CHRONOLOGY of SPECIAL HISTORICAL WABASH ATHLETIC NOTATIONS
From Max E. Servies' book, Some Little Giants
1832 - Founding of Wabash College ("Kneeling in the Snow" on Nov. 22, 1832).
1840's - Football was the chief intramural athletic attraction, but according to the 1896 Quiatenon, "the amenities of the game had not yet been cultivated to the degree of including mayhem and murder."
1850's - 1896 Ouiatenon on Athletics at Wabash in the 1850's: "Jumping, wrestling and foot races were the extemporized efforts of superfluous energy."
1866 - First intercollegiate athletic contest --- Wabash beat Asbury (DePauw) in baseball in Crawfordsville 45-32 on Nov. 24, 1866.
1870's - Col. Henry B. Carrington, Yale '45 and military man was hired to teach military science and physical exercise and to supervise the erection of Polytechnic Gymnasium. He was on the staff from 1869-1878 and left when the Civil War was over and there was no longer a need for military instruction (Osborne 136).
1870's - During this period of the 1870s "students complained that the gymnasium equipment consisted of two upright posts with the cross bar lost, and two pieces of rope dangling from the limb of a maple tree" (166) and those were familiar cries up until the mid-1960s.
1872 - Dedication of Wabash's first gymnasium --- Polytechnic Gymnasium.
1876 - Wabash celebrated the American Centennial by beating Asbury in baseball 35-3.
1883 - Polytechnic Gym was converted into Hovey Museum.
1884 - First intercollegiate football game on October 25 --- Wabash 4 Butler 0 (reported in A.J. Scott's book Indiana Football, 1896).
1886 - Scarlet became the official school color, after tying Franklin in football 4-4 on October 22, at the old Plum Street depot in Crawfordsville.
1886 - The school yell: Wah-hoo-Wah! Wah-hoo-Wah! Wah-hoo! Wah-hoo! Wabash! remained from 1886 until 1932 when it was modernized to Hoo-Wah-Wah! (Wabash The First Hundred Years, page 181.)
1886 - Scarlet as School Color: According to Karen Zach in her article on Billy Martin in the October 1989 Montgomery Magazine, p.3, "he had the distinction of choosing the Wabash color - scarlet". His obituary appeared in the July 11, 1949 Journal and Review and stated, "As captain of the team he also had the distinction of having originated the Wabash color, Scarlet, which he suggested during a meeting of his teammates".
1889 - The Wabash students nicknamed Purdue the Boilermakers after their 18-4 loss in football to Purdue at Crawfordsville. Our students shunned the Purdues' cultural backgrounds and academic legitimacy by use of such names as blacksmiths, farmers, hayseeds, cornfield sailors, pumpkin shuckers, railsplitters, foundry molds and boilermakers. The latter stuck down through history (11/23/1889 - first ever football game in C'ville).
1890 - Wabash's first intercollegiate track team took second at the ICAL State Field Day.
1892 - William C. Malley, Captain of the 1890 Michigan football team was Wabash's first hired "coacher".
1892 - Pres. George Stockton Burroughs and his family moved into the large brick building on 506 S. Washington when he took office in 1892 at the age of 37. He was the fourth President of the College (1892-1899). Pres. Kane lived there from 1899-01 until Kane House was built.
1894 - The 1894 football score with Evansville was not a Wabash game. It was the Indiana College All-Stars, including several Wabash players vs. the Evansville Crescents, an independent team, on Christmas Day. Evansville beat the Stars, not Wabash, 6-4 leaving the 1894 record at 4-5.
1895 - Wabash sneaked a ringer in on Indiana in football when William "Simp" Bell, our young black trainer, subbed himself into the State Championship game at Crawfordsville and scored a last minute touchdown to lead Wabash over Indiana University 16-12.
1896 - Speech Professor Addison A. Ewing, Amherst `92 helped coach the Wabash football team of 1896 and its "club" team of '97, '98 and '99, which had no intercollegiate schedule. Prof. Ewing was noted for his introduction of the sport of golf to Crawfordsville and organized the town's first golf course in the old Crawford Woods in 1898. He quarterbacked Chicago's 1895 team as a graduate student!
