and work systems in Wellington rugby which raised its professional base and offered the Capital to outside players as a plausible alternative - which it certainly hadn't been.
"David White came here without any knowledge of running a business, but he had a good sporting background. While he was a bit rough-and-ready around the edges, he got about building a team - he certainly knew how to get players aboard."
A final word to the clubs from Barlow. He agrees they might not have been as much behind Wellington rugby as an entity as they might have been through the 1980s and 1990s, but says the two areas have been bought much closer together now - especially following the "club review" of 1999.
Clubs have received massive pay cheques in the years since Wellington rugby became solvent again, so that's certainly helped sweeten the relationship.
Barlow stepped down after the three years he "gave himself" for the job and was replaced by former Hurricanes chairman Joe Pope.