Jami Jordan

Jami Jordan is one of the brave women in rugby who through her innovative and bold administrative actions, propelled women’s rugby to where it is today in the USA as well as the world. Her career both on and off the pitch demonstrates her love and passion to tackle whatever task was at hand and take it to the next level of excellence. Facing the difficult obstacles of an “Old Boys” way of thinking about women playing rugby, Jami proved that women and girls deserve to be given the same opportunities as the men and boys. Women can play and they play very well, winning the USA’s only Rugby World Cup title in 1991.

Jami originally hails from Atlanta, Georgia and then in her early teens, transitioned to Pennsylvania where she graduated from Camp Hill High School in 1976. She then went to Penn State and earned her BS in Individual and Family Studies in 1980. She did not begin playing rugby until after graduation, when she joined the Chesapeake Women’s RFC from 1980 to 1986. “She and I bumped heads regularly as DC vs Baltimore rivals. Jami was a force at flanker,” remembers Eagles player and coach, Krista McFarren. It was while with Chesapeake that Jami decided to try her talents as the club’s match and social secretary. She then moved on to play for the Maryland Stingers from1986 to 1991, playing flanker in 15s and hooker in 7s, during the team’s East Coast ascension. 

While playing for Maryland, Jami served on Eastern Rugby Football Union, then USARFU Board, where Jami became Vice Chair of the Women’s Committee in 1989 and Chair in 1990. She served as Chair of the Women’s Committee from 1990 until 1993, and then stayed on the Women’s Committee as Treasurer until the committee’s functions were absorbed into USARFU. As the Chair, Jami guided the US women to the first Rugby World Cup (with no budget or uniforms), while overseeing the creation of the first US women’s collegiate championship division in 1991. 

During the second women’s Rugby World Cup in 1994 in Edinburgh, Scotland, administrators from England, the US and other competing nations met to form the first worldwide women’s organization. They created the first women’s rugby world governing body, and Jami was elected to the Executive Committee. Shortly after this assembly, the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) incorporated this administrative body into the IRB and named it the IRB Women’s Advisory Committee. Jami represented the US on this committee until 2002. “The World Cup gold and silver medals won by the United States in 1991 and 1994 would never have been a reality without Jami’s national and international leadership,” former US Eagle Barb Fugate states. 

Jami continued as USA Women's National Team administrator from 2002 to 2004. In early 2002, she was asked to rejoin the USA Women’s National Team (WNT) program to help steer it through the 2002 World Cup in Barcelona, Spain. She continued to serve as the USA Women’s National Team administrator and then shepherded the selection process for the new WNT head coach after the 2002 World Cup. She stepped away from rugby leadership roles in 2004.

Canada Women’s Rugby legend, Jill Zonnenveld, summarizes Jami’s impact on the sport. “During the past twenty years, six Women’s World Cups have been played, women play in five regional tournaments, funding has increased, women play in HSBC Seven’s circuit, World Rugby has a High- Performance Women’s Committee and many women now sit as Board Members and/or as members within National, International and World Rugby Committees. Women referee and coach at all levels of the game domestically and internationally. Jami has been an essential part of these successes and richly deserves the nomination to the Hall of Fame.”

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