1897 - Wabash's first intercollegiate basketball game: Wabash defeated Purdue 23-13 on February 19 in Crawfordsville at the old YMCA gym.
1898 - Melville E. Ingalls, President of the Big-4 Railroad, donated $1,000 to improve old Philistine Field. It was then named Ingalls Field.
1899 - Hovey Museum was reconverted to a physical education gymnasium by President Kane.
1899 - Old Wabash had not yet been written, but student voices in melody and discord were already singing praises of their school to borrowed tunes (180). Then the school song was written in 1899 and was first sung at President Kane's inauguration in Assembly Hall of old Polytechnic Gym on February 22, 1900 (226). It was written by Carrol Rayon and Edwin Robinson.
1904 - Wabash first received the nickname "Little Giants" by an Indianapolis News sportswriter named Mellet. It came out of a discussion between Mellet and Francis Cayou, Wabash coach, on a train late that season. They were discussing the wonderful performances of the Wabash team of 1904 --- nearly always against much bigger schools with much larger players.
1904 - William Henry Spaulding, Wabash football captain in 1904 and 1905 with the "original Little Giants", is in the Helms Football Hall of Fame as a coach. Western Michigan 1907-1921 (61-25-4), Minnesota 1922-1924 (11-7-4) and UCLA 1925-1938 (72-51-8). He spent 32 years as a major college coach with a record of 144-83-16. He took both Minnesota and UCLA to the Rose Bowl.
1904 - DePauw canceled out on their Thanksgiving Day game with Wabash in football because the "Little Giants" had a black player, William M. Cantrell, on their team. The DePauw's President Hughes announced the cancellations few days prior to the game, on the grounds that it would "Strain the Relations" between the students of the two schools.
1907 - Wabash track team won the Big State Meet.
1907 - Wabash played Michigan in football at Washington Park in Indianapolis on October 19. Manager Harry Eller guaranteed Michigan $5,000 to come down and ended up making money on it. Michigan, heralded the best team in the west that season, outweighed the Wabash team an average of 30 pounds per man. Score Michigan 22,
Wabash 0.
1907 - Franz "Dutch" Frurip `07 was the first Wabash football player to be named to first team All-Western and William H. Dague, and end on Wabash football teams in 1902 and 1903, transferred to Navy and made Walter Camp's first team All-America in 1907.
1908 - Beginning of the Bachelor, Wabash College newspaper.
1908 - The Wabash basketball team was heralded the "World Champions". It was Wabash's original "Wonder Five". Every member of the first five made first team All Indiana and all 5 were mentioned as All-Americans!
1909 - Ralph Jones ended his five-year basketball coaching career with a 75-6 record, including two undefeated seasons. George Halas devotes a full chapter on Ralph R. Jones, basketball coach at Wabash 1904-09. Coach Jones left Wabash to coaching stints at Purdue and Illinois, winning Big-10 titles at both schools in basketball. He also assisted in football at Illinois prior to going to Lake Forest Academy as coach of both sports. In chapter 9 of Halas's Book Halas by Halas, McGraw-Hill, 1979, Coach Halas tells of Ralph Jones' coaching of the Chicago Bears 1930-32. Halas tells about Jones innovating the Bear-T, a T formation with a back in motion. The back in motion was Red Grange and the fullback was Bronco Nagurski! Ralph left after the 1932 national championship season to become coach and athletic director at Lake Forest College where he retired in 1949 after 50 years of coaching. He died in Estes Park, Colorado in July, 1951. He is a member of the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1909 - Jesse Clair Harper, Wabash football coach in 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1912 was elected to the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame on January 10, 1971. His four-year football record at Wabash was 15-9-2.
1910 - The Wabash undefeated and unscored upon football team ended their season abruptly after the tragic dearth of Ralph L. "Sap" Wilson in their fourth game of the season down at St. Louis University. Jesse Harper, the developer of the forward pass, was the coach. He later went to Notre Dame and coached Knute Rockne.
