Blake Burdette (born January 19, 1980 in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

) is a rugby coach and former American

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

hooker or

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

. He was a member of the

United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Stat ...

and made his international debut in 2006 against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Burdette played for the USA Eagles in the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

. Currently, he has returned to playing professionally with

Utah Warriors The Utah Warriors are a professional rugby union team that competes in Major League Rugby, the top-level rugby union competition in the United States and Canada that played its first season in 2018. The team is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and ...

having come out of retirement aged 39, 12 years after previous professional rugby playing experience. In 2002, Burdette played as a University of Utah football walk-on. In his senior year, Burdette was nicknamed the 'Utah Man' on the campus' football team. Burdette played every game in the 2004 season for the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

football team, and played for the Utes as an 4x All-American rugby player (2003-2006), before dedicating his time to playing professional rugby in England. His England rugby career lasted only one season due to injury.

Coaching

In 2007, Burdette joined the Utah Utes rugby team as assistant coach, taking over as head coach in 2009, but resigned after the team was suspended for misuse of branding. In 2015, Burdette was hired as head coach of The Pennsylvania State University's Men's Rugby Team. Burdette is the first full-time, university employed head coach in the history of PSU Rugby.

References

1980 births Living people Rugby union props American rugby union players American rugby union coaches United States international rugby union players Sportspeople from Minneapolis Utah Warriors players Sports coaches from Minneapolis {{US-rugbyunion-bio-stub