Coming together for a common goal

The Madison Men’s Rugby Club, founded in 1974, is the first and oldest club sport at JMU, followed two years later by the Women's Rugby Club. From Oct. 10 to 13, Men’s Rugby celebrated its 50th year with a campus tour on Friday and several Rugby matches on Saturday for the women’s A and B teams, a current men’s season game, and men’s alumni joining forces with current Men’s Rugby players.

On Saturday night, a Celebration of the Future event featured the establishment and induction of the first class of the Madison Rugby Hall of Fame. More than 300 attended the event, and all six of the team’s coaches from the last five decades were honored. Nearly 230 alumni flew in for the occasion, and about 70 attended JMU’s Thursday night football game.

As part of the anniversary event, decades teams from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s were announced, and the Rugby Hall of Fame team inducted its first 17 members. Some players who went on to play for the U.S. Eagles men’s national rugby union team also attended.

Times have changed since Rob McGinnis (’78) helped co-found and coach the team in 1974. Players didn’t need to be Madison students, so his team included an English teacher, a Bridgewater College student, and an employee of the U.S. Forest Service.

Rules have also evolved to improve safety over the years. “My neck was broken during a match against UVA, and I had six compression fractures, and I continued to coach,” he said.

McGinnis, who started playing rugby in high school, recalled coaching in 1976 when the men’s club knocked UVA out in the first round of the initial Ed Lee collegiate state tournament. JMU Rugby was new, he said, so “that was a big deal.” 

For graduate student John Jornlin (’23) and his father, original team member Phil Jornlin (’75, ’76M), the anniversary event was a full-circle moment.

“It’s very nice that he could see me play,” said John, 23, who felt he was “representing my dad through my play.”

Phil, 76, came to rugby after playing high school football. He started at JMU in 1972 after attending Virginia Military Institute and serving two tours of duty in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy, later spending over 50 years with the U.S. State Department overseas.

As a football lineman, he said, “You’re propping up a guy in the middle.” But in rugby, “everybody can carry the ball. You’re not tied into a specific role; you’re playing as a player, and that was enjoyable for me — being more involved.” 

The event raised $125K for the Rugby program, which includes the Women’s Rugby Club. All 50th anniversary donations were received by the John Carr Memorial Rugby Fund, a 501(c)(3), which in turn provides funds to the JMU Rugby program.

The fund was established by McGinnis and Dennis Tracz (’78) in 2021. The fund negotiated the naming of John Carr Field and provided funds to replace the scoreboard among many other donations to the program. Currently, the John Carr Memorial Rugby Fund serves as the fundraising partner for the newly established JMU Men’s Rugby Alumni Association.

Three alums matched dollar-for-dollar all the money donated, said Brian Rainey (’04), who helped organize the anniversary weekend. “A lot of what we did was foundational,” he said.

The alumni organization is implementing an email system to keep alumni updated. They formalized annual membership dues and are sponsoring scholarships to support teams and to fly in a coach from Wales on a recurring basis.

“It was incredibly successful, and that was our goal — to reestablish and relaunch what we can do going forward,” Rainey said. He is also collaborating on the Women’s Rugby Club Team 50^th Anniversary event, planned for spring of 2026.

Kevin Grunkemeyer (’98) never played rugby before joining the Madison team as a freshman. Since then, he’s made rugby a consistent part of his life, playing with two men’s touring clubs out of Rocky Gorge, Maryland, for 14 years, and traveling to Ireland, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, England and twice to Barbados.

At JMU, he was part of a diverse team focused on the same goal. “It gave me a place to belong,” he said. Now part of the Madison Rugby Club Alumni, he helped plan the 50^th anniversary weekend and attended with his wife, Kellie (Kirstein) Grunkemeyer (’00).

The camaraderie is part of what makes JMU Rugby special, even among opposing teams, Rainey said. “It truly is a different sport from that standpoint — that sense of a brotherhood.”

Many of Rainey’s best friends are from that team 25 years ago, and he said it was also great seeing players from across the decades. “[It’s] super unique to the sport and I think it’s a really unique thing to the men’s rugby program,” he said. “Our goal from this event was cast the widest net [of participation].”