Wabash College Athletics

Indianapolis Southport graduate, there wasn’t a sport in high school in which you didn’t excel—basketball, track and field, golf, and cross country running. You entered Wabash in the fall of 1956 and immediately exhibited the athletic excellence of your high school days. You lettered in basketball during all four of years you were at Wabash, and were a high-powered scorer on three straight teams that advanced to the NCAA National Tournament. Had it not been for that pesky, high-scoring Hall of Famer Charlie Bowerman, who lined up beside you, you would have owned every scoring record in the books. Seriously, you and your friend Charlie were without question the finest 1-2 scoring punch in Wabash history. On three occasions, you combined to score over 70 points in a single game. Your own high game was a 43-point barrage, but you also scored 38 against Wheaton. Most Valuable Player as a sophomore, you went on to serve as team captain for the 1959-60 team that went 14-7 and made the NCAA Tourney. You scored 1,439 points in your career, good enough for sixth place all-time, and your career scoring average of 17.2 points per game is eighth best all-time. Your talents were not limited to basketball, however, you also lettered in track, cross country, and golf, earning MVP honors on the links as a senior.
An English major, you went on to a Hall of Fame coaching career upon graduation. You coached at Mesa Community College for 19 years, winning 442 games and nine conference championships, numbers that landed you in the National Junior College Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997. In 1991, you were the Junior College Coach of the Year, and you’ve coached both USA Select Teams and US Olympic Festival Teams during your remarkable basketball coaching career. For a lifetime of putting the ball in the basket, and for teaching others to do so in substantial numbers, the National Association of Wabash Men is proud to induct you, Thomas G. Bennett, into the Wabash College Athletic Hall of Fame.