Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame
It is an incredible honor to present the 1972 Wabash Soccer Team for induction in the Wabash Athletics Hall of Fame.
Soccer began as a varsity sport at Wabash in 1967 and those early years were rough – Division III didn’t exist, so Wabash played schools large and small across the Midwest. Then, in 1972, it all came together for Coach Doug Landgraf’s Little Giants in a remarkable, record-setting season.
The ’72 team boasted the finest defense in Wabash history, finishing with an 8-3 record and wins against Valparaiso, Ball State, Lake Forest, and DePauw – twice. In fact, Wabash shutout the Dannies 3-0 in both matches.
But the critical game that year was played at Wheaton College, and the Crusaders had won six straight NCAA Regional titles. Trailing 1-0 at the half in rough conditions, Karl Johnson, Dick Sword, and Bob Betz each scored goals, and a smothering defense kept Wheaton in check for a program-defining 3-1 win.
The Bachelor reported on the Wheaton win, saying, “As the seconds ticked off the clock till there were no more, pure pandemonium broke out on the Wheaton field. The win wasn’t the NCAA Championship, but what it represented to the Little Giants and to those of us who have followed them was nearly as important – the maturing and cementation of the Team.”
Defense surely defined this team: It recorded five shutouts and allowed just six goals in 11 games; no opponent scored more than one goal against the Little Giants.
The offense was excellent, too. Led by the six goals scored by Bob Betz and three each by Dick Sword, Alex Betz, and Ed Wannamaker, Wabash scored 31 total goals – and the team’s goal margin of 2.3 goals-per-game is still the second-best all-time. Only a handful of Wabash soccer teams have boasted a winning percentage of 73% or better.
Little Giants of 1972, we are honored to pay tribute to your greatness – your defensive toughness, perseverance, and team-first attitude – by enshrining you in the Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame. You are all Some Little Giants!
