Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame
Gentlemen, in a year when we celebrate the dedication of a new Little Giant Stadium, the National Association of Wabash Men is proud to raise a banner in your honor for your thrilling season in 2005 that gave us so many wonderful memories from “The Hollett.”
After the record-setting season in 2002, Wabash went 7-3 and 6-4 in the seasons that followed, but it was in 2005 that everything seemed to come together. You Little Giants ran the table in the regular season, winning the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship for the second time in school history. At the start of the playoffs, you were ranked number one in the North Region, ahead of Mount Union. You made us so proud in blowing out Albion 38-20 in the first round of the playoffs and came oh-so-close to knocking off Capital in the second round, losing a nail-biter 21-18.
Defensively, you held six of your 12 opponents to a touchdown or less, scored 86 points off turnovers, and outscored your foes, on average, 34-11. While not at all unexpected, it was a joy to watch you avenge a 2004 loss to DePauw with a 17-14 win in Greencastle in front of a sold-out crowd. Though perhaps the most memorable of your 11 victories was your come-from-behind win over hated Wittenberg when you scored two third-quarter touchdowns and held the Tigers scoreless for the last 26 minutes of the game.
Behind quarterback Russ Harbaugh, you set a school record for most passing yards in a season – 3,725 – while your team’s five interceptions were the fewest in the modern era. Your quarterbacks completed 70 percent of their passes – the highest percentage of all time – and your team’s 5,370 yards of total offense is second only to the powerful 2015 team.
Men, we love statistics as much as anyone, but even more, we love beating DePauw and Wittenberg in the same season, going undefeated, and making a run in the playoffs. Therefore, it is with pride that we pay tribute to your greatest by inducting the 2005 Football Team into the Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame. Congratulations, Gentlemen, you are Some Little Giants.
