Portal:1983 Spring Men/Memorable Events

All American selections: Koehn, Wendlberger and Miller

"Beer, mud, Blood. Under the guidance of Coach Bob "Nigley" Horne [RAF Squadron Leader], the men's rugby team completed it's most successful season in memory during the 1982-1983 school year The team began it's legacy by winning the second Annual Michelob Husker Rugby Classic in Lincoln, Nebraska in the fall, outscoring their opponents 123-11. In the sping season, the team began preparing for the upcoming national championships by entering the "Tournament of Pain" in Sanata Fe Springs, California during Spring Break. They played a record five games in a single day, and encountered opponents of incredible size [and I seem to recall we forfeited our last game due to not having enough able-bodied players to field the minimum team size - we only brought about 20 players and barely lost the first game to the eventual tournament winners - it was a double elimination tournament]. Next, the team avenged itself by winning the state tournament [having lost the state finals the previous year to CSU when the ref lost track of the score and awarded one of our tries to the opponents ...and they weren't man enough to admit it - too bad they didn't have an honor code!], stomping Colorado School of Mines 22-0, Metro state 33-3, and Colorado State 10-3. Adding insult to injury, the B-side beat two Colorado State teams to capture the B-side state title as well. In the western regional tournament, the zoomies beat Southwest Missouri State [our toughest game], [a much improved] Nebraska and Oklahoma to advance to the national championships in Athens, Georgia. The administartion backed the rugby team [initially they were not going to allow us to go and wouldn't pay for the permissive TDY/transport./lodging] and sent 22 players, five coaches, and a trainer to participate in the national championships. The team beat Navy 6-3 in the semi-finals [we had lost to them in the fall], but dropped a 13-3 decision to defending champs Cal-Berkely in a nationally televised game [ESPN], and ended up second in the nation.

Seniors Joe Wendlberger and Jimmy Koehn were named to the select

All-American team along with rookie Tom Miller [in his seventh rugby game he'd ever played in. All three zoomie All-Americans were fleet-footed backs. I believe four more zoomie players were named as second team All-Americans]." [Championship game synopsis: Our standout kicker, right winger Bob Williamson, was injured [broken leg?] about 5 minutes into the game, and we had about four or five missed penalty kicks because we had no back up kicker - oops! Cal-Berkely, which had over 50% UK players, had a fabulous Irish? kicker who made several long range, wide-angle kicks and missed none that I recall. We had a try called back late in the game when I (left winger) grubbed a ball into the try zone (and Joe Wendlberger fell on it) but I got heinously leveled by some huge oaf immediately after the grub, and the ref was so outraged that he immediately stopped the play (forgetting all about the advantage rule) and called for a penalty kick, which we missed. Basically, we lost the kicking game. At least that's the way I remember it ;-) ] If this rugby thing really gets rolling, and photos are needed, I can scan in a few and send them your way. Joe Barkate was our team captain - Joe feel free to correct/ embellish my account of the 1982-82 season where appropriate. Maybe he can even name all the team member's names and positions - I can't remember every one (too much beer, too many Gs, too old, and only played senior year).

Cheers, LtCol Pete "Toes" Bartos, Langley AFB.

83…

I know we didn't win by much each game, but we did win. I think the craziest trip we had was to Regionals. If my memory serves me correctly, we flew military air into Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, then drove to College Station, TX. As a sophomore I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison, guys dumping piss bottles out the side door of the van, beers flowing -- I didn't realize this was a normal. I think I shook my head the eight or so hours it took to drive the trip. Tom Miller

Harry,

    The 1983 captain  was Joe Barkate.  The '83 team reached the national championship game after beating Navy in the semi-finals only to fall to Cal in the final.  Joe is currently the CEO of American Safe Retirements in Southland, TX.

Mike Trundy USAFA '83