Wabash College - Class of 1991

Beth Swift, archivist for the College's Ramsay Archives, has started writing articles from Wabash's past. I thought it appropriate to reprint it here. Enjoy.

Jesse Harper and the forward pass

by Beth Swift

Football today is a much different game than it was at the turn of the 20th century. Among the innovations to the game was the development and refinement of the forward pass. Two new books highlight the huge part that Wabash football played in this innovation. They are Notre Dame and the Game that Changed Football: How Jesse Harper Made the Forward Pass a Weapon and Knute Rockne a Legend by Frank Maggio and Forward Pass: the Play That Saved Football by Phillip L. Brooks. Both authors attribute the rise of forward pass to Jesse Harper, Wabash College football coach from 1909 until 1913 when he left to coach at Notre Dame.

Coach Harper brought the forward pass and Notre Dame football to national prominence in the Notre Dame vs. Army game of 1913. Harper perfected the pass at Wabash and took it with him to Notre Dame where his team, with Knute Rockne as captain, used the pass to defeat the much larger Army team. Reporters took note and the game received wide coverage as this New York Times article of November 1, 1913 shows:

WEST POINT, N.Y.–The Notre Dame eleven swept the Army off its feet on the Plains this afternoon and buried the soldiers under a 35-to-13 score. The Westerners flashed the most sensational football that has been seen in the East this year, baffling the Cadets with a style of open play and a perfectly developed forward pass which carried the victors down the field 30 yards at a clip. Football men marveled at this startling display of open football. Bill Roper, former head coach at Princeton, who was one of the officials of the game, said that he had always believed that such playing was possible under the new rules but that he had never seen the forward pass developed to such a state of perfection.

Coach Jesse Harper had played for Amos Alonzo Stagg at Chicago and coached at Alma College before coming to Wabash in 1909. On campus it was the era of the “Little Giants” and football ruled. During the 1910 season Harper’s team went undefeated and even shut out all of their opponents. The season was cancelled due to the tragic death of Wabash football player and Crawfordsville resident, Ralph Lee “Sap” Wilson from a head injury he had received in the St. Louis game. On his hospital bed Ralph asked his father, “Did Wabash win?” The remaining games were cancelled and the question was engraved on his tombstone in Crawfordsville’s Oak Hill Cemetery. The impact of such a tragedy on the team and on the coach cannot be underestimated. Today’s students still hear this story and it is clear that Sap Wilson has left an indelible mark on the psyche of the College. It is clear that the death of Wilson also left its mark on Harper as well. In this passage from Some Little Giants former Athletic Director Max Servies writes:

Coach Harper urged the Wabash administration to be content to schedule natural rivals as opposed to the professionalism of competing with major universities on a guarantee basis and at their disposal. He was also the forerunner of encouraging a sound intramural program for all Wabash students, a philosophy which has continued to this day.

Jesse Harper changed the world of football and brought Notre Dame football to the national level with the defeat of the formidable Army team. He left Notre Dame in 1918 to raise cattle in western Kansas and his former team captain, Knute Rockne, was named football coach.

 

Kip received this from Kurt Decker, who writes, "I was reading the newsletter and thought I would send a quick update. For the past 2 years I have been an investment advisor with Fifth Third Securities in my old hometown of Princeton. I have 2 daughters, Haley (11), Leah (9), and a future Wally - Jake (3). Oh yeah - I am recently single again. Almost 40 and on the market again! I'd love to hear from any of my Fiji pledge brothers. Thanks for all the work on the newsletter, I enjoy each one."

One big advantage to blogging class and Wabash news is the great feature that lets you, dear blog peruser, add your thoughts, ideas, or corrections to any posts we make. It's a great--if underused--feature to create a good discourse.

