I started playing rugby in college at Boston University as a freshman and played all four years as an undergrad.  I then attended the University of Tennessee-Knoxville College of Law and played B-side for UT as a graduate student all three years.  Next, I played one year for the Village Lions RFC of New York City while attending NYU School of Law.  Lastly, in 2002, I returned home to Memphis and began playing with the Memphis Blues Rugby Club.

  As the only lawyer on the team at the time, I became the memory-keeper for various bits and bobs of hopeful aspirations to one day have our own non-profit entity, rugby pitch, clubhouse, etc. The sweet, beautiful drunk-talk of a Saturday afternoon at the bar after the game.

  Rugby gave me so much over the thirty-ish years I played; and the memories of playing sustain me in my dotage.  The beer-soaked longings of my teammates for a dedicated rugby pitch and clubhouse gave me an opportunity to do something to give back to the game and people I love.

  On and off for the next several years, I spent many a day chasing pieces of real estate throughout Memphis and Shelby County accompanied by some of my fellow rugby players in Memphis. We never seemed to find the right parcel or location; there was always a catch for every parcel.  Finally, I realized, after nearly twenty years, that I was never going to find the perfect piece of land.  I came to understand  that I was going to have to find something and make it perfect;  so that’s what I set out to do.

 Thanks to the success of my family’s real estate business and my father’s desire to give back to our adopted home, I formed the Lawrence M. and Kerin C. Magdovitz Foundation to continue the good my parents did while they were alive. It is through this Foundation that the Magdovitz Rugby Complex came into existence. 

Four fields and the future for Memphis rugby.