James Wolfinger, or “Wolfe” to everyone who knows him, has served the Texas Rugby Union well for the past 40 years. He has served the Union as a player, coach, administrator and referee.
Player
In his playing days he started with the Philadelphia Rugby Club in 1976. He then moved on the Houston Houston Old Boys until 1993 when he picked up the whistle as a referee.
- Houston Old Boys 1978-1993 One div 1 A side state championship 19803 div one B side state championships
- 1988-1990
- Southern county selects player
- H.A.R.T.S. Player
Coach and Founder
During his tenure he has helped develop teams at UH rugby assistant coach 2010-2011 (undefeated regular season!), Strake Jesuit, St. Pius X, Tomball HS, and Memorial High Schools in Houston. He has held the head coaching position at St Thomas since 1999 and that includes 16 appearances at State Championship Tournaments, 6 State Championships, 3 Western Championships and 4 National Championship Tournament appearances.
He has also coached at the representative level including the Texas Selects vs USA U-17’s 2007, Houston Stormers U-17 Select Side Head Coach and Texas Selects U-17 Backs Coach 2011-2013.
Referee
He began refereeing in the early 1990s with stints as various Referee Chairs since 1993. Most recently he was Chair of the Texas Rugby Referee Association from 2010-2013.
Referee tours to England, France, New Zealand
Refereed Mexican National Championship game twice
Referee liaison for South Africa v USA game in 2001
Retired World referee educator
Administration
His resume also includes a lot of administration, 2008- Present Board member of Houston Youth Rugby Association and established Grow Houston Rugby, Inc. in 2016 and received grant from HYRA to build numbers of participants and leagues and tournaments in spring of 2016 as a rugby development officer.
