BC logo circa late 1990's. Here is part of the story of how the logo was created...

Club History

Baltimore RFC was established on New Year's Eve, 1960, by five hearty medical students. Three of them were Emory Linder, Dixon Hills, and Bill Howard (we are still trying to sort through the ‘grand ole rugby tales’ to find out who the other two were). The first "official" practice was New Year's Day when they went outside and kicked around a beer can. These enthusiastic students formed the Baltimore Rugby Football Club, the first team on the east coast below the Mason Dixon line. The team colors were Maroon and White. The Baltimore Rugby Club is represented not only by the team colors, but also by the "sash" running through the middle of the logo, since their jerseys had a sash going from the left shoulder to the right hip.

During those early years Baltimore was a member of the Potomac Rugby Union. Some of their opponents were: UVA, Princeton, Philadelphia, Old Blue, Manhattan, NY, Washington RFC, Old Red, SAIS RFC (now West Potomac), and two or three other teams from the Washington area. Just like today Baltimore had an influx of college players, some run-of-the-mill crazy guys with no rugby experience and even a few foreigners working in the states who like to get a run. Some early road trips included Montreal and a combined tour of Wales and England with some Philly players. In one instance the guys even played a match against an English submarine/ship that was docked for the weekend. Baltimore, not straying from tradition, hosted the fellas accordingly. It just happens that a young girl became smitten with one of the English fellows and followed him back to the sub. The sub sailed the next morning and a few hundred miles out the Captain got a call from the British embassy notifying him that he may have a stowaway on board. Good rugby 'tails' never die...

Sometime in 1969 there was a split among the players and Chesapeake RFC emerged. As you all know there are never any disagreements among players, coaches and administrators so we all know that this split was amicable and all parties involved remained sociable and pleasant towards one another. The choice of a name...well, Chesapeake is larger than Baltimore, but it denotes the same area. A year later Chesapeake choose the colors Kelly Green and Black because it was believed the darker colors would make the team look meaner. Chesapeake is represented on the logo by the Canadian Goose and the Crabs.

You won't find three meaner guys than John Metcalf (scrumhalf), Dennis Murphy (2nd row) and Mat Tishincski (prop), who were some of the founding members of Chesapeake RFC. The guys recruited a flag football team out of Westinghouse (Western Electric) for a nucleus. The founding fathers pitched in to buy some Jerseys at a discounted price from Simon Harris (Simon Harris must have been a discounted athletic store), the color was off yellow and it's believed that they were actually football jerseys. They were turned in at the end of the game because "Dennis didn't trust us to bring them to the next game", and Pam (Mat's wife) dutifully washed them and brought them to the next game. Much like today!!

Some of Chesapeake's first players in 1969 included: John Metcalf, Dennis Murphy, Mat Tishincski, Jim Pazourek, Ed Bocklage, Dennis Cipko, Roy Woody, Ingo Lahnemann, Bob Twardizk, Thomas Hook, Tom Peddicord, Lou Ruth, Mike Fitzmaurice, Derek Osborne, and Atley Wampler.

The separation from Baltimore was friendly enough that in 1969, the first season for Chesapeake, some of the guys played for Baltimore on Saturday and Chesapeake on Sunday. That first season's home games were played in a variety of places; however, it wasn't until the second season that they found a pitch at Ruxton. As for the founding fathers, Mat got transferred and went on to establish a few Rugby teams in Pennsylvania. A few years ago Dennis suffered an untimely demise. John played for Chesapeake through Sept 1977 when he took a job at Rock Island, Ill. He eventually returned to Virginia in 1983 and played with the Chesapeake Old Boys until 1993.

Sometime in the late 1970’s teams around the city began forming. There were, at one time, at least, 5 teams playing in or around the Baltimore area. They were the Towson Old Boys (or some would prefer Towson Old Men), BACON (Baltimore County), Dundalk, Chesapeake and Baltimore. Under hard times the three smaller clubs eventually merged back into the two major clubs: Baltimore and Chesapeake. Dundalk merged with Baltimore in the early 80’s. The TOB’s merged with Chesapeake in 1984-1985 season and BACON merged with Baltimore in 1988 to form the Baltimore Boars.

BACON was the first team to adopt the Boar logo. They were a strong team for a number of years. Their team colors were black and blue. When Baltimore and BACON merged the Boar logo followed. The team colors for the newly formed Boars was primarily black. For most of their existence they wore black jerseys, black collars, as well as black shorts and socks. It was an intimidating look for a rugby team.

The other merger of TOB and Chesapeake was orchestrated by Peter Brock. Both clubs had been suffering from dwindling membership. The merger helped create a new rugby powerhouse in the Baltimore area. Under Peter's quiet and determined leadership, the newly merged club began the climb out of Division II and into the First division. The combined club, Chesapeake and TOB, would remain near the top of the PRU until the early 90's. With a heavy influx of Towson players Chesapeake changed their colors to gold and black and thus they are represented on the logo too.

In 1997 Chesapeake and Baltimore put aside their differences and merged back together to form Baltimore-Chesapeake RFC. Baltimore, at the time, was playing in Division 2 and Chesapeake was playing in Division 1. The combined members decided to stay in the elite Divison. With an infusion of Australian players in the late 90's, such as Scott Adlington and John Moss, the Baltimore-Chesapeake RFC took on the nickname 'Brumbies'. A brumby is a wild horse native to Australia. Such clubs as the ACT Brumbies are named after the wild animal. The ACT Brumbies are among the top teams in the Super 14. BC's team colors remained a mix of both clubs: Gold, Black, and Green. Thus their new logo was a collection of the old, yet traditional Baltimore rugby style and it's new found family.

Please check back for periodic updates. If you would like to share your knowledge of the history of the club please email the current President, James Hale at jamespaulhale@yahoo.com.