Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame
Virgil Robbins, native son of Wingate, Indiana, didn’t have to look far for his college, choosing Wabash to pursue his interest in mathematics and in track and field. He arrived at the College in the fall of 1920 in what would become the Golden Age of track and field at Wabash. The Little Giant thinclads, then known as cindermen, were among the nation’s finest teams, and with Robbins as relay anchor, were without peers in the one- and two-mile relay events. A three-year letterman in cross country and four-year track letterman, Robbins anchored Wabash’s medley relay team to a championship and record time at the 1923 Drake Relays. A year later, as a senior, Wabash’s relays were the finest in the nation thanks to Robbins’ distance strength. Running for Coach Nash Higgens, Robbins anchored the two-mile relay team at the University of Illinois Carnival, finishing his mile leg in 4:33 to help the team shave 17 seconds off the previous record, winning the race in 8:27. Robbins was the high-point man at the Indiana State Meet held at Purdue, winning the one-mile race in 4:23 and the half-mile race in 1:57. He had won both events the week before at a State Open Meet at Earlham. He capped his illustrious Wabash track career by finishing second in the mile run at the National Intercollegiate Championships held at Stagg Field in Chicago.
After a long and distinguished career, Robbins passed away in February of 1976. For being the finest distance runner of his era, and for anchoring the finest relays teams in school history, the National Association of Wabash Men is proud to posthumously induct Virgil Robbins into the Wabash College Athletic Hall of Fame.
