Draft:University of Texas Rugby Club

{{Infobox rugby team

| teamname    = University of Texas Rugby Club
| image       = 
| imagesize = 
| fullname    = University of Texas Rugby Football Club
| nickname    = Texas Longhorn
| unions       =  USA Rugby
                  Texas Geographical Union
| location    = Austin, Texas
| founded     = Spring 1985; 39 years ago
| founders    =  Nigel James, Randy Lott, David Pelton
| 
| current coach = / Van Stewart[1]

Early years - Before 1985

As Kirk stated students who played on the Huns and the Blacks would come together for the Collegiate Tournament and play.  So there are remnants of UT games going back. I just don’t have that history

The Beginning Vision

“ In 1985, a few young men sat on a rugby pitch at Zilker Park and made a decision that has become a legacy – to create a collegiate rugby team and play competitive rugby.  That year eight members of the founding team were chosen to be on the Texas Select side ; the rest is history.  Who would have predicted the legacy back then? “

At that time there was no dedicated collegiate division or eligibility rules. All the clubs played men's rugby in the TRU. Each spring there was a one weekend, winner take all collegiate championship tourney a week or two after the TRU championships (or maybe before, not sure). All the UT students playing for the Huns and Blacks would come together, practice for a week, and then show up as the UT Rugby Club. The only requirement was a student ID. Could be part time, could be a grad student. So we'd have 18 year olds playing side by side with 30 year olds, and all were men's club players. Spring 85 a group of those guys got together at the end of the tourney and said "you know, we could do this for real." And so the UT Rugby Club was founded.

1985 Collegiate Championship in Dallas

The Official Beginning

And with that decision, work was set out to formal created the club. So Pelton went down to Rec Sport and filled out the paperwork.   And being the nerd of the group I had a computer in the dorm room with an EPSON dot matrix printer.  We typed up a constitution for the University of Texas at Austin Rugby Football club and these are the list of Founding Fathers.  This was ratified on 10-November 1985.  So I would say that was the initial formation date.   (SCAN LATER – excuse the Cheeto stain when you see it).     

1. President / Captain – Randy Lott
2. Vice President – Nigel James
3. Treasurer – Bill Bartok
4. Match Secretary – J-M Desaloms
5. Captain – Skip Lemon
6. Social Chairmen – Andy McPherson
7. Publicity Director – Mitch Short
8. Promotional – Greg Klausmeyer
9. Recruitment – David Adams

   

My biggest memory here was having a table on the registration area at Palmer auditorium and we handed out another dot matrix poster that said “Give blood play rugby”.   We signed up a bunch of people and had 90 kids show up for practice the next week.  And that was the start of this great legacy!!  Also a cool note was a lot of the OG were also player coaches and did a lot for the game / team in that front.

Alan Sharpley and Cormac O'Donaghue of the Blacks were our coaches. We trained Monday and Wednesday since they had their own club training to attend on Tuesday and Thursday. Most Saturdays we were on our own, player led on game days. But since the bench in those days was a whopping two men, there wasn't much for a coach to do on game day anyhow. That first season we lost a close match to A&M in the collegiate final. The other college teams were Univ Dallas, Southwest Texas (now Texas State), SFA, SMU, Texas Tech, and Rice

The First Formal Rosters- Fall 1985   

We have three rosters from that Dot matrix printer. from that year  spring and fall.  Fall 1985.     One has the officers listed above. The 2^nd has this list of officers so not sure it this was for the next season

Fall 1985 Roster 1

·   Randy Lott – President

·   Nigel “Shirley” James – Vice President

·   David “Babyface” Adams – Recruitment

·   Bill “Flounder” Bartok – Treasurer

·   Stephen Cash – Co-Publicity Director

·   Joe-Mike Desaloms – Match Secretary

·   Greg Klausmeyer – Promotional  (I think you got the Shiner kegs for us!)

