Wabash College - Class of 1991

Hi, Hugh!

I always enjoy your missives, and you are certainly a locus of information about all things Wabash, so I wanted to bounce some observations and impressions off you.
I went to the College for the first time in eight years yesterday. My first impression was of all the recent capital improvement that has transpired. While there’s a little less architectural uniformity, I know in 20 years there’s going to be a patina of familiarity and consistency that eases that jolt. I wish I’d had time for a full and thorough exploration particularly of the MXI and Lilly Religion Teaching buildings.

On the walk to the stadium I overheard a conversation that I found very instructive. A couple of DePauw girls (in “cute” outfits, young enough that I could have fathered them–Egad!) were saying: “What I think is funny is how much energy they put into hating us.” “Yeah, and we just don’t even care about hating them.” So exactly why had you bothered to make the drive, sister? I wonder what it is like to have no attachment to a thing bigger than your own little belly button. Would we be happier if we just didn’t care? Would we have more fun? It’s exactly what I dislike about Dannies: they aren’t engaged.

The game: boy, the Little Giants stunk it up. Couldn’t get a thing going; couldn’t buy a piece of luck; couldn’t stiffen up fast enough. They just sliced up the backfield on offense, while we couldn’t get a ball to go where it needed to be. The team gave a respectable performance, but they sure didn’t look like champions on November 15th. Which leads me to my central point…

It seems to me that the Monon Bell Classic is a ceremony outside the regular football campaign. We’ve all experienced seasons vindicated by a Bell win, and successful years without that trophy seem hollow. I think the game has spiritual overtones, and Wabash’s execution depends upon our spiritual fitness. I didn’t see much evidence of the ol’ Little Giant Caveman attitude. Our stands were muted (no cacophonous pep band, no packs of rhynes trying to out-cheer the next bunch), just a lot of cold dudes squinting into the wind [I forgot how the wind feels blowing from across the Great Plains without geographic interruption]. The team was tense, not like a bowstring, but like an accountant in need of a footrub. I saw a lot of purple armbands and Delta Tau Delta paraphernalia. Three separate students told me that the campus was angry and alienated; I had a chat with a senior at the TKE house where he expressed mistrust of the administration, a sense that that the college had his money and no longer cared what he thought of them.

Steve Webb wrote an eloquent letter to the Bachelor about virtue, trust, and the Gentleman’s Rule. I think that trust has broken down at Wabash because there is no transparency, no communication of shared mission, no assumption of mutual respect. In such an environment, the Gentleman’s Rule can’t exist. The sole arbiter of gentlemanly behavior is acting without explaining.

It may be that we are seeing this first stirrings of the end of Greek letter organizations at Wabash. When we were in school, we settled the issue of admitting women. We did it while giving all sides a voice, and even those who were unhappy with the choice knew they had been heard, and could weigh their values and judgment against their love of Wabash College. Now fraternities know they can be summarily closed by a star-chamber court, privacy concerns cited as a reason for silence, and a claim that the action is in the best interests of the College.

It’s happened, and can happen again, and you are not safe.In that sense, now we’re all Delts.

South Bend Tribune
Nov 11, 2008

Battling to be Bell of the ball

Intensity makes Wabash vs. DePauw no ordinary rivalry

by AL LESAR

Nick Etzcorn’s first memory of the Monon Bell Classic is burned in his mind.

Two years ago, just a freshman at DePauw, Etzcorn was on the Tiger football team bus as it pulled up to Hollett Little Giant Stadium on the Wabash College campus.

“A lady who had to be in her 80s was sitting in her wheelchair tailgating,” Etzcorn said. “She had her oxygen hooked up and a Wabash blanket wrapped around her.”

As the bus stopped, Etzcorn said the old lady swiveled her chair, realized who was on the bus, and made an obscene gesture.

“I remember thinking, ‘What am I getting myself into?’” Etzcorn said.This is small college football at its finest. Wabash vs. DePauw. It’s the purest form of a rivalry.

Saturday’s 115th renewal (Wabash holds a 53-52-9 edge) of the war between the colleges barely 30 miles apart is special. Just ask the 12,000 people who will be watching, more than half of whom will be situated on portable bleachers on the perimeter of the stadium, and the television audience from across the country that will be tuned into Mark Cuban’s HDNet.

“Coming in as a freshman, I thought this would be something like Penn-Mishawaka or St. Joe-Marian,” said Penn High grad Evan Sobecki, a 5-foot-10, 195-pound junior running back for Wabash. “You see the fans in the extra stands; you see the TV crews setting up days ahead of time. You realize, ‘Yeah, maybe this is pretty special.’”"This rivalry yells out college football,” said Niles High grad Etzcorn, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound wide receiver for DePauw. “Nobody playing in this game is going to the NFL. Nobody out there is getting a shoe deal. The weather’s always cold and nasty. It’s the way college football should be played.”

It was a wild game last year at DePauw. The Tigers trailed by eight with four minutes to play and ended up winning 24-21 with a late 47-yard field goal by Jordan Havercamp, a guy who had never kicked a field goal in college before.

