While some leaders are appointed or elected, with both acting from positions of recognized authority, still others achieve leadership by example.  With no defined authority they lead from the middle of the group, helping achieve a common goal by inspiring everyone to give of their best.  Not always stars of the game, they play essential roles in a winning team.

Philip Rogers was such a leader, both on and off the sports field. Phil majored in Civil Engineering and upon graduation, earned the NJ Society of Civil Engineers Award. He was a varsity soccer player, an enthusiastic member of the Princeton University Rugby Club and Tiger Inn, and a key player on the rugby club's Ivy League Championship team of 1979.  His final Princeton appearance was at the "75 Years of Rugby at Princeton" dinner at the Princeton Club of New York in December, 2005.

In memory of Phil’s life and to honor  his dedication to his passion for the sport of rugby, his family and friends have established the Philip Alan Rogers Memorial Rugby Fund. Each Spring, starting in 2007, a Princeton underclass rugby player will be awarded the Phil Rogers' ' 79 Memorial Prize . The winner will be recognized for his or her unique leadership and sportsmanship qualities, both on and off the rugby field, that our friend and teammate Phil personified. These qualities are so well captured in Rudyard Kipling’s poem “IF”.  They include courage, tenacity, composure, action and fairness. It is against these criteria that each candidate will be measured. We believe they represent  a solid blueprint for playing the game and living one’s life, as Phil did.