1910 - George Banta `14, student trainer and QB sub on the 1910 and 1911 football teams under Jesse Harper, was subbed into the Purdue game as quarter for Skeet Lambert. Wabash beat Purdue 3-0 both years by Lambert field goals against the All-American Elmer Oliphant. Skeet was a Crawfordsville boy and brother of Piggy, Wabash `11.
1911 - Wabash's first intercollegiate tennis team organized.
1913 - The Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity took up housing at 506 S. Washington in 1913 according to Wabash College The First Hundred Years. (Known as the Barb Association.)
1915 - Undefeated football team (7-0-1) under Coach Paul P. Sheeks.
1915 - The nickname "Cavemen" was bestowed upon the Wabash men by DePauw during the 1915 football season.
1917 - Wabash's second Wonder Five coached by Paul Sheeks.
1918 - Dedication of Wabash's new Gymnasium and Armory. Our first contest in the new gym was an indoor track meet with DePauw.
1919 - The motto "Wabash Always Fights" originated at the fall meeting of the Montgomery County Alumni Association held in the gym. It was coined by Ed Zeigner `10 and supported in a speech by Ike Williams `06.
1920 - The Wabash Little Giant Club was formed on Homecoming 1920 (Western Normal football game). All lettermen in all sports since 1866 along with managers, cheerleaders, and orators who won championships were honored. The listings, with year graduated, can be found on page 3 of the December issue of the WABASH RECORD-BULLETIN.
1920 - Century A. "Wally" Milstead, at Wabash in 1920 and 1921, transferred to Yale and made Walter Camp's first team All-America (tackle) in 1923. Wally made an honorable mention All-America while playing for Wabash in 1920 and 1921. He was elected to the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame on January 7, 1977.
1921 - First intercollegiate golf match. Purdue 8 Wabash 1. This was considered the first intercollegiate golf match ever held in Indiana.
1922 - Wabash's National Intercollegiate Basketball Champions under coach Pete Vaughan. This team was referred to as the "Third Wonder Five".
1923 - Wabash's track team, coached by Nash Higgins, tied for 11th place in the NCAA meet at Stagg Field at the Univ. of Chicago on the second places scored by Ray VanArsdale in the Long Jump and Virgil Robbins in the Mile Run.
1925 - Wabash "Fourth Wonder Five" coached by Pete Vaughan lost only one game, a one pointer to Wisconsin.
1929 - Athletic Director Harry Scholler had lights installed in Ingalls Field and played Millikin here in their opener for the first collegiate night football game ever played in Indiana. Wabash played three other night home games that fall, but played DePauw in its homecoming finale on Saturday afternoon. The lights fad lasted only for the 1929 and 1930 seasons for Friday night games, but the 1929 Millikin game drew more fans than any other previous varsity home football contest.
1931 - Wabash's first varsity cross country team was organized.
1932 - Wabash Centennial celebrations and ceremonies.
1936 - A Butler safety spelling 8-7 defeat was the only blemish on Pete Vaughan's football season.
1946 - Football team under Glen Harmeson went 7-1 and shut out six opponents, again losing only to Butler.
1948 - Francis Cayou, Carlisle `96, football and track coach and athletic director of the original Little Giants, died in Claremore, OK on May 7.
1948 - Link Hesler's All-Pete Vaughan football team is written up on page 28 of the March `48 Bulletin.
1951 - Undefeated football team (7-0-1) coached by Garland Frazier.
1954 - Ingalls Field modernized and improved from a square track to a 440-yard oval cinder track.
1955 - National AAU Decathlon Championships held on Ingalls Field.
1956 - Olympic Trials in the Decathlon held on Ingalls Field.
1956 - Gil Shoaf `57 made Honorable Mention Little All-America in 1956 at a Tackle position and was drafted in the 11th round by the Philadelphia Eagles.
1956 - Wabash's first intercollegiate wrestling team, coached by Chester "Chuck" Sanders, went 6-3 in dual meets.
1966 - Dedication of Little Giant Stadium on homecoming, October 8 --- Wheaton football game. A gift of George Banta `14.
1967 - Wabash's first varsity intercollegiate soccer season.
1968 - Dedication of McCanliss and Read Physical Education Center on Commencement weekend.
1968 - First swimming meet held in Wabash's very first pool --- GLCA Meet on December 14.
