1980 National Collegiate Rugby Championship


The 1980 National Collegiate Rugby Championship was the first edition of an official national championship for intercollegiate rugby organized by the U.S. Rugby Football Union. The tournament was sponsored by Michelob and hosted by Palmer College of Chiropractic at Credit Island in Davenport, Iowa. The Cal Bears were victorious in large part to Mick Luckhurst who was tournament MVP.

Participants

Illinois
Qualified for the National Championship by winning the college division of the Mid-America Cup at the Midwest Rugby Championship at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH.
  • First round
Illinois 17-0 Dayton
  • Second round
Illinois 16-10 Palmer
  • Semifinal
Illinois 8-3 Ohio State
  • Final
Illinois 7-6 Minnesota
Roster:
President- Jeff Ruckman

Coach- Merle Faminow
Captain- Kevin McSweeney
Record 22-4-1
Bruce Anderson, Rob Beer, Craig Bergen, Dean Bostrom, Bruce Gillingham, Pete Hancock, Joe Janikas, Mark Kahn, Steve Lardner, Drew Kuhter, Pete McHugh, Kevin McSweeney, Brian Mullery, Mickey O'Neil, Jim Quinn, Jeff Ruckman, J.W. Sears, Rick Smith, Tony Sparrow, Keith Surroz, Joe Vanderbranden, Jeff Young.
Navy
Qualified for the National Championship by winning the Eastern Collegiate Cup on April 5–6 at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.
  • Navy 18-3 South Florida
  • Navy 14-10 Cornell
  • Navy 6-4 Virginia Tech
  • Navy 12-6 Army
Roster:
Coach- Dewey Mateer
Record
Matt Aylward, Tom Brodmerkel, Jim Brownlowe, John Burke, Jerry Chandler, Deryl Chen, Mike Coughlin, Dan Dewispelaere, Jeff Freeman, Chuck French, James Hickey, Rick Keller, Jim King, Steve Laukaitis, Bob Matheny, Herb McMillan, Jim Merrill, Kent Mills, Dennis Murphy, Keith Shultis, Brad Smith, John Theiss.
Air Force Falcons
Qualified for the National Championship by winning the West Regional on 2–4 May in Lawrence, KS.
Roster:

Coach- Alan Osur
Captains- Kevin Nagie/Steve Miller
Record- 11-1
Brad Brown, Jeff Burroughs, Bob Cushing, Jeff Dodson, Paul Frappier, Tom Jee, Tom Jones, Jeff Lamont, Brian McNabb, Steve Miller, Joe Motz, Kevin Nagie, Fred Origel, Mark Ploederer, Jason Prokopowicz, Jeff Richard, Tom Robbins, Mark Roling, Jerry Sirote, Art Smith, Paul Smith, Bruce Stark.
California
Qualified from Far West Regional on April 26–27 at Stanford. A three team round robin was organized by Michelob during the Monterey tournament.
Roster:

Coach- Ned Anderson
Record 15-5-1
Buzz Brown, Darrell Breedlove, Jim Castignani, Kevin Dakis, Mark Deaton, Scott Denardo, Frank Helm, Donald Hooper, Tom Horvath, Mike Lemmon, Tom Lemmon, Mick Luckhurst, Jeff McDermott, Ken Meyersieck,, Tim O'Brien, Doug Raisch, Bob Spurzem, Matthew Taylor, Brian Vincent, Bob Williams.

Semifinals

The semifinals scheduled for 1:00 and 3:00PM respectively were delayed an hour and a half due to storms flooding the pitch requiring another field to be set up by the organizers.

Final

All Tournament Team
Matthew Aylward – Prop
Mark Deaton – #8
Jeff Freeman – Wing
Mick Luckhurst – Fullback
Herb McMillan – Flanker
Brian McNabb – Wing
Joe Motz – Scrumhalf
Brian Mullery – Flyhalf
Tim O'Brian – Outside Center
Doug Raisch – Prop
Jeff Ruckman – Flanker
James Sears – Hooker
Bradley Smith – Lock
Bruce Sorensen – Lock
Bruce Stark – Inside Center