History

RUTGERS ULTIMATE ARCHIVES
This history was compiled and written by Mike Porter. Anyone having any additional information, especially information which would fill the present gaps, send email to Rutgers_Ultimate@hotmail.com. Ammendments added by Brian Lo and Bill Kieffer.

Rutgers National Championships
1973, by consensus
1974, by consensus
1975
1976

Past Rutgers Ultimate Captains - Open
'72 - '74: Irv Kalb and Geoff West
'74 - '77: Irv Kalb and Milt Hadiks
'78 - '79: Roger Grillo
'80 - '81: Bob Campbell, Bill Gran
'81' - 83: Joel Price
: Mike Burianai
'86 - '87: Paul ???
'88 - '89: Paul Kartschoke and Larry Anouna
'89 - '90: Paul Kartschoke and Mike Porter
'90 - '91: Mike Porter and Tom Okonsky
'91 - '92: Jeff Hirsh and Hiram Wurf
'92 - '93: Geoff Dimasi and Joe Lotrario
'93 - '94: Paul Socolow and David "Duke" Greenberg
'94 - '95: Brian Lee
'95 - '96: Dan Kaus (?)
'96 - '97: Ezra Wood and Milo (Craig Bencivengo)
'97 - '98: Charles Kandzioloka and Bing Tung
'98 - '99: Seth Vatsky
'99 - '00: Jason Edwards and Bert Blumenthal
'00 - '01: Jason Edwards and Brian Lo
'02 - '04: Emilio Panasci
'04 - '05: Raju Prasad
'05 - '06: Tim Chang

Past Rutgers Ultimate Captains - Women
'90 - '91: Mara Lindsley and Barb Jelski (founders)
'91 - '92: Barb Jelski and Michelle Buzzoni
'92 - '93: Michelle Buzzonni and Chris Keenan
'93 - '94: Chris Keenan and Tami Seymour
'94 - '95: Jen Freeman and Anouk Savineau
'96 - '97: Beth Wise
'97 - '98: Nurit Bloom
'98 - '99: Nancy Sheraga
'99 - '00: Ginger Wey
'00 - '01: Ginger Wey and Elyssa Serrilli

The First Game - Nov. 6, 1972
Rutgers played Princeton in the first college ultimate game held on November 6, 1972 in New Brunswick, NJ. The Contest was held in the parking lot behind the College Avenue Gym, the same site where, 103 years earlier, Rutgers and Princeton clashed in the first college football game. The box score which appered in the New York TImes the next day states that Rutgers defeated Princeton 29-27.

About a thousand spectators lined the field for the first game, inclunding newspapers, radio and ABC-TV cameras. Rutgers, clad in red shirts and matching blue sweatpants, took a two point lead in the first 24 minute half, and matched the Princeton Tigers point for point through the second half for the victory.

Rutgers was lead by Columbia High School graduates Irv Kalb and Geoff West, two players who helped originate the game in Maplewood, NJ. Dan "Stork" Roddick, a 6'-5" graduate student from Shippenberg, PA, was a favorite long target of theirs, scoring 10 goals in the game. The "Stork" was a PA and NJ state champion in trick, distance, and accuracy competitions. Roddick had stopped throwing when he entered graduate school at Rutgers, but came out of hibernation after he saw an advertisement for the ultimate team on campus.

History was also made by Peggy Delahanty, a Rutgers freshman from Cresskill, NY, who played several minutes during the second half and became the first woman to ever play ultimate on an intercollegiate level.

Rutgers co-captain Geoff West was quoted in the New York Times as saying, "I hope this will catch on. We really dig this sport."

The Early Years
Rutgers was the Ultimate powerhouse back in the early seventies. In 1973, Rutgers began what is still known (to a few old-timers) as "the streak." They won every game they played through the spring of 1975 - 48 consecutive victories. "The streak" was finally broken by U. Conn.

At that time, there were only a handful of east coast colleges playing ultimate; these schools included Cornell, Hampshire College, Tufts University, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, Princeton, Yale, and U. Conn. Rather than multi-team tournaments, Rutgers would take "road trips" to various schools, playing one game at Hampshire, one game with Clark University, and one game at Tufts before returning howe. The games were also played in 24 minute halves, rather than to a point total, as is more common today. The team prepared for these contests by practicing on the lighted field on Busch Campus nest to the golf course, near where the Busch Bubble would later be erected (if that verb can be applied to bubbles.)