1969 - Robert E. "Pete" Vaughan, football coach 27 years (113-85-24) basketball coach 21 years (194-175) and athletic director for 23 years, died on February 17. Pete was connected with Wabash College from 1919 until his retirement in 1948, then came back as interim AD in 1961-62 & 1962-63.
1969 - Dedication of Wabash College Tennis Center on Commencement weekend. A gift of John P. Collett `24, President of the Wabash College Board of Trustees.
1969 - Dave Husted `69 was drafted in the 13th round by the Oakland Raiders as an outside linebacker.
1970 - Dedication of Chadwick Court at the Butler basketball game on February 9. Gift from Maurice W. "Shang" Chadwick `25, a member of the two Wonder Fives of 1922 and 1925.
1970 - Dedication of memorial plaques to Francis Cayou and Jesse Harper on November 7 at half-time of the DePauw football game.
1970 - Wabash joined the Indiana Collegiate Conference at the fall meeting of the ICC on November 24, ending Wabash athletic independence since 1866.
1971 - Dedication of Owen Huntsman Track at half-time of the homecoming football game with Butler on October 9.
1971 - J. Owen Huntsman was named College Division Coach of the Year in the NCAA. (At the National Meeting of Cross Country Coaches fall of 1971.)
1973 - The Eleventh Annual College Division Track and Field Championships were held on the J. Owen Huntsman Track May 31, June 1 and 2. Norfolk State won the team title with Lincoln runner-up.
1975 - J. Owen Huntsman, Track Coach 22 years, Cross Country Coach 20 years and Director of Physical Education and Intramurals from 1949 until his retirement in 1971, died at 5:14 a.m. on Saturday, June 14 at Culver Hospital.
1975 - Wabash withdrew from the Indiana Intercollegiate Conference at the November meeting.
1976 - Wabash's swim team under Doug Landgraf captured its 2nd consecutive ICC Championship and picked up 6th place in the NCAA Division III Championships.
1976 - The tennis team tied for 4th place in the NCAA Division III Championships at Millsaps College.
1977 - Wabash Board of Trustees approved $75,000 expenditure to construct two near-regulation sized racquetball courts on the upper floor of the old east wing.
1977 - Wabash tennis team placed 6th in the NCAA III Championship at Millsaps College.
1977 - Wabash ended a 5 consecutive year period of all-sports supremacy against DePauw. Total 5- year period: 40 wins & 17 losses.
1977 - Wabash went to the NCAA Div. III Playoffs and got 2nd place losing to Widener 39-36 in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl at Phenix City, Ala. on December 3.
1977 On ABC television twice during football season. DePauw game regionally televised with Jim Lampley and Rick Forzanno as narrators and the Stagg Bowl was naturally televised with Chris Lincoln and Steve Davis as narrators.
1978 - Wabash scored 6th place in NCAA Division III swimming at Grinnell College on March 18.
1978 - Wabash opened 2 new Racquetball courts in the east wing on March 20 and initiated them with the IM tournament, which was won by : The Sigma Chi.
1978 - Thaddeus Seymour, president of Wabash for 9 years resigned to become president of Rollins College on July 1. Thad will go down in history as one of Wabash's all-time athletic boosters.
1978 - Little Giant weight room on the main floor of the east wing was refurbished during the summer and some new equipment purchased.
1980 - Our Little Giant 10-sport program went 94-40-1 during the 1979-80 school year for the best overall winning percentage (.700) since 1924-25 (.714). The best in 55 years!
1980 - John Pavlik, all-time Wabash punter signed with Seattle Seahawks as a free agent.
1980 - Wabash recorded its 7th undefeated football season with an 8-0-1 this fall under head coach Stan Parrish. The other undefeated: 1884: 1-0; 1886: 2-0-1; 1899: 1-0-1; 1910: 4-0 (all shutouts): 1915: 7-0-1; 1951: 7-0-1. The Little Giants ended the 1980 season with a 22-22 tie vs. DePauw at Wabash before 7,000 fans, the largest recorded football crowd in Crawfordsville history at that time.
