Portal:1980 Spring Men

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1980 Spring Men Portal

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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)


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


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



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


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


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.