Honoring our club fathers

April 20 was the greatest day in the history of USC rugby.

It was better than any conference championship. More enjoyable than any victory over our rival school.

It was night that united young and old Gamecock Rugby players. And it was a time to honor our club’s founding fathers.

More than 125 alumni, players and friends attended our club’s inaugural Hall of Fame ceremony. During this on-campus event, we inducted three alumni into our Hall of Fame class and honored members of the 1973 team, the greatest ever.

Below are bios our inductees and information about the 1973 team.

Sandy Frazier

Sandy Frazier was born in Philadelphia and was introduced to rugby during his service at Philadelphia’s First Troop City Calvary around 1965 at the age of 22. In 1967, he moved to Columbia and joined the Fort Jackson Rugby Club as their captain.

Very quickly, Fort Jackson’s roster became diminished due to the Vietnam War. So, Frazier turned his attention to a new pool of prospective players: The University of South Carolina. He met with administrators, attracted 20 new players, and the USC rugby football club was born with Frazier serving as player, coach, and captain.

In 1969, while competing at a 7s tournament at Duke University, Frazier met Dr. James (Jim) Wynn, a seasoned rugby player who was planning to move to Columbia. The pair bonded immediately, and Frazier invited Wynn, a fellow Hall of Fame inductee, to join the Gamecocks.

Graduating in 1971, Frazier married, moved to Memphis, and began a lifelong career as a successful homebuilder. In 1972 Frazier joined the Bulls/Old No. 7 rugby club and continued to be involved in the sport until 1991. He participated in rugby tours throughout the U.S., and in England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, and New Zealand. Frazier was inducted into the Memphis Rugby Hall of Fame in 2019.

In later years, Frazier embraced a less physical sports: racquetball and tennis. He now lives in a senior living facility near Memphis where he delights staff with his witty banter and mischievous antics.

Matt Godek

Matt Godek grew up in Alexandira, Virginia and didn’t know what a rugby ball was until he enrolled at the University of South Carolina in 1966. At the time, Godek was an aspiring football player. The 5’9, 230-pound linebacker and center joined the Gamecocks as a walk-on player. After his freshman year, head coach Marvin Bass pulled him aside and told him that his chances of earning field time were slim.

Godek put away the shoulder pads and began looking for an alternative athletic outlet. He saw some on-campus literature on rugby and decided to give it a try. His first two games were against N.C. State.

“We had a great social after the game and I was locked in,” said Godek.

After graduating in 1970 with a degree in marketing, Godek joined the Army and continued to play rugby for the next several years while working part-time for Leather Balls, a company that sold rugby supplies. Affable, energetic, and good-natured, Godek was a natural salesman. In 1978, he founded his own company, Godek Rugby and Soccer Supply, and set up his warehouse store in Merrifield, Virginia.

A U.S. rugby pioneer, Godek travelled the world over the next four decades and made many friends as he built his business. Godek’s name became synonymous with service and personal relationships. And everyone in the rugby community knew him.  In 2020, Godek received a lifetime achievement award from the U.S. Rugby Endowment. Last year, he was also recognized by USC Rugby with a lifetime achievement award.

Now semi-retired, Godek lives in Fairfax Station, Virginia.

Dr. Jim Wynn

A native of Pennington Gap, Virginia, Dr. Jim Wynn is, perhaps, USC Rugby’s most distinguished alumni. He received his BS in Pharmacy from the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) in 1964 and his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry in 1969 at the School of Pharmacy, MCV Health Sciences Division. During this time, Wynn played rugby for teams in Richmond and Norfolk where he developed a keen intellect for the game.

In 1970, Wynn moved to Columbia and joined the faculty at the University of South Carolina’s College of Pharmacy. He quickly joined the USC rugby club as a player/coach. A natural teacher, Wynn went to work and transformed a collection of great athletes into a nationally formidable team.

Wynn’s USC-led teams of the early 1970s were the strongest in club history. They compiled an incredible 37-game home winning streak and competed for national championships. Wynn stepped away from coaching in 1975 to spend more time with his growing family and handed the coaching reins to Jean Pierre Chambas.

In 1982, Wynn left Columbia for the College of Pharmacy at the Medical University of South Carolina where, over the next twenty years, he served as a tenured professor of pharmaceutical sciences, Chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Education. In 2001 Wynn was appointed the Founding Dean of the South University School of Pharmacy in Savannah, Georgia.

During a three-decade career Wynn received over 50 awards and recognitions related to his teaching effectiveness, among them being named the 1994-95 "Governor's Professor of the Year" for the State of South Carolina. Throughout his professional career, Wynn remained engaged with USC rugby and regularly attended alumni games.

He passed away July 11, 2012.

HMS Bulwark games

In 1973, the admiral of the HMS Bulwark (a British Royal Naval Ship docked in Charleston) wanted to find a game for his ship’s rugby team. But not any team would do, he wanted to play one of the very best U.S. teams on the East Coast.

Through a series of calls, he was connected to the University of South Carolina men’s rugby club, which was only 5 years old but had developed a hardy reputation as physical and successful rugby team. The club traveled to Charleston in January and shocked the British team which expected a walkover. The score was 14-11.

The ship was scheduled to depart a few days after the loss. The Brits, though, wanted another shot. The admiral’s proposition to the Gamecocks: We’ll keep the Bulwark docked in Charleston a week longer if you’ll give us a rematch. And we’ll come to Columbia. The rematch took place February 10 on campus and the British seamen lost again 16-6.

By most accounts, the contests were the first-ever international rugby contest held on South Carolina soil.