We'd like to encourage more commenting on this blog. That way, this becomes the Class Blog and not just the filtered news and personal rants of one guy. A few thoughts on this:

• Yesterday, a classmate sent me an e-mail with a comment on Dr. Barreto's departure. He made some good points, and I encouraged him to make a comment. You know who you are.
• I have anecdotal knowledge that people other than classmates read this blog. Spouses, faculty, administration, Dannies (!). You, too, are encouraged to participate in the discussion. You know who you are.
• Part of me wonders whether this is just a generational thing that, gasp, people our age just don't do.
  
• Another part of me thinks that many of you don't want to come off as some crackpot like some the bizarre comments that appear after an inane sports column in the Indianapolis Star.
  
• The rest of me knows how some of you argue and that you might be shunning any permanance of your remarks, concerned that they'll finally be researched and discredited like we all wanted so much to do that time at Tommies... You know who you are.
  

None of these should be barrier to taking the plunge and sounding off. G'head. You know you wanna.

I'd also like to explain a change I've made to this blog. I adjusted the setting to disallow any anonymous comments. I did so because I started to notice some rather innocuous comments posted. It wasn't in retaliation to any "flaming" or "trolls" in the parlance of the Web. It was just a leak in the roof that needed fixing.

Truth be told, I made this change in support of the Gentleman's Rule. True discussion and commentary cannot exist under the cloak of anonymity. Responsible citizens back up their statements, whether they be inspired or insipid, sublime or stupid. After all, I put my name on my ramblings, even the half-baked ones.

Comment away.

Sean Fahey writes, "Leslie and I had another baby on January 30th. A little girl. Kiernan Ann Fahey: 19 and a quarter inches, 7 pounds 3 ounces.

"That makes 3 under 3 with her brothers Liam (one) and Ayden (age two).

"She started sleeping through the night just in the last week and we are all adjusting well."

Sean is working as a business development manager for Quest Information Systems in Indy. (He promised a picture, which I'll add when I get it.)

Chris Cotton reports, " I sold my agency to a much larger one in early 2007. I'm still focused on employee benefits but now have much more office support. It's been a great decision. I am also still coaching DBs and Special Teams at my alma mater, Wawasee High School in Syracuse, IN. This will be 4th year as a full-time assistant and 7th overall. It's a great change of pace and I love working with the kids. My wife recently was appointed the Director of the Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce.

The latest news is that Wabash will install new athletic facilities over the next year. The plans were unveiled just in time for Honor Scholar Weekend last week. The architects are Hastings+Chivetta, who did the Allen Center.

These upgrades are definitely needed for our baseball and soccer teams, and they will also benefit football, track, and intramurals. Here’s what’s planned:

• New field turf on Hollett Little Giant Stadium. I’m using a generic term for a brand name here, but it ain’t the AstroTurf of old (i.e. glorified indoor/outdoor carpeting over blacktop). This stuff is much more beneficial for athletes, even over natural grass. It should hopefully help alleviate some of those knee injuries our student-athletes were prone to suffer.

• New press box and restroom facilities for Little Giant Stadium.
• A new field turf soccer field. It will run north-south in Mud Hollow where the current baseball facilities are. Included will be a new scoreboard; restroom, storage, and concession facility; and bleachers along the Lambda Chi side yard. For the first time since we attended Wabash, the College will have a regulation-size soccer field.
• Field turf and grass practice fields for football and IMs with areas for field events (hammer, discus, javelin, and shot put). These two fields will take up the remainder of Mud Hollow.
• New (grass?) baseball field. Located west of the Allen Center and Tennis Pavilion, it will measure 400’ at center field and 330’ at right and left. It will include a new scoreboard; restroom, concession, and a press box facility; bleachers; and parking.

Lighting of these facilities is an expensive proposition that has yet to be decided.

The bottom line is that these upgrades will allow us to compete, both in athletics themselves and in attracting student-athletes.

Our honorary classmate and Professor of History Emeritus Jim Barnes delivered this Thursday's Chapel Talk titled "Twenty Years After." Echoing the book by Alexander Dumas that chronicles the later exploits of the Three Musketeers, Dr. Barnes challenged the students to take up new things, even 20 years after graduation. He talked about taking up the sport of cross-country skiiing in his 50s!

