The Rochester Aardvarks was founded in 1966 as the Rochester Rugby Football Club. The club’s humble beginnings came from Phil Grannan’s (a graduate and Rugby player from the University of Notre Dame) desire to start a team in Rochester when he came to the U of R for his MBA. Phil’s dream began to take shape when a local newspaper article was published describing his idea of starting a local rugby team. From this article, Mike Hunt, Neil Barker, Hudson Fowler, and Phil began to form a team in Rochester.
Players who played rugby in England and South Africa (and who also attended the University of Rochester and the Eastman School of Dentistry) became the first players to play for Rochester. Even though some of the founders did not stay long, the team was set for the future. The “RRFC” traveled and played teams from the Northern part of the United States (Buffalo, Cleveland and Syracuse) and Canada (Toronto, Windsor).
Over the years the Aardvarks have toured England, Ireland, and the Bahamas. Rochester players have made various all-star teams, played in international matches representing the US, territory championships, Empire State Games championships and the National 7s tournament.