The Dark Ages
The original University at Buffalo Rugby Club was called the QUEENS RFC for Queen City, as the City of Buffalo is sometimes called. The club was established in 1966 and wore the university's traditional blue and white colors (hoops). (Picture) The university club disbanded in 1971 as there were only a handful of undergraduate players, the rest were graduate students, faculty, and tangential members of the college community. The original "Buffalo Old Boys" was established in 1971 from this group. The Buffalo Old Boys are now the Buffalo Rugby Club.

The University at Buffalo was without rugby until 1977 when the club was re-established. Legend has it that the team had to chase a family of angry turtles off of what was to be the team's future home. The turtles left, but were not happy about it and the team adopted the nickname of "The Mad Turtles". The newly reformed team's colors were sky blue with navy, white & red stripes across the chest and white shorts. (Picture) Matches were played by the Ellicott complex tennis courts. The club was a member of the informal SUNY Rugby Conference and played against such rivals as Buffalo State, Brockport, and SUNY Oswego.

In 1980, the club took a small sponsorship from the now defunct Koch's Brewery and changed it's name to "The Black Horses" and changed it's colors to black jerseys with white shorts and black socks. (Picture) By then the team was a member of the NYS Rugby Conference (NYSRC). Home matches were played at the bowl field between the Ellicott complex and the academic spine. 

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The Return of The Mad Turtles
By the Spring of 1984, the sponsorship had ended and the team began receiving funding from the UB Student Association. With no outside sponsor, the team name reverted to the "Mad Turtles". For it's first ever Spring tour, the team changed it's colors to maroon with gold stripes on the sleeves, white shorts and maroon socks with gold tops. (Picture) The new jerseys proved to be good luck as the Turtles went 4-1 on their 1984 Southern US Tour.

1984 also saw the start of two Turtle traditions that continue today. The annual Alumni Game began in the Spring of 1984 with the Alumni taking on the Undergrads. The Undergrads got the better of the Alumni that day, a result that would not be repeated again until the Spring of 2002. The team also began it's annual exercise in bad taste, better known as the "Transvestite Party".  What began as a fundraiser continues today as a cross between a fashion show and a 'Jerry Springer' episode.

In the fall of 1984, the Turtles picked up and moved again, this time across from the Governor's dormitory. The field was quickly named "Turtle Grove". Legend has it that the field was on top of a large septic waste system. Whatever the truth, the field would be home to the Turtles for the next 10 years.

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UB Gets Serious
The fall of 1984 was also the start of a full collegiate league schedule for the NYS Rugby Football Conference. The season culminated with the inaugural Collegiate Championships held in Buffalo. The Mad Turtles squared off against a heavily favored SUNY Cortland team. When the dust settled, the Turtles had claimed a 24-17 victory and qualified for for USA Rugby's Collegiate National Championship tournament for the first time ever.

The Turtles qualified for the National Championship tournament again in 1987, losing to Northeastern University in the first round of the Eastern regional playoffs. That team finished the year by winning the 1988 NYSRC Upstate tournament defeating Oswego, Syracuse, Cornell, Siena, and Brockport State in the process.

The 1988 UB squad won the NYSRC championship and again qualified for the National Championship tournament defeating Villanova and Lehigh University before losing in the Eastern regional semi-final to the eventual National Champions, Army. During the 1988 regular season, UB outscored their opponents 244-3 allowing only a penalty kick against Canisius College. UB followed up their most successful season ever by repeating as NYSRC Upstate tournament champs in the Spring of 1989. At years end, UB was ranked 13th in the country by USA Rugby. UB successfully defended their NYSRC Championship again in 1989 and 1990.

In 1994 the team changed colors again, keeping the maroon and gold, but adding black collars and black shorts. The team was also on the move again, returning to it's current location behind the Ellicott complex. The team continued to compete at a high level with the 1996 team qualifying for the newly formed Northeast Territory's Final Four. The team also continued to be well represented on select side teams from the NYSRC and the Northeast Territory.

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Following the Fall 2001 season, the Mad Turtles took a historic vote and decided to return to it's roots by changing its colors back to blue and white. (Picture) The new jerseys made their debut at the 2002 NYSRC Spring Tournament and the 2002 Alumni Game.

In the Fall of 2002, the Mad Turtles repeated as NYSRC regular season champions and won the conference championship by defeating cross-town rival Canisius by a score of 30-3. UB followed their Fall championship by winning the 2003 Tulane Mardi Gras Tournament, finishing third in the 2003 Ohio Classic, and winning the 2003 NYSRC Upstate tournament. UB ended the Spring 2003 season ranked #5 in the Northeast.

After a disappointing loss to Cornell in the 2003 NYSRC League Championship, UB remained ranked #5 in the Northeast. Not content to just sit back and take it easy, the Turtles embarked on an ambitious Spring 2004 season. A first-ever trip to the prestigious Cherry Blossom Tournament in Washington, DC saw UB claim the Bowl Championship with wins over U. Virginia and Virginia Tech. The strength of the Spring schedule would help the Turtles as they repeated as NYSRC Tournament Champions, avenging the earlier loss to Cornell by a score of 17-7.

New jerseys were on tap for the fall of 2004 (Picture) as the Turtles won another NYSRC regular season title. Once again UB came up short in the title game losing to Cornell for the second consecutive year, but UB rebounded and defeated nationally ranked UConn the following week to qualify for the NRU Final Four. UB ended the year as the #4 team in the Northeast.

Spring 2005 was a tremendous success as the Mad Turtles went 11-2 on the season that included a return trip to the Cherry Blossom Tournament and a trip to the Beast of the East tournament in Rhode Island, where they reached the finals. The boys in blue showed off their depth by winning their third consecutive Upstate tournament, this time not surrendering a single point on the day, and with the B side participating in the DII tournament, and beating a much larger Buffalo State side.

UB Rugby entered the Fall 2005 season with great expectations as they had a large number of returning players mixed with many promising rookies. They combined to wage one of the most successful campaigns in UBRFC history, with the A side going 9-1-1 on the year and the talented B side ending with a 6-2-0 mark. The Mad Turtles won their second consecutive NYSRC regular season title allowing a mere 20 points in league play, and on a beautiful fall afternoon they claimed their ninth NYSRC title defeating arch rival Cornell 29-12. UB advanced to the NRU Final Four for the third time in five years with a 20-15 win over Northeastern and found themselves ranked in the top 20 for the first time since the late 1980's. UB lost a tough match to #15 Dartmouth in the NRU semi-finals, but once again defeated Cornell to claim third place out of over 100 teams in the Northeast, and a #19 national ranking.

The future looks promising for the Mad Turtles as they continue to add members. The development of more local high school rugby programs is helping to raise the overall skill level of the team and they are committed to continuing their success. The team is planning another aggressive spring season and are eagerly anticipating their first ever European Tour as they will be traveling to Ireland in March of 2006.

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