·   Skip Lemon – Captain

·   Andy McPherson – Social Chairman

·   David Pelton – National Security Advisor

·   Mich Short – co-publicity director

Fall 1985 Roster 2

·   Nigel “EWOK” James – President

·   Lenny Bocian – Vice President

·   Joe-Mike Desaloms Match Secretary

·   Rodney “Chewy” Garza – Joint Social Director

·   Tom Kenney – Treasurer

·   Randy Lott – NSA / Captain

·   Glenn Mack – Recruitment

·   Mike Martin – Promotional

·   Mitch Short -Publicity Director

·   Mick “Raging Bull” Wagoner – Recruitment Godfather

·   Stevie Ray Walters – Joint Social Director

Fall 1986 Roster

·   Mike Martin – President

·   1^st VP – Lenny Bocian

·   2^nd VP – Mick Wagoner

·   Randy Lott – Match secretary

·   Flounder Bartok – Treasurer

·   Nigel James Nat’l Sec Advisor

Artifacts

1. Key games / articles that I have flyers or documents of
   • IMAGES (supplement to the Daily Texan) – Dec 1986 – center article   I have two copies left.   My dad was proud at the center quote is “we are not just a bunch of brainless wonders”
   • There was a color  magazine we were featured in but I can’t find it.  
   • I have the England Trip itinerary – Dec 1986
   • We have the Madri Gras Rugby Tournament Feb 8-9, 1986  I have the program
   • 1^st Annual Longhorn Summer Sevens Rugby Tournament. I have a nice stapled 8 page hand made programme
   • Daily Texan Feb 19, 1991  “Longhorns repeat as state college rugby champs”

Continuing the Legacy – Alumni.  

• We then have a colorful history on the alumni front  as it evolved, but I love that it showed out continuation to keep the vision going and all the leaders across the decades that continued to make it happen. 1998 – we have letters and now emails showing we are setting up an alumni.  Still on the dot matrix printer
• 1^st newsletter   June 10, 1988
• 1^st Annual Long Alumni Association Rugby and BBQ Event  April 15, 2000
• I wanted to shout out that a lot of guys were fighting overseas and in the military – would love to gather that list together (Mick/Randy/Willard….)
• We have the Front Page of the Daily Texan – “alleged rugby nudity investigated” on 4/22/99
• Achieved 501© tax exempt status and a name change to TEXAS EXILES  - Email August 5, 2001

            Initial Board of directors – Nigel James, Randy Lott, David Pelton, C.J. Trimber

            Next year officers were then in the email

 Nigel James – President
 Randy Lott – VP
 Anthony Holm – Treasurer
 CJ Trimber – Secretary.

We went through several name changes. But finally with wisdom joined into the great network organization through Texas Exes and your can go here for our page and provide scholarship donations.

Texas Exes - Men's Rugby Alumni Network

We also then had   Randy/Homer come back and be coaches for the team.   That is another great legacy of keeping the dream alive.

Nice article on the Alumni Reunion 2022

Taken from the Texas Longhorns page

Rugby

[edit | edit source] Founded in 1985, the Texas Longhorns rugby team plays in the Allied Rugby Conference, and plays its postseason in the Varsity Cup Championship. The Longhorns rugby program has been improving in recent years. Texas rugby has instituted a combine to identify the most elite athletes on campus with an eye towards recruiting them to play rugby. The increasing popularity of rugby in the United States and the announcement that rugby would return to the Summer Olympics led Texas to upgrade the designation of its rugby program from club to Olympic. The Texas Rugby Alumni association and the Texas Exes have begun an endowment to award scholarships to Texas rugby players, which is viewed as a vital recruitment tool.

The Longhorns' improvement led to Texas winning the Southwest Conference in the 2011–12 season to qualify for the sweet sixteen of the 2012 national championship playoffs. Texas won the 2012 Southwest 7s tournament to qualify for the 2012 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships.

The Longhorns rugby program has been boosted by its participation in the Collegiate Rugby Championship, the highest profile college rugby competition in the US, which is broadcast live on NBC. In the 2011 CRC, Texas defeated Big 12 rival Oklahoma to reach the quarterfinals. Following Texas's participation in the 2011 CRC, Texas "raised an additional $10,000 from alumni, landed a new apparel sponsor, and have been contacted by 90 students (including two DBs from the football team) who want to play rugby." In the 2012 CRC, Texas defeated its rival Oklahoma to again reach the quarterfinals of the tournament.

The Longhorns rugby program reached a new all-time high during the 2013–2014 season. Texas won the 2013 Southwest Conference 7s Championship advancing them to the 2013 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships, where they finished ranked #12 in the nation. Months later Texas won the 2014 Southwest Conference 15s Championship, making them the first team in the conference to win both the 7s and 15s championships in the same season. The Longhorns finished the season with their first participation in The Varsity Cup Championship, where they finished in the top 8.