Old Blue's Columbia University Origins
Old Blue Rugby Football Club was founded by Columbia alumni William Smith, John Wellington, Pat Moran, Bill Campbell (elected first formal captain), Dick Donelli and Paul Zimmerman.
The first Old Blue teams began fifteen's play in the fall of 1963; and the club won its first championship when it captured the New York 7s on November 30, 1963 to launch a reputation as a US 7s power that has endured for five decades. The Old Blue Rugby Football Club's initial impact forty four years ago in official Eastern Rugby Union league play proved to be an even more auspicious beginning than that of the championship Columbia College RFC (Est. 1961) sides from which it sprang. The ERU held league play only in the spring season, and the OBRFC went an undefeated 10-0-1 in its first season of league play in spring 1964.
Even from its inaugural season, the club was dominant, as the NY Times quoted it as "one of the outstanding clubs on the East Coast." The Old Blue ultimately was undefeated in the first 18 ERU matches in which it ever played. It has successfully maintained to the present day an historical dominance of Eastern US rugby and a national stature as perennially one of the top rugby clubs in the United States.
The Founders, the continuous stream of Columbia athletes who, to this day, have followed them and other Old Blues representing American rugby have gone on to play against all of the best national teams and rugby clubs in the world.
Old Blue RFC
Contact Calder [dot] orr
gmail [dot] com (subject: Old%20Blue%20RFC) (Calder Orr, Old Blue RFC)