1981 - Wabash's wrestling room went up in smoke on Jan. 17, but our team went 23-0 for our first undefeated grappling team in intercollegiate wrestling history and won the Little State, GLCA and NCAA Div. III Mid-East Regional at MacMurray for its efforts.
1981 - Wabash College Athletic Hall of Fame founded by R. Robert Mitchum & NAWM alumni board.
1982 - Wabash College NCAA Div. III Basketball Champions. Coach Mac Petty's Little Giants won the whole thing with their 83-62 championship win over Potsdam (NY) State at Calvin College on Saturday, March 20. Wabash ended the season with a 24-4 record, including 5 wins in NCAA Championship play and a string of 19 consecutive wins. Coach Mac Petty received NCAA Div. III Coach of the Year elected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Rem Johnston `55 tagged this team the "Fifth Wonder Five" at the awards banquet at St. Bernard's Church on Sunday, April 18 and Coach Petty was proclaimed "Sagamore of the Wabash" by Governor Robert Orr at the State House on April 20.
1982 - Little Giant center (basketball) and tight end (football), Pete Metzelaars played in the Sertoma Charities All-Star Basketball game at Butler Fieldhouse and was drafted as a TE in the Third round by the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL while Daryl Johnson, All-American running back, was signed as a free-agent defensive back with the Cleveland Browns.
1982 - The Wabash wrestling team's 33 consecutive dual string was shattered by Terry Wetherald's Indiana Central Greyhounds in Chadwick Court by an 18-13 loss. The wrestlers ended the season 17-1 in duals to mark its 20th consecutive dual meet winning season. Both were all-time all-sports records at Wabash up to this time.
1982 - Coach Stan Parrish's Little Giant football team ended its first full undefeated-untied season in Wabash history on November 13 in Little Giant Stadium with a 31-6 over the DePauw Tigers before 9,500 fans. The 1982 10-0 Little Giants ended with a NCAA Division III ranking of Fifth and failed to be selected in an eight team NCAA tournament field. Wabash's football after 94 seasons ranked 7th in Division III in total wins with 407. The 1982 season also was noted in Division III home attendance records at 7th place with an average of 5,280 fans at each home game.
1983 - Coach J. Owen Huntsman's last five track teams from 1967 through his last season in 1971 went 27-0 in duals (1.000); the five wrestling teams from 1979 through 1983 compiled a dual record of 80-6 (.930); Ralph Jones' basketball men from 1905 through 1909 went 75-6 (.926) in five seasons; and Stan Parrish's gridders went 42-3-1 (.924) for a five season span! Some Little Giants!
1983 - Dave Broecker ended a brilliant career at Wabash and won just about every conceivable award offered. He led the Little Giant football teams to a four year record of 34-2-1, including two undefeated seasons, and was selected to all-American teams as quarterback his freshman and senior years. Dave who entered Wabash as a Lilly Scholar, won the Paul T. Hurt Award, the Dean Stephens Award and the John Maurice Butler Prize as a student, and won the Indianapolis Alumni Award and the Robert E. "Pete" Vaughan Award as an athlete. He was a finalist in the Rhodes Scholarship running, earned a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and a National Football Foundation Hall of Fame Postgraduate Fellowship and was graduated with Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude Honors. Some Little Giant - Dave Broecker!
1984 - Wabash got a brand new weight room beginning the school year 1984-85. It was moved from the main floor of the old east wing of the gym to the west end basement area, adjoining the equipment cage. Coach Tim Campana was chiefly responsible for the fund raising program through the efforts of an all campus and community lift-a-thon conducted during the early spring of 1984.
1984 - Gail M. Pebworth became Wabash's first female coach in Little Giant history. Gail came on board the fall of 1984, replacing Bill Rost as Head Coach of Swimming. She had for ten previous ten years been the coach of the local Sugar Creek Swim Club for kids.
