Rutgers-Camden Athletics Department

Alumni information

The Raptor Club

Raptor Club Membership form (print and mail): Membership
Raptor Club Brochure

Friends And Alumni of Rutgers University-Camden Athletics
The purpose of The Raptor Club is to maintain family connections with former student-athletes, invest in the continued growth of collegiate athletics and to provide financial support to the Athletic Department above the operating budget. Any tax-deductible donation will assist our teams toward obtaining their goals of winning the New Jersey Athletic Conference title and having a chance to be able to compete in future NCAA tournaments.

Participating in intercollegiate athletics teaches student-athletes many qualities that compliment their outside pursuits. These qualities include integrity perseverance, honor, courage. pride and loyalty. These characteristics make a student-athlete a special person, especially a Division III student-athlete. Students practice and compete for the love of their sport, the need to play comes from deep within their hearts, and they play for themselves, their parents and sometimes for the few people in the stands. They also play for those who have paved the way, our alumni.

Athletics can play an intregal role in a college student's life. At Rutgers-Camden we want to embrace the role of the student-athlete in many ways. Rutgers University is a member of the Association of American Universities and as a member of this prestigious group Rutgers has earned an excellent academic reputation. In the realm of athletics we want our program to also carry that reputation. In order to reach that goal we want to strengthen our partnership with our alumni, families and friends. This support can come in many different forms. The Raptor Club will serve as the avenue that you can become directly involved with our department.

As we embark on this exciting adventure we have established some goals to accomplish.

The goals are:

* Reconnection of our athletic alumni through various planned events,

* Continue the Hall of Fame

* Facility renovations,

* Upgrade the fitness equipment (i.e. treadmills, free weights, and nautilus).

By joining The Raptor Club you can be an intregal part in helping the athletic department reach their goals. This is also an opportunity to learn more about the current Scarlet Raptors. The current staff and student-athletes at Rutgers University Camden are extremely proud of their "Pioneer" Predecessors. You have enabled us to do what we love.

Visit us at athletics.camden.rutgers.edu to meet the current staff.

Jeffrey Dean
Director of Athletics

Support The Raptors….
We also hope that you will invite your local friends to come out and SUPPORT THE RAPTORS Whenever they are playing in your area. The teams will be looking for some Red and Black in the stands.

Why the Raptors at Rutgers-Camden?
Rutgers University-Camden athletic teams, paralleling the nickname of the main campus in New Brunswick, are known as the Scarlet Raptors. Rutgers-New Brunswick has been popularly known as the home of the Scarlet Knights. Both Rutgers-Camden and Rutgers-Newark nicknames were changed in the mid-90s to include the word Scarlet. Newark, formerly the Red Raiders, are now known as the Scarlet Raiders.

At the time of the name change during the 1997-98 school year, Associate Provost for Student Life Cal Marradonna noted, "We've been talking about this the past couple of years. Our previous nickname was the Pioneers and the students were never really excited about it. Widener and William Paterson were also known as the Pioneers.

"We wanted something different that would still go along with the Knights," Maradonna said. "A Raptor is really a bird of prey. We had a whole group of people kicking a lot names around and everybody liked it."