Portal:Main/Intro

From USAFA Rugby Alumni
Jump to: navigation, search

Welcome to the USAFA Rugby Alumni wiki, the place where you can find out about the history of rugby at the USAF Academy as told by the players, coaches, and fans who made the USAFA Rugby program what it is today. This wiki was designed for you to contribute and help us collect memories of all those great times we all had while being part of USAFA Rugby.

Our history starts from 1961, as the Academy had occasion to pull from intramural rugby players to compete against visiting overseas teams. Officially founded as an intercollegiate team in 1968 by Captain Alan Osur and C2C Angus MacDonald, our first matches were on 29 September 1968 where the A team beat the Denver Highlanders, 29-0, and the B side played the Denver University A team to a 16-16 tie. Fit and fast described play in those early years, prompting the Eastern Rockies Rugby Union President, Terry Fleener, to nickname us "Zoomies"... the nickname stuck and continues on to this day.

Coach Osur rotated away from the Academy, but upon his return he completed the full presence of rugby at the Academy by forming and coaching the AFA women's team. His pupils have gone on to play (some at the highest levels), start many a rugby club, and coach thousands of other players at all age groups. Alan's contribution to our sport and our Academy is another story, but this website is seeded in his initiatives.... it wouldn't be right not to recognize him in this Introduction. http://youtu.be/Bwvz7Vz0QSo

If you are interested in how our long blue rugby line continues, visit the current teams' website:

MEN http://usafarugby.com/Welcome.html

WOMEN: http://afclubrugby.wix.com/wzrfc

The AOG Rugby Alumni Affinity Group Board has set up a Rugby Hall of Fame, to honor those players and coaches who have gone on from the confines of the Academy and the pitch to be successful in their own right. This legacy needs to be preserved as a reminder of our heritage and of our responsibilities to maintain the long blue line.