Wabash College Athletics

Curt L. Christoffersen, native of Gary, Indiana and graduate of Hobart High School, you were as close to a “can’t miss” collegiate athlete as they come. And you demonstrated it immediately when you set the Wabash freshman record with a time of 54.1 seconds in the 400 intermediate hurdles. You would go on to set the school record in that event, 52.9 seconds, and would never be beaten in a hurdles event in a dual meet. You were a three-time Little State champion in the 400 intermediate hurdles, and as a sophomore defeated an Olympian! That was the year you out-sprinted Abdul Hasseem of Vincennes to claim the title, and Hasseem would run for Kuwait’s team at the 1980 Olympic Games.

You qualified for the national championships in all four years you were on campus and three times you won the J. Owen Huntsman Most Valuable Trackman Award. Coach Rob Johnson occasionally convinced you to high jump, too, and you had a career-best jump of six-feet, six-inches. As a senior, you finished third in the 400 intermediate hurdles at the National Championships to garner All-America honors. You also ran legs of national qualifying 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams. A gifted biology major, you have been a senior scientist with Warner Lambert/Pfizer for the last 21 years, and for the last 10 years have been a volunteer track coach at your local high school, drawing on the expertise of your beloved coaches James Johnston and Rob Johnson.

For your excellent record as student and athlete, for clearing the 400 hurdles with record speed, the National Association of Wabash Men is proud to induct you, Curt Christoffersen, in the Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame.