Portal:1980 Spring Men

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1980 Spring Men Portal

Lost in the very first National Collegiate Championships in a match to Cal Berkeley, 9-15, compliments of their great kicker, whom we are told, went on to kick for the Atlanta Falcons football team. (see below for details). Matches were held in Davenport Iowa on 17 and 18 May 1980 - the first ever collegiate rugby “final four”. (and the last time the team hitch hiked back from a major tournament)

From Jim Russell, a Denver based referee: (quote) What I heard at the time, which was NOT later denied by Al Osur, was that the Academy did not give the AFA RFC much support, and there was almost no money for the club to get to Davenport. So Capt./Coach Al used the little money available to rent one car in which to haul the gear and kit, and somebody had to drive it, so who better than Al? Meanwhile he told the cadets to hitchhike both ways, and they did, with no ill effects. I also heard that when this hitchhiking stunt came to the notice of the commandant or some general or somebody important, there was hell to pay, which Capt./Coach Al used to the Club’s advantage by saying something like, “Well, if you’d give us more support, like more money or a bus, we wouldn’t have to do something like that.” Which is what happened thereafter. Or so I was told. (unquote)

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Team Record

A Side Record

Date	Opponent	Score	Notes
2 Mar	Harlequins	?
7-8 Mar	Royal Roads	Won
<date>	Cayman Islands	Won	visiting team
Mar	RAF Mildenhall	38-6	England Trip - previous coach Tex Byrd did arrangements; scores by Jones, McNab, Roling and Miller
Mar	Shelford	16-12	England Trip - team where Al Osur learned rugby in 1965; tries by Roling and Stark
Mar	Cranwell	18-14	England Trip; tries by Nagie, Burrows and Ploederer
5 Apr	Barbos	lost	Barbos are the defending State Club Champions
12 Apr	Colorado College	won	State Collegiate Tournament (WY)
Apr	Colorado University	won	State Collegiate Tournament (WY)
Apr	UNC	won	State Collegiate Tournament Finals (WY)
2-4 May	Principa of St Louis	Won	Western Regional, Lawrence KS
2-4 May	U Northern Colorado	Won	Western Regional Finals, Lawrence KS
17 May	Illinois	15-4	National Collegiate Semi Final, Davenport IA; Scoring tries were Rolling, Miller, Smith and PK by Jones
18 May	Berkeley	9-15	National Collegiate Final, Davenport IA; try by Stark, converted by Jones; drop kick by Motz

B Side Record

Date	Opponent	Score	Notes
<date>	<opponent>	<score>
<date>	<opponent>	<score>
<date>	<opponent>	<score>
<date>	<opponent>	<score>
<date>	<opponent>	<score>
<date>	<opponent>	<score>
<date>	<opponent>	<score>
<date>	Colorado Collegiate C Tournament	<score>	Third place
<date>	Colorado Collegiate B Tournament	<score>	First Place
Season Record	xx-yy

Roster

Last Name	First Name	Class
Brown	Brad	80
Carlson	Walter G	80
Dodson	JC	80
Frappier	Paul	80
Hudson	Robert	80
Jee	Thomas	80
Jeter	George	80
Jones	Noel Tom	80
Kisner	Frank	80
McNabb	Richard	80
Miller	Wiliam Steve	80
Motz	Joseph	80
Nagie	Kevin	80
Origel	Fred	80
Richard	Jeffrey	80
Sirote	Jerome	80
Smith	Arthur	80
Smith	Paul	80
Traster	Richard K	80
Burrows	Jeff	81
Cartney	Mike	81
Fisk	Mark	81
Lamont	Jeff	81
Marolt	Dane	81
Ploederer	Mark	81
Prokopowicz	Dennis	81
Robbins	H Tom	81
Roling	Mark	81
Ryan	Terence	81
Stark	Bruce	81
Tichanuk	Fred	81
True	Alex	81
Bale	Theordore	82
Branby	Bryan	82
Farrell	Todd	82
Pierce	Kevin	82
Roy	Daniel	82
Taiclet	James	82
Arauz	Luis	83
Barkate	Joseph	83
Clark	David	83
Cushing	Bob	83
Fowler	Bobby	83
Gann	Bradford	83
Koehn	James	83
MacDonald	Robert	83
Pallister	Norman	83
Sauvageau	Edward	83
Volker	William	83
Wendlberger	Joseph	83

