Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame
Daniel J. Emerson, perhaps no person in Wabash history was a more quintessential Wabash student-athlete. From the day you matriculated from Evansville Central High School, you put every ounce of passion, drive, and perseverance into everything you did, from sports to work to the classroom. And the results were obvious. Sure, you broke almost every wrestling record imaginable, but your coach, Max Servies, never referred to you as an athlete; only “student-athlete.” Your 3.85 grade point average as a classics major and biology-chemistry double minor put you near the top of your class, and gained you early admission to the Indiana University School of Medicine. Incidentally, your 3.85 grade point average was the highest in Division III wrestling in 1998 and helped Wabash post the highest team average in the country. You made the Dean’s List all eight semesters, earned the Pete Vaughan and IAWM Scholar Athlete awards, and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
But this is, after all, an athletics hall of fame ceremony and you were one of our all-time bests. Coach Servies, ever the history buff, discovered that you were the only man in Wabash’s 141-year history of team sports to be a four-time captain and four-time MVP, a truly astonishing feat given Wabash’s excellence in wrestling. At the time of your graduation, you had posted nearly a dozen school records, including most Sweat Club Points, most wins in a season, and most team points scored. You were a three-time national qualifier, a 1998 All-American, and a three-time national Scholar-Athlete Award winner. You left your alma mater with a career record of 98 wins and 22 losses, highlighted by the 36-5, All-American season of 1998. Upon graduation, you received an Army HPSP Scholarship and enrolled in the IU Med School. Now in your fifth year of an orthopaedic surgery residency, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel to begin what we are sure will be a remarkable career as a surgeon.
Danny Emerson, for modeling for all of Wabash what it means to truly commit yourself, and to set and achieve high standards of excellence, the National Association of Wabash Men is proud to induct you in the Wabash Athletics Hall of Fame. Some Little Giant!