1984 - Wabash celebrated, on November 4 at Woodstock Country Club in Indianapolis the retirement from the presidency of the Board of Trustees, Byron P. Hollett. Barney was given a "This is your Life" party by Bill Hays and was presented a Wabash Pennant in appreciation of his 20 years as member of the board and nine years as president of that board. Barney will go down in Wabash history as one of the greatest Wabash College trustee presidents and athletic boosters of all time. During the fall of '84, Wabash helped inaugurate the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis on Oct. 27 with a double header football game with Taylor (Butler played Franklin in the other game) and ended the season beating DePauw 31-26 in Little Giant Stadium before SPN national television - a fitting tribute to Some Little Giant, Barney Hollett.
1987 - Wabash undertook a number of athletic refurbishing projects during this year. The old east wing visitors quarters were completely remodeled by Randolph builders, new Chadwick Court bleachers were installed by Bill Dearborn, '41, president of Interkal, Inc., Huntsman track was resurfaced and Mud Hollow Field was completely upgraded. This was all part of the 40 million dollar Campaign for Continued Excellence.
1987 - The Little Giant wrestling team turned in it's 25th consecutive winning season with an 18-0 undefeated dual meet season and earned a Rem Johnston poster commemorating the milestone.
1987 - The Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference began in the spring of 1987 with its official press conference in June. The membership included Anderson, DePauw, Franklin, Hanover, Manchester and Wabash and activities were to begin as soon as the schools could get scheduling organized.
1988 - The College, in an effort to further upgrade its athletic facilities, refurbished the old east wing Armory corridor and added two new racquetball courts upstairs. The portico between the swimming facility and the main lobby was also glassed in and Mud Hollow Field was finished during the summer.
1988 - Rob Johnson went around Owen Huntsman in total coaching wins in track this spring. Owen had recorded a 94-27 record in his 22 seasons as coach of the Little Giants. Rob's record after 17 track seasons tallied 97-36.
1989 - The DePauw Tigers evened up the series to 44-44-8 in their 41-14 drubbing of the Little Giants in Blackstock Stadium on November 11. DePauw's 41 points was the most scored by the rivals since their 48-34 win in 1893. This marked their third consecutive win over the Little Giants since the 1986 Wabash win (24-23) when time ran out on the Tigers' last second field goal attempt.
1990 - Wabash's fifteenth consecutive winning football season was only inches away in Little Giant Stadium on November 10 vs. our archrivals DePauw. The Tigers held on for a 20-13 win to earn top spot in the ICAC and went around the Little Giants in the Centennial Game of a series that began in 1890. This brought the total record to 44-45-8 in favor of DePauw and stopped Wabash's consecutive winning seasons to fourteen.
1991 - Three present Little Giant coaches broke Wabash records in total wins in their sport during the 1990-91 school year. Al Fye increased his soccer record to 56-39-3 in seven seasons, which overcame Doug Landgraf's 53-56-9 record in his ten seasons here.
Mac Petty went around Pete Vaughan on February 9 vs. Anderson in all-time basketball wins. Pete recorded a 194-175 from 1919 to 1940. The Little Giant overtime win over Anderson gave Mac a 195-166 record since taking over the basketball reins in 1976 (15 seasons). Scott Boone raised his baseball record to 104-98 in six seasons to go around Harry Scholler's 101-58-5 record in twelve seasons here.
Coach Davis' tennis hit a milestone this season by surpassing 100 wins over twelve seasons. His dual record at this time stands at 106-96 and went around Bob Brock's 10-year record of 43-40 in 1985. Six of Wabash's present coaches are sitting in first place in all-time Wabash wins in their respective sports and three are presently in second place!
1991 - Taylor University announced, at the fall meeting of the ICAC, their withdrawal from the conference. The ICAC voted to become an NCAA Division III league beginning with the 1992-93 school year and Taylor chose to remain NAIA.
1992 - Wabash won its first ICAC All-Sports title after a three year dominance by DePauw. The Little Giants scored firsts in football and track, seconds in cross country, soccer, and tennis and placed third in basketball, fifth in baseball and sixth in golf to edge out DePauw by one point in the overall standings. Swimming and wrestling are not officially counted in the standings, but Wabash placed first and second in those sports respectively.
1992 - Chadwick Court floor was totally refinished the summer of 1992 as a part of Wabash's athletic facility improvement. A new faculty-staff women's locker room was opened and the field west of the tennis building was vacated, graded and seeded to add to our field space for intramurals.
