Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame
George A. Brattain, it’s hard for us to imagine you in any other setting than near an oval running track, wearing your blue blazer embroidered with the United States Track and Field insignia, and a stop watch or starter’s pistol in hand. For over 40 years that’s the picture we have of you in our minds, and you are by far our most esteemed alumnus in track and field officiating. You have started, timed, or officiated at literally hundreds of track meets, from Wabash Relays to the Big 10 Championships, from the United States Track and Field Trials to the 1987 Pan American Games.
Fortunately, though, we’ve not had to see you in a courtroom, where you served as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District or in your law practice, which specializes in sports marketing, corporate, public utility, and labor law. Your reputation as one of this country’s trusted sports officials has, in time, over shadowed your remarkable career as a track and cross country star at Wabash. And who would have thought that George Brattain, from Noblesville, Indiana — the manager of his high school track team — would ultimately become a collegiate track and field All-American? J. Owen Huntsman saw that ability in you; he encouraged and guided you in the fall of 1959 when you matriculated. Good coaching and hard work would lead to success: you won your first ever race — the 440 — in a dual meet with DePauw in 1961. Two years later you would finish fourth in the half-mile at the NCAA College Division National Championships, becoming a track and field All-American. By the time you left Wabash, you would earn nine varsity letters — three each in track and cross country, and three as manager of the Wabash basketball team. You were a two-time Little State champion in the 440, won three Little State titles in the mile relay, and won the title in the 880 in 1963. You set Wabash records in the 440 and 880, and teamed up to set records in the mile relay and sprint medley relay, amazing accomplishments for a manager-turned-runner.
For so admirably demonstrating that All-Americans are developed through hard work and perseverance and for your lifelong commitment to the sports of track and cross country, the National Association of Wabash Men is proud to induct you in the Wabash Athletics Hall of Fame. George Brattain — Some Little Giant!
