From BGSU RUGBY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Bowling Green State University and the BGSU Rugby Football Club will host a renaming ceremony of College Park Rugby Field in Bowling Green at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 6 . Starting in the Fall of 2023, BGSU Rugby home games will henceforth be played at Roger Mazzarella Rugby Field.
All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
To coincide with the field renaming ceremony, BG Mayor Michael Aspacher has announced that the City of Bowling Green has declared May 6, 2023 Roger Mazzarella Day.
Mazzarella’s life-long commitment to the City of Bowling Green through BGSU’s Rugby Football Club and Bowling Green Junior High is being recognized with an official day of celebration on Saturday, May 6.
Following the ceremony at 11 a.m. will be the annual BGSU Rugby Alumni game and cookout; fans and friends of Roger are welcome to stay and enjoy the match and celebrate his much-deserved honor as the field’s new namesake. A gala honoring Roger and his day will be held from 5-7 p.m. at Olscamp Hall on the BGSU campus.
“This has been the work of several BGSU Rugby Alumni, their families, rugby fans, and people who want to honor Roger,” said Kurt Weaver, a BGSU Rugby Alumni and retired USA Rugby referee. “He’s spent six decades making BGSU Rugby one of the premiere clubs in the US, and naming the field after him repays about 1/1000th of what he’s given us.”
As a freshman on campus in 1968, Mazzarella joined the brand new rugby football club and never looked back. He graduated four years later and began a 35 year career teaching 7th grade science at BG Junior High. Roger played rugby full time until 1985 when he took over head coaching duties, a position he kept until passing the torch to his son, Tony, in 2008.
Since then, he’s been the Director of Rugby Operations and primary recruiter, seeing his time and effort culminate in a National Championship in 2018.
The love and support of his wife Martha, his son Tony, his daughter-in-law Marny and his adored granddaughter Amelia have made his career and this day possible.
