USA Features

Cal Berkeley Team Feature

In the history of sports in the United States there are many great dynasties; the John Wooden era in basketball at UCLA, Michael Jordan’s run of championships with Chicago Bulls, the University of North Carolina’s impressive tally of women’s national soccer titles, Tom Brady’s recent run of form with the New England Patriots.

But none of these can match Cal Berkeley’s dominance in rugby in terms of number of championships and the impact they have had on the sport as a whole over the years.

Since the rugby national championship game was first introduced in 1980, the Golden Bears have won 23 of the 28 titles which included a run of 12 straight titles from 1991 through 2002.  After slipping up in 2003 with a third place finish, Cal was quick to reverse that outcome and are once again back to winning ways and in the midst of a 4 title run that started in 2004.

While the championship run started for Cal in 1980 it is far from the beginning of the Cal rugby story and their impact on the game of rugby in the United States.

Cal’s first team was put together in 1882 and became the university's first sport played against an outside opponent.   In that game, the Golden Bears faced a group of rugby-playing ex-Brits calling themselves the Phoenix Rugby Club of San Francisco and narrowly lost 7-4.

The team did not let this opening loss deter them, however, and they went on to finish the year 2-1-1 which included a 7-6 win over the Phoenix Rugby Club in a rematch.

From this inaugural season through 1931, the rugby team played intermittingly at the university as popularity shifted from rugby to a version of American rules football before taking a 17 year hiatus after the start of World War I.

But this did not mean that Cal did not place their stamp on U.S. rugby during these years as several players struck gold! 

California students Charlie Tilden, Matt Hazeltine, Red Meigan, George Dixon, C. "Babe" Slater and Ed "Mush" Graff were among the Americans who helped the U.S. win the only two Olympic gold medals in the sport and in the process surprised fans from Europe with their "aggressive tackling and superb punting" according to a French newspaper of the day.

Rugby returned as a university sanctioned sport in 1931 and has been played ever since.

The current age of dominance for rugby was largely made possible from the solid foundation and years of consistency from the program.  Since 1931 the school has had only four coaches; Graff, who re-started the program and coached until 1937.

Miles "Doc" Hudson, who was at the helm for 37 years and posted an impressive won/loss record of 339-84-23.  Hudson’s reign saw the Golden Bears play teams such as New Zealand All Blacks, the Australia Wallabies and the Oxford-Cambridge combined team in addition to other collegiate sides.

Hudson was replaced by Ned Anderson. Under Anderson’s tutelage the sport started a national collegiate championship and Anderson's Cal side was not surprisingly the first to walk away with the national trophy.

In 1984 current coach Jack Clark took over from Anderson and has continued to build on the tradition.  Since taking over the team has won 19 championships which includes a domestic winning streak of 98 games from 1985-96, followed immediately by a 70-game tear that lasted until 2003.

Former Eagles head coach Tom Billups has been an assistant coach with the club since 2000.

While all the credit for championships over the years goes to the players and coaches, Cal has the added luxury of solid support from a loyal group of Cal Rugby alumni who have endowed the sport at Cal through a fundraising effort entitled "Cal Rugby Forever."

Results of this drive have included the construction of the Doc Hudson Fieldhouse, named after the legendary coach, the home of team offices and alumni functions.

Club Profile

Club Name:  University of California, Berkeley  (Cal)
Mascot:  Golden Bears
Club History (date established, etc.): Established 1882
Age Group: 18-22 years of age
Division: Collegiate Division I
Location: Berkeley, California
Territory/Union: Pacific Coast / Northern California
Honors: National Collegiate Champions 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Coach(es):   Jack Clark. Tom Billups, Jerry Figone
Individual Honors:
108 All Americans
36 U.S. National Team players
6 Olympians
3 players who have earned one or more “Blue” from Oxford University

RugbyRugby Team Feature
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