Wabash College Athletics

A 1906 University of Chicago graduate, Harper served as Wabash's athletic director and coach of football, basketball, track, and baseball from 1908 through 1912. Under his progressive football strategy, the Little Giants adopted the forward pass as a gridiron weapon; Harper and his star receiver, Knute Rockne, later earned even greater fame with the same innovation at Notre Dame.

Coach Harper stands 12th on the all-time Wabash record list, with a 71-47-3 four-sport, four-year mark. A 1913 Honorary Wabash alumnus, Harper's ideal --- emphasis upon education, with athletic competition against those of similar mind --- continues to thrive at the College. He was inducted into the Helms Football Hall of Fame in 1958. In 1971, ten years after his death, Coach Harper was elected to the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame.