Life University travels to Arkansas State this weekend to play an exciting matchup between two very strong teams, but this game is more than just a game.

Sure, Life is ranked #4 and Arkansas State #5 by Goff Rugby Report, and sure a big win by one of these teams might have us taking #1, but this game is more about the relationship between the programs.

“When we first started our undergraduate program, Arkansas State was the team to beat in the South, and one of first - if not the first - call we got was from Curt Huckaby saying ‘how can we help and when can we play?’” recalled Life Head Coach Scott Lawrence.

Curt Huckaby had started the ASU program some years before, with just handful of players, and made it a national DII power, and then a national DI power. He helped formulate the plan to make the team basically a varsity program. Huckaby’s son, Matt, was an Arkansas State Rugby All American and was capped by the USA in 7s. Matt took over coaching the team from his father, and still oversees the program now coached by Shaun Potgieter.

This game between the two is now called the Curt Huckaby Cup. Huckaby the elder is one of the true good guys in the game. His acts of sportsmanship and kindness - like at the DII final when Middlebury was told they couldn’t present their haka, so Curt Huckaby lined up his ASU players to receive the challenge off to the side before the game; like how Curt embraced and helped rugby journalist Brian Lowe when Lowe’s son suffered a serious injury; like how he called up Lawrence and Dan Payne at Life - are just how he is.

“He was just incredible to us,” said Lawrence. “Right out of the gate, he gave us a program to look up to, and instead of pushing us away, he opened up and helped us get better right away.”

“Calling it the Huckaby Cup is a great complement and he gets a kick out of it,” said Matt Huckaby. “He’s always approached the game as something you want to compete in, and play with intensity, but it’s intensity with respect. The first thing I learned from him as a coach was to respect your opponent, and always be in a position to sit down and talk with the other coaches. He was always the first one to get to know the other coach, and bond with him. It’s easy to be cynical and say ‘I hate that team’ but he is not like that.”

Curt Huckaby was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Despite the effects of the disease, which progressively degenerates your muscle strength and eventually induced paralysis, Curt Huckaby is an active follower of both rugby programs. He is still a respected judge in Jonesboro, Ark., and the city sends a special van to pick him up so he can appear in court.

“He gets a big kick out of it,” said Matt Huckaby. “He always has a pretty stoic attitude and he remains positive. But he really loves his job, and I think the job has been good for him, too.”

The two programs have further connections, not least of them being that Shaun Potgieter and Colton Cariaga played for ASU and Life, respectively, against each other, and with each other as All Americans, and now will be on the sidelines coaching against each other.

Dan Payne and Matt Huckaby, opposing coaches back in the early years, now are overseeing the programs. 

Both teams have had success - a lot of it. But it’s clear that both wouldn’t be in this position were it not for one self-effacing country lawyer from Jonesboro.

“We owe Curt the world,” said Lawrence. “And so do dozens of young men who have come though his program.”