The Pearl City Rugby Club was founded in Muscatine, IA in the Fall of 2001. The club nickname is the Black Bears. The name " Pearl City " comes from the nickname of the city of Muscatine. Muscatine was at one time the largest source of pearl button manufacturing in the world.

The name "Black Bears " was originated during the inaugural season of the club. During the season, there was a story in the local newspaper about black bears being seen in the state of Iowa for the first time in 10 years. Because a rugby team in Muscatine, the Muscatine Outlaws, disbanded in the early 90s, the founding of the pearl City club meant the first sighting of Muscatine rugby players in the state in about the same amount of time. The club's founding members decide that the club had to be named the black bears.

The club won the Iowa DIII League for the first time in the Fall of 2004. The following Spring, Pearl City won both the Midwest DIII Championship and the National DIII Championship. In its first DII season, Pearl City went undefeated, winning the territorial final over the Chicago Southside Irish 40-22. With this territorial championship, the club earned promotion to DI in the Fall of 2006. The future looks bright for the club also because in the past 2 seasons, high school boys and girls teams have been started up in Muscatine. Numbers have been strong on both teams, and plans are in the works to start youth rugby programs for kids ranging from age 6-14.