Matt "Brote" Brotemarkle

Matt "Brote" Brotemarkle: Building a Mizzou Rugby Culture On and Off the Field

For Matt "Brote" Brotemarkle, Mizzou Rugby was about much more than what happened during 80 minutes on Saturday. From 2007 through 2012, Brotemarkle became a player, captain, coach, recruiter and culture-builder whose influence helped shape both the competitive direction and character of the club. A hard-running No. 8 and flanker, he represented Mizzou at multiple levels of select-side rugby, helped lead the Tigers into Division I competition and established a standard of toughness and fellowship that followed many of his teammates long after they left Columbia.

Brotemarkle arrived at Mizzou in 2007 and spent five seasons with the club, beginning at flanker before moving primarily to No. 8. His role quickly expanded beyond simply taking the field. By the 2009-10 season, he was serving as both captain and assistant coach. He remained captain the following season while assuming coaching responsibilities and continued coaching through 2011-12. That combination of player, captain and coach put Brotemarkle in a unique position: he wasn't simply expected to perform—he was helping determine how the entire team would perform.

His individual rugby résumé during those years reflected that influence. Brotemarkle was named an alternate for the USA Under-20 side in both 2007-08 and 2008-09 and was selected for the Missouri U20 and Kansas City U20 All-Stars. As he developed, he moved into senior representative rugby, earning selection to the West All-Stars and later the Heart of America All-Stars. In 2011-12, he captained the Heart of America All-Star side. Mizzou also experienced significant team success during the period, including a Division II playoff appearance, the 2010 Heartland 7s championship, the 2011-12 Kansas City Indoor 7s championship, the Oak Leaf Cup and an appearance in the Division I Sweet 16.

Brotemarkle's development as a player wasn't confined to Columbia or even the United States. During the winter of the 2009-10 season, he played with Old Laurentians Rugby Club in England, and during the summer of 2010-11, he played with Hillcrest Villagers in South Africa. Those experiences exposed him to rugby cultures outside the American collegiate game and added another dimension to the knowledge he brought back to his teammates at Mizzou.

Yet statistics, selections and championships only tell part of Brotemarkle's story. His teammates remember him as the driving force behind both the team's performance and its culture. On the field, he was described as an "uncompromising Captain-Coach" who established a "smash mouth" mentality. His expectations went beyond aggression or physicality. Brotemarkle emphasized player development and believed that becoming a good rugby player required more than accumulating individual skills; players needed to develop a deeper understanding of the game itself.

Off the field, he was equally focused on building the club. Brotemarkle deliberately created an environment in which new players felt welcomed from their first day and veteran players developed relationships that extended beyond practices and post-match gatherings. The philosophy was simple: everyone was welcome. That approach helped turn teammates into friends and friends into lifelong members of the rugby community. As his Hall of Fame nominator and former teammate Alex Larkin wrote, the culture Brotemarkle helped create resulted in lifelong connections "to both players and the game."

Perhaps one of the best examples of Brotemarkle's leadership had nothing to do with rugby strategy. College rugby required players to find ways to pay for school, living expenses and the costs associated with traveling and playing. Brotemarkle recognized that financial limitations could prevent some teammates from fully participating. Through his relationship with Quinton's and Tonic, local Columbia establishments, he helped ensure that teammates who needed work could find employment. The arrangements provided players enough flexibility to travel and play on weekends while still earning the money necessary to live in Columbia. It was a practical act of leadership that demonstrated how Brotemarkle viewed the club: if someone was willing to commit to the team, the team should find a way to help him stay.

Brotemarkle also helped change the competitive trajectory of Mizzou Rugby. Among his defining contributions was successfully petitioning to move the Tigers into Division I. It was more than an administrative change. Moving to Division I represented a statement about where Mizzou Rugby belonged and the level at which its players should expect to compete. The subsequent Division I Sweet 16 appearance helped validate that ambition.

When his Mizzou career ended, Brotemarkle's rugby career was far from finished. He went on to play No. 8 for two of the Midwest's historic clubs, the Kansas City Blues and St. Louis Bombers, while continuing his international rugby experiences. He played for Easts in Canberra, Australia, at No. 8 and hooker and for the Silverdale Seahawks in New Zealand at No. 8. Silverdale captured a Minor Premiership championship during his time with the club, while Brotemarkle served as captain of Easts' Second XV and received both the Mark Kidds Memorial Award for Club Spirit and Second XV Forward MVP honors.

His years with the St. Louis Bombers further demonstrated the qualities his Mizzou teammates had seen in Columbia. Brotemarkle earned the Bombers' Black Side MVP award in 2018 and B-52 MVP honors in 2023. He received the Mopes Award in 2017 and the President's Cup in 2024. Perhaps most reflective of his overall impact was the Orville Turgeon Award, recognizing a standout player both on and off the field, which Brotemarkle received four times—in 2015, 2019 and 2022, with the nomination listing four total recognitions.

Just as he had at Mizzou, Brotemarkle continued contributing as a coach and rugby leader. He coached the Missouri U19 All-Stars from 2014 to 2015, served as an assistant coach at Lindenwood in 2015 and spent nearly a decade as the St. Louis Bombers' Head of Recruitment from 2014 through 2023. He also served as the Bombers' vice president in 2015. Playing, coaching, recruiting and administering the game became different expressions of the same commitment that had characterized his years at Mizzou.

Perhaps Brotemarkle's greatest legacy, however, is found in the rugby careers that continued because of him. Alex Larkin's story provides a powerful example. Their connection began with a passing conversation in a high school weight room. Larkin would later play for Brotemarkle's father, Bill, for two seasons. When Brotemarkle learned that Larkin had committed to attend Mizzou, he personally recruited him into the rugby program and made sure he arrived in Columbia with an immediate group of friends and a social network to ease the transition into college life.

After four years at Mizzou, Larkin thought his own rugby career might be finished. Brotemarkle apparently had other ideas. Over the following decade, the invitations to return to the game continued. Eventually, they worked. Larkin joined the St. Louis Bombers and once again found himself traveling the country and immersed in the rugby culture he had first experienced at Mizzou. "Brote is the sole reason I am still involved in the game," Larkin wrote 15 years after leaving Columbia. He described Brotemarkle as the catalyst for some of the best memories of his life.

That story may ultimately say more about Matt Brotemarkle than any championship or individual honor. Great rugby players can change a match. Great captains can change a team. The people who have the greatest impact on rugby, however, are often those who cause others to fall in love with the game and remain part of it long after their playing days might otherwise have ended.

Brotemarkle did that at Mizzou. He competed at a high level, captained representative sides, coached his teammates, helped move the Tigers into Division I and contributed to one of the strongest competitive periods of his era. But at the same time, he welcomed new players, found jobs for teammates who needed them, built friendships beyond the pitch and created an expectation that being a Mizzou rugger meant belonging to something larger than yourself.

That influence followed him from Columbia to the Kansas City Blues, St. Louis Bombers, Australia and New Zealand, and eventually into coaching, recruiting and leadership roles throughout the game. More importantly, it followed the players he influenced. Years after they left Mizzou, many remained teammates, friends and ruggers.

For Matt "Brote" Brotemarkle, that may be the most meaningful accomplishment of all: he didn't just build better rugby players at Mizzou—he helped build lifelong ruggers.