Four Consecutive National Champoinships
The 1973 and 1974 National Championships were awarded to Rutgers "by consensus." The Knights were in the midst of their 48 game undefeated streak during this period and were simply recognized as the best team then playing ultimate. By 1975, however, about 25 colleges on the east coast were fielding ultimate squads, and the first major tournament ever would be held to determine the championship.

The tournament would be the Yale Invitational Tournament, which brought together the best eight teams in the country. The Scarlet Knights were named the top seed, while Hampshire College was the listed the second.

Rutgers defeated Tufts and Cornell on their way to the finals. Irv Kalb, Dan Roddick and Al Simone lead the team offensively, while Milt Hadiks and Ken Buchanan sparked the defense.

In the finals of the tournament, Rutgers faced Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a surprise winner over Hampwhire. After a tight game with many lead changes, Rutgers found themselves trailing 22-21 with just four minutes to play. Bu the Scarlet Knights rallied from behind to win 26-23, their 29th stright win and third consecutive national title.

A photo of the team after capturing their third National Championship shows the team in their black and red, vertically striped jerseys with Coach Bob Eberle.

The Spring of 1976 saw ultimate spread throughout the country. A bunch of teams spring up in the Mid-West, and there were rumors of teams in Florida, Texas and California. Rutgers was still the most powerful team in the nation, although "the streak" had ended and they were no longer seen as invincible.

Amherst, Mass. was selected as the site of the National Championship tournament, a 16-team invitational to be held over the weekend of April 23-25, 1976. There was hot debate over how an "invitational tournament" could determine the national championship. The Mid-West insisted upon holding its own "regional" tournament, the first of its kind, and that the top three teams from that tournament be invited to the Amherst affair.

The single elimination tournament began on Friday afternoon. All top eight seeds won their first game (they were: Rutgers, Hampshire, Princeton, Cornell, Penn St., Rensselaer, Calvin College (Michigan), and Amherst College.) Tufts took to the fields wearing Groucho Marx glasses and noses (complete with cigars). Hampshire subbed in an entire seven by driving a VW out onto the field, having seven players jump out, while the previous seven jumped in.

Rutgers and Hampshire prevailed through the semis and advanced to the Sunday morning finals. Several huundred spectators braved the rain, most of them rooting for the home-town underdogs. The game started off very close, as the score was tied at 5, then again at 6 and 7. Hampshire then scored three to take the lead 10-7, and Rutgers called a time-out. Hampshire continued to pour it on, and took a 12-8 lead.

At 12-9, Rutgers abondoned their zone defense. According to Eric Simon, a participant in that tournament and the current UPA Director of Competition, "It is difficult to describe what a shock that was. Rutgers had invented the zone defense, and they had played in every minute of every game that year. Could they suddenly start playing man-to-man, for the first time of the year, in the finals of the championship?" But the switch paid off, and Rutgers tied the score at 13 as time ran out on the first half.

Hampshire scored first in the second half, and soon the score was 15-14. That was the last lead hampshire had. Rutgers scored two to take the lead 16-15, and then at 18-16 they on the gas. Rutgers marched to a 22-18 lead, and then scored the last five of six goals to win 27-19, their fourth consecutive (and last) national championship.

The 1978 Season
Back in 1978, there was no UPA, and no spring college series. The ream still practiced on the lighted field on Busch Campus, but there was no bubble there, where they often scrimmaged with the Knights of Nee, a local club team. Other competition was Glassboro, Heifers (members of which went on to found New York, New York), Kutztown, Trenton State, and Bucknell. Rutgers also played Princeton in tough games that year. Princeton was *bleep*y and played strong zone, but the precise passing of Rutgers usually triumphed.

Regionals were hosted at Bucknell in November, 1978. The team's budget allowed them to rent two campers/RV's to travel and sleep in. Rutgers missed Nationals by one game when they lost to either Bucknell or Nee, who advanced to the next level.

