Wabash College Athletics

John M. Panozzo, your former Wabash baseball coach, Scott Boone, once said of you, “John is what baseball is all about.” Coach Boone was speaking of far more than your athletic ability and spoke to your fine qualities of leadership, attitude, and dedication. A native of Grand Junction, Colorado, your arrival at Wabash coincided with a new era of success for the Wabash baseball team, and you were the principal reason for that success.

Your solid play and team leadership helped Wabash to record setting seasons in 1987 and 1988. In 1988, the Little Giants went 21-13 and finished second in the newly formed Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference, and your team swept the conference champs in doubleheader play. Looking back, we know your junior season of 1988 was indeed one for the record books.

You set school records for batting average (.471), most hits in a season (49), most home runs (4), and most total bases (75). By the end of your senior season, you would own virtually every Wabash career baseball record, including most games played (136) and most hits (155). Twice you were named Most Valuable Player, you captained the team as a senior, and you set a record by playing in 134 consecutive games.

But as Coach Boone said, your influence went far beyond statistics, unless you count grade point average as a statistic. Your skill as a biology major in the classroom enabled you to be named an Academic All-Conference and Academic All-District selection. You left Wabash for medical school and now have a successful medical practice in Denver, Colorado. For proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that baseball is so much more than a game of statistics, the National Association of Wabash Men is proud to induct you in the Wabash Athletics Hall of Fame. John Panozzo — Some Little Giant!