1993 - The Little Giants were named the ICAC All-Sports Champions for the second straight year on the strength of four championships and four runners-up. Wabash beat DePauw out by three points in total standings. The 1992-93 school year saw five ICAC Most Valuable Athletes, a fourth consecutive undefeated season in swimming, a record of five baseball wins over DePauw, the 31st consecutive winning season in wrestling, the most all-sports wins ever in dual competition with 95 and Wabash's first time since the school year 1915-16 that no sport had a losing season.
1993 - Chadwick Court got its walls painted the summer of 1993 as a part of on-going athletic facility facelifting.
1993 - Wabash went around DePauw in the 100th Monon Bell game in Greencastle on November 13. The Little Giants won 40-26 to break the deadlock from 45-45-9 to
46-45-9 in 100 games!
1994 - Coach Gail Pebworth has produced 5 consecutive undefeated swimming seasons and a showing of 48 consecutive dual wins in her tenth season as head coach. She is the all-time winningest swimming coach with a record of 73-10 in 10 seasons and Wabash's all-time percentage winner with 88%.
1994 - The program documents for refurbishing and additions to both Sparks Center and the athletic complex were turned in to the President and Board of Trustees at Commencement. Committee chairman, Dave Hadley and the Sparks Center/Athletic Complex Committee members were hopeful that fund raising would soon get off the ground to insure outstanding facilities in both areas into the Twenty-First Century.
1994 - The following athletic facilities were facelifted during the summer of 1994: new aluminum bleachers in Little Giant Stadium and concrete repair work; weight room painted; front steps to gyms repaired; recreation gym floor refinished; privacy walls constructed in Training room; general painting inside and out. The Wabash Tennis Center fences were painted and Milligan Street courts refinished, the 3 courts inside were coated, the Crawford Street courts repaired and the north side of the building was painted a background green.
1995 - The Wabash Cross Country team placed Third in the NCAA Div. III Championships and won the Great Lakes Regional with a perfect score of 15 - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The Three Amigos of Roger Busch, Scott Gall and Jeremy Wright ran to All-America Honors at Wisconsin-LaCrosse, while Coach Rob Johnson was named National Coach of the Year in Division III.
1996 - J. Owen Huntsman Track was resurfaced the summer of 1996, during July/August. All 8 lanes and jumping surfaces were recoated and lined. Work was also done to repair the football press box and the training room had a facelift over the summer.
1998 - The Little Giants were named All-Sports Champions of the ICAC the school year 1997-98 with two first places and five runners-up placings. The championship baseball team under the direction of rookie coach Dick Cerone sealed the deal. Wabash scored 49 all-sports points to DePauw's 43 1/2.
1999 - Contracts were let the spring of 1999 to renovate and construct the 20 million dollar Allen Athletics and Recreation Center. Much work went into the planning stages over the past five years. Our present facility will be renovated in addition to new construction for a fieldhouse, new pool and weight and fitness room, new wrestling room and racquetball courts and renovated dressing rooms, equipment room, offices and public lobbies. Bob Allen '57 donated $10 million to the project in an announcement the fall of 1998. The firm of Hastings and Chivetta are principle architects for the project.
Wabash announced its membership into the North Coast Athletic Conference effective the school year 1999-00. Football will ease into the new conference in 2000 and will remain active in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference the fall of 1999.
Wabash won the All-Sports Championship in the "new" Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference with firsts in Cross Country, Football and Swimming and runner-up finishes in Soccer and Track.
Bob Knowling '77 CEO of Covad Communications in Silicon Valley, announced a $5 million donation to the Campaign and the Fieldhouse addition to the Allen Center will bear his name. Bob was an outstanding basketball and football player in his college days.
2000 - The athletic staff took over the Allen Center one section at a time the school year 1999-00. We first went into the athletic locker rooms then Chadwick Court and the office complex. Over spring break the physical fitness room was opened. Most of the remainder of the facility, including the pool, the rest of the dressing room facilities and the wrestling room were to be available in the fall and the fieldhouse was to be completed in January, 2001. The Grand Opening was celebrated in January, 2001 and what a banquet and ceremony it was!