"Our Father Was Attilla"
This cheer must have been authored sometime after the Spring 1980 season because both Don Cain (RC '77) and Dave Altana (RC '80) don't know a thing about this cheer. The story according to Joel Price is that the cheer was written in the fall of '81 on the car ride up to a the Ultimate Affair in Amherst, MA, due in large part to Ivan Amatto.

The 1987 Season
The team qualifies for College Regionals, held at Lehigh. Eliminated by Kutztown?

The Fall 1987 - Spring 1988 Season
Rutgers Ultimate just missed qualifying for College Regionals this year, but was then invited to attend after a few teams dropped out. Penn State held regionals?? I was laid up with a broken collarbone, and so didn't attend, but I seem to remember that RU didn't win a game at regionals. During this year, Captain Mihir Maniar tells the team that our name is the "Order of Plastic," but nobody buys it and it's never mentioned again.

The Fall 1988 - Spring 1989 Season
In 1989, the Rutgers Ultimate team made it to College Regionals in Raleigh, NC. We were eliminated by Princeton in the third game (that's right, we drove nine hours to play Princeton). At this tournament we experienced some of the most remarkable weather ever seen, as the second game was interruptedby a hailstorm and accompanying 20 degree drop in temperature, followed by an immediated return to warm, sunny 70 degrees. This tournament saw Tom Rockafeller's return to form after a year of not playing Ultimate. But the MVP of the season for RU was Ken Williams, a transfer student from Southern Illinois who played with us for only this one year.

The Fall 1989 - Spring 1990 Season
This year we were the team without a name, despite our best efforts to come up with a nickname upon which everyone could agree. (Notable suggestions: Juggernaut, Love Demons.)

1990 also saw the inaugural College Easterns Tourney held in Wilmington, NC, which has since become something of a spring break tradition for Rutgers.

College Regionals was held at Princeton this season. Rutgers was again eliminated in its third game, this time against William and Mary.

The Fall 1990 - Spring 1991 Season
Women's Ultimate is founded at Rutgers! In the fall of 1990, only 19 years after Peggy Delahanty played in the first college ultimate game, a women's team was founded at Rutgers by Barb Jelski and Mara Lindsley, two die-hard ultimate competitors who had been playing with the open team since 1987. Kristin Mateo was another member of the team who had been playing with the men's team over the previous three years.

Liz Alban is credited with suggesting the name immediately adopted by the women's team: " name="" play.)In 1991, the (now men's) Rutgers team advanced to College Regionals as the third seed from the north section behind UPenn and Princeton. Having placed well at Ivies earlier in the season, the Rutgers team travelled down to the tournament in St. Mary's, MD, with high hopes.

Rutgers put in a solid showing on the first day of play, defeating a strong UVA team lead by former Rutgers captain Paul Kartschoke (now playing under the alias "Cool"). Casualties took a heavy toll on the team, however, as Tom Rockafeller went down with a torn interior cruciate. The day ended with an uninspired loss to UPenn, who would qualify for Nationals.

Reeling from the defeat at the hands of the Void, Rutgers came out flat the next day against Haverford, and was eliminated from contention. But the team could take pride in the facts that they were "one game away from Nationals" as they played UPenn, and in the improvement they had shown over the past four years.

The 1992 Season
This year Tom Rockafeller spent on the sidelines as a "coach." The men's team began using the name "Hot Animal Machine."

The 1993 Season
This was the inaugural year for the "Queen's Cup," the annual Rutgers Spring Tournament. The name Queen's Cup comes from Rutgers' original name, Queens College. Queens College changed its name to Rutgers in 1825 (after Henry Rutgers donated a total of $2000 to the school) because, among other things, it was a very undemocratic name in post-Revolutionary War America. The winner of the tournament gets their name on a trophy that Paul Socolow built.

Shakti Season - The first tournament of the spring season was down at UVA, but Sunday's play was cancelled after the teams woke up to 3 feet of snow on the ground. The trip back from Charlottesville took 11 hours.

Men's season - This year the men's team shortened their name to simply "Machine Ultimate."