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Post Season Experience/Records

Post Season Selections

Steve Miller - ERRFU Selects (fall 79)

Kevin Nagie - ERRFU Selects (fall 79)

Post Graduation Involvement

As a Player

Kevin Nagie - Tempe RFC

Selected to Representative Teams

Tony Aretz - Combined Services (83)

Paul Smith - Combined Services (83) ???

Starting Other Teams:

As a Referee

As a Coach

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Leadership

Staff

Head Coach - Al Osur

Assistant Coach - Dan Penny

Assistant Coach - Vern Francis

Assistant Coach - Charles P. (Todd) Chirko '71

Assistant Coach - Major Harvey Schiller

OIC - Alan Osur

CIC - J C Dodson

Captains

C1C Kevin Nagie

C1C Steve Miller

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Media

Back Row L to R: Caoch Todd Chirko 73, Brad Brown 80, Mike Cartney, 81, Supreme Coach Al Osur, Bruce Stark 81, ?Terry Ryan, Brian McNabb, 80, Mark Roling 81, Art Smith 80, Tom Jones 80, Jeff Lamont 81, Team Captain Steve Miller 80, Team President J.C. Dodson 80, Tom "Harold" Robbins 81, Walt Carlson 80, Jeff Richard 80, English ref, Frank Kisner 80, ?Mark Fisk, Tom Gee 80, Paul Smith 80 Bottom row: Jason Prokopowicz 81, Jerry Sirote 80, Mark Ploederer 81, Jeff Burrows 81, ?Dave Hudson, Joe Motz 80, Kevin Nagie 80. Missing: Fred Origel 80, Paul Frappier 80, Dave Jeter 80, Bob Cushing, Vern Francis, Dan Penny

Click for more -> 1980 Men's Spring pictures

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Memorable Events

All American (all National Tournament) Selections: Brian McNabb, Joe Motz and Bruce Stark

Names have been removed to protect the innocent.

fell out of a second story room at Royal Roads; - twice kicked the ball on to a roof top at Aspen; after the Navy game - trashed Roling's parent's living room with cake icing, prompting roses to be sent; - missed the plane from Navy to AFA; - warned for 'tackling too hard' after the opening kickoff at Cranwell; who wrecked Pat Gerdeman's van?

Singing in the rain at Shelford; Tex Byrd and the haunted house; We are the Warriors at Twickenham, flying from one English Base to another via Germany!

Al's classic line "I got them here and the AF can get them home", which prompted a huge thank you to General Brown, Brad's father, for getting the team to England and to the Nationals (although the team had to hitchhike back from Nationals in Davenport to Offitt)

Regarding the loss to Berkeley: Their fullback was Mick Luckhurst, who later kicked for the Atlanta Falcons. On several occasions he chased down one of our kicks and just before being tackled by our wing, kicked the ball backward over his head about 30 meters and into touch. Really frustrating. We were in it until the final whistle. From Wikipedia: Luckhurst was born on March 31, 1958 in Redbourn, Hertfordshire, he attended St Columba's College, St Albans in his home county before going on to attend St. Cloud State University in Minnesota and the University of California at Berkeley, where he starred in rugby as well as American football. He was a key player in leading the Bears to their first national collegiate rugby title in 1980. He also held the record for the longest field goal in California history for many years, a 54-yard boot against Oregon State in 1979

Ask Tom Jones about jumping a train back to the academy from Denver

Fred Origel and Paul Frappier were part of the National Championship boxing team.