The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as California or Cal, the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I primarily as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and for a limited number of sports as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). In 2014, Cal instituted a strict academic standard for an athlete's admission to the university. By the 2017 academic year 80 percent of incoming student athletes were required to comply with the University of California general student requirement of having a 3.0 or higher high school grade point average.
Rugby union in the United States is played at youth, high school, college, amateur, professional, and international levels and governed by USA Rugby. There were over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby union clubs exist around the country, including those who are part of college rugby. Professional club competition has existed as Major League Rugby (MLR) since 2017.
Tom Billups is an American former rugby union rugby player, who played for the USA Eagles as an international and Blackheath Rugby Club, Harlequin F.C., and Pontypridd RFC as a professional. After retiring as a player in 1999, he joined the staff of the United States national team and was the head coach from 2001 to 2006. In addition to coaching the Eagles, Billups managed the U.S. national sevens team program and coached the 2005 U.S. sevens team. In 2015 Billups was inducted into U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame, and was the first person to be inducted as both a player and coach. In 2018 Billups became the 14th recipient of the Craig Sweeney Award which was first award in 1979 in memory of former United States national team member and captain, Craig Sweeney. The Sweeney Award is presented to a former national team player who has contributed significantly to the game while displaying exemplary character on and off the field.
Mike MacDonald is a retired rugby union footballer who previously played for Leeds Carnegie in the RFU Championship and English Premiership. He represented the United States national team and predominantly played at the prop position.
Thretton Palamo is an American rugby union player who plays centre for Old Glory DC of Major League Rugby (MLR).
Jack Clark is an American former rugby union player, former head coach of the U.S. national rugby team, and the current head rugby coach at the University of California, where he became the sixth head coach in team history in 1984.
Division 1-A Rugby is the highest level of college rugby within the United States and is administered by USA Rugby. Division 1-A rugby is modeled after NCAA athletic competitions, with the 40 D1-A rugby schools divided into seven conferences: East, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, California, Big Ten, Lonestar River, and Independent.
Blaine Hansen Scully is an American former rugby union player who played for the U.S. national team as a fullback or wing. Scully was captain of the U.S. national team and previously served as co-captain alongside long-serving USA Eagle, Todd Clever. Professionally, Scully last played in Wales for Cardiff Blues and for the Leicester Tigers. Scully also founded the United States Rugby Players Association (USRPA) with former 7s Eagle, James Gillenwater.
The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC began as the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010 to 2017, on ESPN News and ESPN3 from 2018 to 2019, The Rugby Network in 2021 and 2023, and on CBS Sports in 2022. The CRC capitalized on the surge in popularity of rugby at major universities following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics. Beginning in 2021, the tournament has been organized by National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) under license for the name and logo. Since the CRC franchise was licensed to NCR, the tournament has primarily featured comparatively smaller universities, as USA Rugby, recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the sport's National Governing Body (NGB), holds the official championship in June 2024.
The USA Sevens Rugby Collegiate Championship Invitational,, was a rugby union sevens tournament. The competition was held from 4–6 June at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The CCI was a groundbreaking event in college rugby for several reasons—it was the first ever rugby sevens championship contested among college rugby programs, and it was the first time college rugby was broadcast live on network TV. This was the only year that the tournament was called the "Collegiate Championship Invitational." The following year, the tournament changed its name to the "Collegiate Rugby Championship."
The USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships is an annual competition among the top men's college rugby teams in the country to decide a national champion in rugby sevens. USA Rugby organized the championship to capitalize on the surge in popularity of rugby sevens following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby to the Summer Olympics. USA Rugby recognized that rugby sevens is growing in popularity, participation and interest. At the time of the foundation of the tournament, rugby was one of the fastest growing sports across college campuses. This tournament is a major contributor to the selection process for USA Rugby Olympic athletes.
The California Golden Bears rugby team is the college rugby team of the University of California, Berkeley. The Golden Bears have won 33 championships since the national collegiate championships for rugby began in 1980. Current head coach and Cal alumnus Jack Clark took over the team in 1984, and has achieved prolonged success, leading the Bears to 28 national titles, including twelve consecutive championships from 1991 to 2002, five more consecutive titles from 2004 to 2008, and back-to-back titles in 2010 to 2011 and 2016 to 2017.
This is a list of results and records for the USA Rugby National Collegiate Men's Rugby Championships, which began in 1980. The 1984–1988 and 1990 editions were played in conjunction with the Annual Pebble Beach Rugby Classic. In 2010, several of the top college teams agreed to form the College Premier League, now known as Division 1-A Rugby to begin play in spring 2011. This list does not include records from the breakaway invitational Varsity Cup Championship held between 2013 and 2017, nor from the rival National Collegiate Rugby Organization's D1 championship that began in 2021.
Seamus Kelly is a former American rugby union player who played outside centre for the United States national team.
Matt Sherman is a former American rugby union fly-half and current coach of the Army men's rugby team at the United States Military Academy. His ‘21/‘22 Army West Point squad won the D1A National Championship.
Madison John Hughes is a professional rugby union player who plays as a fullback. Born in England, he represents United States at international level after qualifying on residency grounds.
The Olympic Club RFC is a Pacific Rugby Premiership team based in San Francisco, California, and were the 2019 Division II USA national champions. Known as the OC, or the Winged 'O' ruggers, the rugby team was formed in 1908 under the wing of the San Francisco Olympic Club, an athletic club and private social club which had been founded in 1860.
Gary Mel Hein is a former American rugby union player. He played as a wing. He is grandson of the late New York Giants player and Pro Football Hall of Famer Mel Hein and son of the pole vaulter Mel Hein Jr., who briefly held the U.S. indoor pole vault record with a jump of 16'5 3/4" at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California.
San Diego State Aztecs Rugby Club is the rugby union club that represents San Diego State University (SDSU). The men's team competes in Division 1-A in the California Conference and the women's team competes in Division II in the Pacific Desert Conference. The team plays its home games at ENS 700 Field.
John Rowland Buchholz is an American former rugby union international.