The 1994 Season
Shakti Season - The women had a successful season despite the small size of the roster (a maximum of 9 players at any given tournament). Shakti went 3-1 at Queen's Cup, beating Haverford, Tufts, and Yale. At College Regionals, the women took UPenn point for point through the first half with a newly learned zone defense, but were eventually overcome due the te sheer numbers of the UPenn squad.

Men's Season - In the fall, the Machine hosted the "Snowball Classic." Rutgers went 4-2 on their home turf in this college-only tournament, losing only to UPenn, who would qualify for Nationals in the spring, and Vassar.

The Machine was able to qualify for College Regionals in the spring with wins over section rivals East Stoudsburg, Drew, and the Bucknell Landsharks. The young team did not win any games at Regionals, but gained valuable experience for the future.

The 1995 Season
1995 saw the start of a new "Ultimate Conference" which included Princeton, Haverford, Swarthmore, UPenn, and Rutgers.

The 1996-1999 Seasons
A great deal of this period is foggy though the teams remained competitive. Shakti made it to the semis (3rd) of nationals in 1997 and then returned to nationals again the following year (10th nationally?). Meanwhile Machine sat in the middle of the pack of college ultimate. Both teams start going to the High Tide as their spring break tournament in Savannah, GA in 1998. Poor organization and sparse recruiting leave both teams with slim rosters at the end of this period.

The 2000 Season
Machine - The men struggle to scrape together near-savage squads for most of its tournaments all year though they attend a relatively high number of tournaments. However, with renewed leadership, Machine manages to reach its goal of reaching regionals for the first time in several years.

Shakti - The women struggle with numbers all year attending only a few tournaments. The few times they compete are often combined with other teams with small rosters. With other area teams dwindling and our team struggling to find numbers, the women's bracket of Queens Cup is cancelled.

The 2001 Season
Machine - The fall brings in a number of enthusiastic freshman. Memorable moments include Snoball where the team is sponsored by Redbull Energydrink and beats Princeton for the first time in a long while. The spring season is largely rained out. Spring break is spent in Savannah again, and a fun time is had, though the team doesn't win many games. Between spring break and sectionals, 3 tournaments are cancelled due to rain, including Rutgers' home tournament, Queens Cup.

Shakti - They come in second at Snoball in the fall.

The 2002-2003 Season
Machine - Machine takes second in its fall home tournament. Still in its "dark years" Brian Lo comes back in a player coach roll, but Machine fails to qualify for Regionals once again from the Metro NY section which only has 2 bids.

The 2003-2004 Season
Machine - A highly successful Fall which sees Machine make many positive strides. The first good recruiting year which includes many solid incoming freshman/transfer students (including Freshman of the Region Tim Chang, and transfer student Ryan Belline). The fall also sees the addition of Geoff Buhl (Math Post-Doc, former player coach for nationals qualifier UC-Santa Cruz) as coach of the team in the late Fall/Early spring. The fall highlight was taking second at Snoball in October. A few of the team veterans qualify for Mid-Atlantic Club Regionals with "upheaval". Many of the teams veterans live together in "The Frisbee house" is located on 14 Condict Street.

Spring 2004 : Rutgers begins the early Spring slowly while trying to learn a new offensive and defensive system. The Spring Break trip to Savannah continues as Machine continues to improve as the year progresses. The Metro NY section is given three bids to Regionals giving the team a chance to qualify for Regionals for the first time in a long time. Day one of sectionals sees Machine seeded third and upset #1 seed Columbia. On day 2 Machine defeats NYU to make it to the finals guaranteeing them a birth to Regionals. Machine falls to Columbia and takes second in the Metro NY section ahead of Princeton. Regionals is held in Edinboro, Pa during which the teams 15 passenger vans breaks down making the trip to the fields and home quite interesting. Machine gets the #10 seed and is beaten by #7 Penn State in the first round. Rutgers would go onto win its next three games against #15 Lehigh, #8 Bucknell, and #14 Salisbury. These wins would qualify the team for a Sunday Quarter Finals game against #2 Cornell. In a close game Machine would lose 13-10, but this Spring would lay the groundwork for a future successful team. Key graduates include Ari Genauer, Orin Puniello, and Brian Lo, three long time machiners who did much for the team both on and off the field.

The 2004-2005 Season
Machine Coming soon