Oct. 10, 2008
BERKELEY - The Golden Bears rugby program looks back on its 127-year history with pride in the accomplishments of its alumni throughout the history of the NFL, with former ruggers from the University of California achieving at high levels as professional football players and coaches.
Since the rugby program was founded at Cal in 1882, former players have contributed 95 years of service to the NFL as players and coaches. Playing for 15 teams and two Hall of Fame coaches along the way, these former Rugby Bears have earned seven rings in nine trips to the Super Bowl, four All-Pro/All-NFL selections, three Pro Bowl nods, two team captaincies and a first-round draft selection.
"There have literally been hundreds of football players who also played rugby as a second sport at Cal and understandably, some have gone on to the NFL," said rugby head coach Jack Clark. "We are quite proud to have these men among our rugby alumni."
The list of Cal rugby alumni in the NFL traces back throughout the history of the league on teams that run the gamut, from the NFC East's Washington Redskins and AFC East's Pittsburgh Steelers to the NFC West's San Francisco 49ers and AFC West's Denver Broncos; to the Chicago Bears in the league's "Black & Blue" division and franchises that changed cities like the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams, St. Louis Cardinals and L.A./Oakland Raiders; to younger organizations such as the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks; down to historical throwback teams like the New York Yanks and Toldeo Maroons.
Cal rugby's pro football history includes many unique facets, not the least of which is the story of Les Richter, who co-captained the football team and captained the rugby team at Cal from 1949-51 before being drafted in the first round as the second overall pick by the NFL's Dallas Texans (now the Colts).
Richter was traded to the then-L.A. Rams for 11 players prior to playing his first game in what is still the largest deal ever made in pro football for a single player. He then served two years in Korea as a First Lieutenant in the Army before returning to play nine seasons for the Rams. Richter went to eight Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro in 1956. He was the Rams' defensive captain for six seasons.
Another war veteran was Jim "Truck" Cullom, who joined the Marines during World War II as an 18-year-old before enrolling at Cal after his discharge. Truck was a football lineman and rugby prop forward for the Golden Bears, and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1950. He played two games with the 1951 New York Yanks (who also later became the Colts) before being recalled to active duty and serving in Korea. After completing his military service, he returned to Cal as the junior varsity rugby coach for three decades alongside longtime head coach Miles "Doc" Hudson.
Among the five former Cal rugby players who became members of Super Bowl teams, former Golden Bears linebacker and rugby back-rower Loren Toews holds the most rings, with four championships as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers' Steel Curtain defense. Toews was a starter on the famous 1971 Cal rugby team that went 6-3 on a six-week tour of Australia and New Zealand, beating Australia Capital Territory and later Queensland University at Ballymore.
Toews is joined by fellow rugby alumni and Super Bowl participants Rob Swenson, a linebacker and rugby back-rower who played with Denver's Orange Cush defense in Super Bowl XXII; Keith Kartz, an offensive lineman and rugby lock for Clark who started in Super Bowl XXIV for the Broncos; Ray Willsey, a rugby midfielder who won two Super Bowls as an assistant coach with the Raiders (1981 and '84); and Mike White, a Cal Athletic Hall of Famer who started on both the football and rugby teams at Cal before returning to his alma mater as head football coach from 1972-77 and later serving as the assistant head coach on Dick Vermeil's Super Bowl XXXIV champion St. Louis Rams.
Some of these rugby alumni were coached by a few of the greatest coaches in the history of the NFL, including Pro Football Hall of Famers Chuck Knoll, who guided Toews and the Steelers to four Super Bowls, and George Allen, the Redskins coach who famously told linebacker and former rugby back-rower Dallas Hickman to change his name because he didn't like the name of a division rival among his players.
One of Hickman's Cal rugby and football teammates was winger and gridiron defensive back Scott Stringer, who caught on with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1974 after a stellar two-sport career as a Golden Bear.
Two more members of the Cal rugby family hooking up NFL teams in the late-'70s were rugby winger Steve Rivera and lock Jeff Sevy, a gridiron wide receiver and tackle who became teammates again on the 1978 Chicago Bears. Rivera preceded his stint in Chicago with a year on the 49ers, and Sevy contributed two more seasons with the Seahawks following his term with the Bears.
Many of the contributions these former rugby players made in the NFL elevated them to the top of their teams' statistical categories and resulted in honors from their teams.
Cal Athletic Hall of Famer (rugby/football) Mick Luckhurst, whose kicking carried Cal to its first rugby national championship in 1980, finished with 558 points scored and ended his seven-year pro career as the all-time points leader as a placekicker for the Atlanta Falcons.
Luckhurt was preceded into the NFL by rugby teammate Greg Bracelin, an all-star flanker on the 1980 Cal team that beat Air Force in the first national collegiate rugby championship. A defensive MVP at linebacker for Cal's football program, Bracelin was a Denver draft pick who played 68 games over five seasons with the Broncos, Oakland Raiders and both the Baltimore and Indianapolis Colts.
Matt Hazeltine Jr. is another example. Matt played with the 49ers for 15 seasons, the most by any linebacker in team history. The two-time All-Pro and All-NFL selection was a captain for five seasons and in 1968 received his team's most prestigious honor, the Len Eshmont Award, for "inspirational and courageous play."
Hazeltine Jr. was a rugby flanker in the early '50s at Cal, where his father also played gridiron and rugby before becoming a member of the 1920 U.S. Olympic rugby team, which won the gold medal.
When Matt Hazeltine Jr. died of Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS) after a 10-year battle in 1987, coach Bill Walsh established the Hazeltine Iron Man Award given annually to the 49ers' most inspirational defensive player.
Cal football tackle and rugby lock Stan Dzura was an third-round draft pick of the San Diego Chargers in November of 1964. In the following spring of 1965, Dzura joined his rugby teammates on their tour of Australia and New Zealand, a trip that cemented the '65 team's place among the greatest rugby teams in Cal history, but one that sadly ended Dzura's pro football career before it could begin. Dzura injured his leg in the midst of the Golden Bears' highly successful tour, which included a win over New Zealand University and an 8-8 draw with the State of Queensland, and he was unable to resume his athletic playing career on the gridiron or rugby pitch.
Several former Golden Bears, including Clark, who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1978, were also under NFL contract before ultimately being released and moving on to successful endeavors elsewhere, including rugby careers with national and professional teams.
Garrett Cross won a national championship as a lock on Cal's 2007 rugby team after his successful gridiron career as a tight end for the Golden Bears was followed by a trip to Green Bay Packers training camp before returning to campus to complete his degree. Other former ruggers, all coached by Clark, who competed for roster spots at NFL camps are Shaun Paga, a U.S. National Team player who signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2000; Cal prop and fellow national team rugby player Don James (Broncos, 1985), football lineman and rubgy lock Greg Loberg (Saints, 1985 and '87),Cal and national team prop Jacob Waasdorp (Packers, 2001), Golden Bear and national team lock Ron Zenker (Saints, 1985), and All-America rugby winger and football wide receiver Fa'asamala Tagaloa (49ers '89 and Rams '90).
All these successful NFL alumni are remembered just as fondly for their contributions to the success of Golden Bears rugby, which has now claimed 24 of the 29 national championships since the title contest was inaugurated.
The 2009 season of Cal rugby kicks off in January.