If you have a few minutes, listen to his great speech.

As you know, we didn't have Chapel, mandatory or otherwise. We did, for a time, have Thursday "It seems to me that..." talks. But this is one tradition that is great to bring back. Speakers have been passionate, personal, and provocative. Other Chapel Talks this semester have included the following:

• My former next door neighbor in Franklin, Trustee Ted Grossnickle '73 examined why alumni support Wabash in a speech entitled "What's the Difference" on Feb. 28. (podcast)
• The College's director of new media and Web editor Howard Hewitt spoke about "What Wabash Men Can Learn from the '60s" on Feb. 21. (podcast)
  
• Professor of Religion Dr. Stephen Webb '83 discussed the now infamous Duke Lacross case in a speech entitled "The Duke Disaster and the Crisis of Higher Education" on Feb. 14. (podcast)
• Steve Hoffman '85 reminsced about his Wabash days past and present in a speech he called "Yea, Rah, Wabash, Nice Game" on Feb. 7. (podcast)
• At the end of his heartfelt talk on Jan. 31, Dr. Bert Barreto "The Star Spangled Banner" dropped a bombshell to say that after 20 years he would be leaving Wabash to take a teaching job at DePauw! (podcast)
  

Well, I have to report that on April 3rd, the Sphinx Club has asked me to give the Chapel Talk. I have tentatively titled my talk "What I've Learned." I have the outline done, but I'm very open to suggestions. So I ask,

"If you had to address the current students at Wabash, what would you tell them?"

Let me know. I promise I'll be well prepared and represent our class well. Stay tuned.

Hot off the virtual presses...

It's the latest Class Agent Letter. Read it by clicking here.

If you haven't sent us an update in awhile, you have three easy options:

• Submit a class note online.
• Send an e-mail to the Alumni Office.
• Send Kip or Hugh an e-mail.

Don't forget to include any pictures of kids, vacations, anything.

Back in October, I sang the praises of the social networking site LinkedIn. The site recently created groups, and our alma mater, ever striving to connect the Wabash Mafia, followed suit. They sent out an e-mail blast late Friday. By 10am this morning (EDT), over 400 alums had joined the Wabash College Alumni group!

Yeah, but what the hell is LinkedIn? Some of you have already asked. Basically, it's a networking site for professionals to find clients, scout prospects, explore job opportunities, and...well...network. If you need more details, find out more here.

First off, I apologize for the dwindling and sporadic blog entries. (Some of you guys could take a moment to help me out by sending us an update on what you're doing. Hint. Hint.) That said, I'm looking out the window of my office at the snow that's falling and feeling that wonderful feeling I'm sure we all feel this time of year: Bring on Spring. Now!

Several Wabash students have managed to flee the wintry climate of west central Indiana this week as they venture forth on Spring Break. And it seems an greater number of them are doing it with a purpose on several immersion trips. The College does an excellent job of encouraging these guys to journal their experiences, and it proves a nice respite to take five and live vicariously through their experiences as they discover a broader world.

It's certainly good to broaden your mind while being hold up in your office on a wintry day.

Where in the World are Wabash College Students?*

Link	Course	Location
Blog	PoliSci: Politics of the Middle East	Tel Aviv, Israel
Blog	Div1 277; Hist. 350; Hum. 277; Spa 277: Astronomy and the Mayan World View	Villahermosa, Mexico
Blog	Spanish 477-1. Master Novelists of the Hispanic World: Don Quixote and Garcia Marquez	Madrid, Spain
Blog	PoliSci 311: Congress and the Presidency	Washington, DC
Blog	German 202: German Language and Culture	Berlin, Germany
Blog	Bio 213: Ecology	Everglades, Florida
Blog	Marketing	Indianapolis, South Bend
Blog	Service: Post-Katrina Cleanup	New Orleans

* with apologies to Carmen Sandiego