New Classmate: Coach Gail Pebworth H’91
Wabash bestowed an overdue honor on legendary coach Gail Pebworth, who retired in 2001 and still weilds a tremendous impact on Wabash swimming & diving and its alumni.
It’s no secret to those who know me how much respect I carry for a woman I still call Coach. And, yes, I’ll admit to doing a little logrolling among the swim alums to lobby the National Association of Wabash Men for her.
But sitting in the Chapel on Saturday, I couldn’t have been more pleased that we could contribute this small gratitude to someone who demonstrated such positivity, exacted such great expectation, and taught us the true meaning of “Wabash Always Fights.”
The honor brought out classmates Tony Costantino, Dave Riggs, Steve Turk, and myself–along with a bevy of other swim alums–who participated in the Annual Alumni/Intersquad meet before the Homecoming Chapel.
I have pasted the citation below, which is apt and remarkable. What’s not said is how much a recruiting powerhouse she was (and is), and not just to swimmers and divers. I was reminded how an alum would proudly report to Coach Pebworth of the birth of his son. After the conversation, she would jot down his name, his son’s name, and add it to the appropriate folder, i.e. “Class of 2014″ in her recruiting drawer.
You’ll notice at the end that she has chosen to affiliate herself with the Class of 1991.
To echo Coach’s familiar refrain, “Why not?”
Citation read by NAWM President Mark Dewart ’74:
Gail Moll Pebworth, graduate of Indiana University and near life-long resident of Crawfordsville, it seems fitting on this Homecoming that we finally welcome you into the ranks of alumni of this great College.
After all, you were the first woman to serve as a head coach at Wabash and the first woman inducted in the Wabash Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1999, you were named one of Indiana’s “Trailblazing Women,” and we’re grateful that you chose to blaze your trail here at Wabash.
You coached Wabash swimmers and divers for 18 years and no coach in Wabash athletics history was as successful as you were. Your teams won 131 of 151 dual meets over 18 years and had a combined record of 775-112 against all competition. Your Little Giants posted eight undefeated seasons, scored five top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships, won 13 Liberal Arts Invitational titles, and captured six conference championships. You were tabbed as Coach of the Year at Wabash — in good company, we might add — a record seven times, and twice you were named Indiana’s Swimming Coach of the Year.
What is particularly remarkable about your record as our swimming and diving coach is that you placed equal emphasis on academic excellence. While you coached 48 All-Americans, you also coached 23 All-Academic standouts, four NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Winners, two of your men were Rhodes Scholarship finalists, and your teams were on the All-Academic list for 23 straight semesters.
But those records are merely numbers to hang on banners or tuck away in trophy cases. Your true meaning to Wabash lies in the way you mentored and inspired hundreds of men who competed under your leadership. You taught them to win or lose with dignity and class. You treated novice, even first-time swimmers with the same respect as your elite All-Americans. You modeled for your men a constant pursuit of excellence and you demanded nothing less than each man’s best effort.
While some in collegiate athletics might dub your methods as “old school,” we at Wabash are proud that you did not tolerate swearing, jeering, or boastful behavior on your deck. So classy were you as a coach, that you routinely celebrated the successes of our opponents, including DePauw, with as much excitement as you did your own swimmers and divers. For you have long believed in the potential greatness of good people — at Wabash and beyond.
You have given of yourself to improve the lives of your swimmers and divers, your fellow members of the League of Women Voters, and all of those served by the many boards and agencies you have led. Our mission at Wabash calls our students to think critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live humanely. In you, Gail Moll Pebworth, we have a living example of how that mission is manifest and all the good that can come from a single person in pursuit of excellence.
Therefore, it is my honor on behalf of the National Association of Wabash Men, to name you an honorary alumna in the Class of 1991. Gail Moll Pebworth — Some Little Giant!








