Kutztown Rugby

The Kutztown Rugby Football Club was founded in 1984, by a Kutztown student– Mr. Andrew Lewis. Lewis’ interest in the sport prompted him to buy a book on rugby, and along with the help of forty of his friends and fellow Kutztown students – he held the first rugby practice. The newborn club was coached by Mr.Ernie Galgon, a playing member of the Bethlehem Hooligans RFC, and resident of Kutztown Pennsylvania. Ernie was with the club part time for two years, when his business interest took him back to the Lehigh Valley.

1986-88.
In the fall of 1986, Dr. Gregg Jones became the club’s full time head coach. Doc, as he became known, implemented his knowledge and discipline, from playing eighteen years of top flight, division one, representative rugby. The club made an immediate transition to a focused athletic endeavor, riveted on a championship caliber organization. That 1986 campaign was the first winning season in the club’s history. The Golden Bears went 9-1, with their only loss, being a 6-0 loss to Temple University, played in monsoon conditions. In the spring of 1986, Kutztown went undefeated and won their first, of five consecutive, Temple Invitational Tournaments. As an associate member (trial period) of the EPRU, the club dominated the competition, but couldn’t compete in the EPRU playoff system, until Kutztown was admitted to the Union as a full-bodied member. This happened in 1988.

1988-89
The club continued with outstanding on field accomplishments in 1988 and 1989. These years where highlighted with a victory over University of Buckinghamshire, 22-0,which was a touring state side and stopped Kutztown for a midweek warm-up match, before playing powerhouse, Lehigh University. It turns out that Kutztown was the only team to defeat the Brits, on their tour of the Eastern seaboard. The year 1988, also saw the Kutztown Rugby Club embark on their first international tour, when the club traveled to the Freeport Rugby Club to participate in their spring break tournament. The week-long tour saw the Golden Bears come home unblemished, with victories over Florida State, Tulane and Williams College. The side finished the home campaign with an impressive string of victories and only four losses in two calendar years. The year 1989 found the Bears traveling to the Tucson Desert Classic, which was a week of rugby in the Arizona sun. The Golden Bears defeated their first, nationally ranked top ten team when they took down the University of Wisconsin (# 10) in their opening match. The Bears had found their way onto rugby’s national stage, and were no longer the little school from Pennsylvania. The club dropped their next match to nationally ranked (# 4), University of Arizona. Most importantly, the Bears knew that they belonged in this elite company.

1990-97.
The years of 1990 and 1991 saw the club flourish with an excess of seventy players reporting to practices and a continuing domination of the EPRU Collegiate Division with two undefeated regular seasons. In 1991, Kutztown played in their first EPRU Championship, dropping a heartbreaker to a nationally ranked and excellent University of Pennsylvania squad. The next seven consecutive years, found Kutztown University Rugby in the finals of the EPRU Championship game, winning in 1995 and 1997. Of course a great deal more positive things happened in those years of superb play.

In 1993, the club was once again thrust onto the national scene, when Brian Dettling became the first Kutztown player ever named to USA Rugby’s All-American 1st Team. In 1994, two Golden Bears, (prop), Mr. Brian Donnelly and (8th man) Mr. Mark Weibner, were named to the USA Rugby All-American 1st Team. In 1995, the club, consisting of seventy players (1st side, 2nd side and alumni side) traveled to Wales for their second international tour. Kutztown played amongst the local Welsh club teams for ten days and faired quite well. The team was preparing for their first upcoming MARFU Final Four appearance at George Mason University. The Golden Bears finished thirteenth in the nation and defeated the U.S. Naval Academy in the late spring at Kutztown. Mark Wiebner was once again named to the All-American Team in 1995. The years from 1996 to 2000 saw the club ride the victory roller coaster with impressive tournament victories in the prestigious Savannah Rugby Tournament and the Clemson Invitational Tournament, where the Bears ran over The University of Georgia, The University of Arkansas and Clemson University.

1997-2005.
The Bears won the EPRU Championship in 1997 and 2000, along with a MARFU Final Four appearance in the year 2000.The millennium has been a very prosperous five years with EPRU Championships in 2003 and 2005. The club won the following tournaments in the spring of 2005, Austin Texas Classic, Pittsburgh Classic, Big Apple Classic and finished the spring season with a 17-2 overall record. The Bears went undefeated in the fall season of 2005, culminating with another EPRU Championship and qualified for their twelfth consecutive MARFU Tournament appearance.

The Golden Bears have not had a losing season since Dr. Jones took over the reins in 1986.

RUN WITH THE BEARS

Leave your KU Rugby memory below.