Wabash College Athletics

The son of a Montgomery County farmer and a graduate of New Ross High School, Rusty came to Wabash in the fall of 1959 to play basketball. At 6-1 and 175 pounds, Nichols played guard on some of Wabash's most outstanding teams, though he has the distinction of being the "other guard" in Wabash's lineup, playing along side fellow Hall of Farner and Alamo native Charlie Bowerman, '61. Nichols was a four-year letterman in both basketball and baseball, starting 52 of 72 games during his basketball career. While Bowerman was on the scene, Nichols played mostly forward and started 14 games during his rookie season, averaging 7.1 points and 6.0 rebounds. He established his free throw shooting prowess during his first season and fine tuned that art during his four years at Wabash. Nichols started the NCAA playoff games against South Carolina State and Wittenberg during his rookie year. In the State game, he pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds. As a sophomore, Nichols again helped Wabash to an NCAA playoff berth. After Bowerman's graduation, the limelight was shown on Nichols, who responded by leading the team in scoring in both his junior (16.8 points) and senior seasons (14.3) in earning back-to­-back MVP awards. During his career, he boasted a lifetime scoring average of 10.5 points with an average of 4.5 rebounds. One of Wabash's top all-time free throw shooters, Nichols hit 77.5 percent of his 240 free throws. As a four-year baseball standout, Nichols showed his versatility as an outstanding hitter, pitcher, third baseman, and outfielder. He led the Little Giants in hitting with a .385 average, while also boasting the top earned run average as a pitcher as a senior. A psychology major and mathematics minor, Nichols returned to Wabash to serve as Wabash's head basketball coach for seven seasons from 1965 until 1972 while earning his Ph.D. from Purdue. Nichols taught at Eastern Illinois and served Hillsdale College as Director of Admissions and later as Vice President for Academic Affairs. In 1987 Nichols became Hanover College's 14th president and serves in that capacity today.