Wabash College Athletics

Russell Thomas Cripe came to Wabash in the Fall of 1922 from Camden, Indiana and graduated with a total of 13 letters in football, basketball, track, and baseball. A psychology major and member of both the Little Giants' Club and the "W" Men's Club, Cripe excelled in all sports, but par­ticularly in football. A member of Kappa Sigma, he captured three letters in foot­ball, helping Coach Pete Vaughan's teams post a combined four-year record of 21-13-3 with four straight shutout victories over arch rival DePauw. He went up against some of the nation's finest players, including Notre Dame's "Four Horsemen" dur­ing a 34-0 defeat in 1924. As a senior, Cripe, the right halfback, scored three touchdowns and ranked second on the team in scoring with 18 points. He also averaged over 50 yards per punt, including a rain­ soaked 65-yarder in a 0-0 tie with Butler. As a senior in baseball, Cripe, a center fielder, helped Wabash go 10-6-1, batting .214. Cripe played alongside some of Wabash's finest athletes of all-time. In track, he was teammate of Sammy Johnson, a 10,000 meter runner who participated in the 1924 Olympic games in France. In basketball, Cripe lettered along with fellow Hall of Famers "Shang" Chadwick, Benny De Vol, and Don Burdette. The 1924-25 Little Giants, said The Wabash, were "Cham­pions of Indiana, of the Middle West, of the United States ... truly an­other Wonder Five." It was, and produced a record of 18-1 with the lone loss coming in the first intercollegiate game of the season at Wis­consin by one point. After his graduation from Wabash, Cripe went on to teach and coach in Glendale, California.