A Message from Association President Craig Manske

September 2026

Badger Rugby Alumni and Friends,

We are coming off another successful Alumni Weekend where three of our rugby brethren were inducted into our Badger Rugby Hall of Fame.  Congratulations to George Hurtis, Jack Goss and Jacob Lieberman for their induction into an elite group of former Badger Ruggers!

With that said, we wanted to update you on the Association’s activities.  As most of you know, the Badger Men’s Rugby Alumni Association is now a separate organization from Madison United Rugby (MUR).  We have our own 501(c)(3) public charity designation and are accepting donations and sustaining membership dues through our official website, BadgerRugbyAlumni.org.  If you have been a sustaining member in the past, please visit our website and sign up to continue your support of the UW Men’s Rugby Club.  If you haven’t been a member, please consider joining.  We have several different membership levels and have a special discount membership for recent graduates to get you started! This is your opportunity to “give back” to the club that helped you develop not only your rugby skills but also the teamwork, leadership and communication skills that you use in your everyday work and personal life.

We are proud to announce that our Alumni Association’s net assets are now in excess of $1,030,000, including an endowment of more than $960,000. We are nearly halfway to our ultimate endowment goal of $2,000,000.  The annual income from this endowment will allow us to increase our coach’s compensation and perhaps add additional coaching staff to make the Men’s Club more competitive in the Big Ten and nationally.  It also allows us to directly support the Men’s Club by providing funds for equipment and travel expenses to allow the club to compete at an elite level.

This spring, the Association made a $14,000 donation to the Men’s Club to provide the needed funding of travel expenses that allowed the Club to compete at the National 7’s Collegiate Championship in Washington, DC.  We also fund the live video feeds of the Men’s Club matches on VEO.

Through this newsletter, we will keep you updated on the Men’s Club schedule and match results, special events the Alumni Association will be hosting and initiatives that we will be announcing for the future.  Occasionally, we run a pop-up online store so that you can purchase alumni apparel and accessories and this newsletter will keep you updated on that as well.  

Collegiate rugby is growing and the competition is becoming so much more intense.  As alums, we have an opportunity to help make a difference in the young lives of the UW Men’s Rugby Club team.  Together, we can provide the support we, as former UW Men’s Rugby teammates, never had but wished we did.  Let’s make a difference!

Cheers,

Craig Manske, ‘78-‘81

President