“Late in the game, we were in the huddle and couldn’t hear a word anyone was saying,” Etzcorn said. “We had to leave the huddle, go over to our student section and quiet them down, get back to the huddle and run the play.”

“All week in practice leading up to the DePauw game, if you’re not involved in the play, you have to be yelling,” Sobecki said. “We try to get used to the noise.”There’s no getting used to the intensity. Wabash comes into the game 9-0, already having clinched an NCAA Division III playoff spot. DePauw is 7-2, looking for a way to end its season on a high note.

“There are signs in our locker room all year that say, ‘What have you done today to beat DePauw?’” said Sobecki. “Profs don’t give tests or have papers due this week. The campus and the community take this seriously.”

“You realize you’re not playing just for your team,” Etzcorn said. “You’re playing for the community; you’re playing for the alumni; you’re playing for that grad who wants to have bragging rights at his office for a year. It’s huge.”

Yet, a couple hours after last year’s game, a mutual friend brought Etzcorn and Sobecki together to share some time.

“It was weird,” Etzcorn said. “A couple hours earlier, I wanted to rip his head off just because he was wearing that uniform. Then, we’re sitting together talking about how great of an experience it was.”Maybe that’s really what makes the game a classic.

It’s a blood drive to benefit the Indiana Blood Center (IBC) pitting the Wabash faithful against our DePauw counterparts. The IBC needs roughly 500 units per day for Indiana residents in need of blood transfusions and life-saving blood products. 

Any Wabash friend or family member can donate; just identify yourself at as a “Wabash Donor” when you donate at any of the five Indianapolis or 13 statewide locations. For more information, contact Steve Woods ‘93 at swoods@fountainheadsearch.com or (317) 251-0011.

At last check, the sons of Wabash were winning 226-175. You can still give up until Thursday, November 13.

Here’s a quick stats table comparing the two teams through 9 games…I’ve bolded the numbers where one team has a distinct advantage. 

Wow.  If you’re a DePauw fan, it’s a damn good thing that these games aren’t played on paper. 

Thanks, Tom. For me, I want to see how strength of schedule comes into play in Saturday’s game. Wabash has played one of the weakest schedules in recent memory. U. of Chicago, Kenyon, Oberlin, and Hiram are not exactly strong programs…and I’m being polite. It’s nothing against the mettle of our Little Giants, but 7-2 DePauw will be a much stronger opponent than we’ve seen in weeks.

Wabash headed to the playoffs and undefeated. DePauw playing their last game of the season with nothing to lose but the Monon Bell.

We’ve heard this one before. And one thing’s for sure.

WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS!

If you’re planning on coming, please give us an RSVP. We’ve received some regrets from some of you who  can’t make it:

George Valaika

Brian Deleget

Hugh, Thanks for the invite but I’ll have to pass this year. My 1st child is going to be born on 10-24 so we’re quite busy. All the best.

Michael Crowder

Will be out of town that weekend on business. Go Wabash!

Mike Troman

Baby is due this weekend so I won’t make it this year. Thanks for putting this together and hope to see you next year with a Little Giant or Giantet in tow.

Steve Reedy

Won’t make it this year; I will be watching it on TV. One of my neighbors is a Danny (in Austin, go figure) so we’ll be watching at the approved Austin location.

Dom Mazzone

My best to you all. I wish I could make it this year, but hope to make it next year.

Kim Jackson

I regret that I will not be able to make it from Atlanta. I will be watching on TV though. Go Wabash!

Jeff Marlett

DePauw to Hell, bring back the Bell! WABASH FOREVER.

Keep in mind that the game will be broadcast on HDNet, so be sure to find a Telecast Party in your area or a bar with satellite that will let you change the channel.

We’ve all heard and repeated the scenario about the Bell game before. “At kickoff, you throw the records away.” It’s something we like to tell the outsiders as part of the lore of the Monon Bell Classic.

Until it really happens.

I cannot top Jim Amidon’s apt assessment, so I won’t even try. The Indianapolis Star’s rendition of how the events transpired follows my rant. You can find more video here. We were also SportsCenter’s #7 Play of the Day. (Too bad they couldn’t pronounce either “Monon” or “Wabash” correctly.)

“It’ll go down as one of those great Monon Bell showdowns. It was a great game.” That’s what we say to outsiders and Dannies we associate with in a wincing effort to be magnanimous gentlemen. What we say to ourselves and the ranks of the Wabash faithful is

As a member of the “cursed class” that lost the Bell all four years, the sound of the Monon Bell ringing during that game brings me more dread than joy. But, in athletics, like life, we take nothing for granted.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, indeed.

So we, and not the trophy-toting Dannies, move on to our next contest in the playoffs against Mt. St. Joseph.

DePauw 24, Wabash 21

DePauw backup place-kicker delivers another Monon miracle

Park Tudor grad hits 47-yard field goal as time expires to lift the Tigers over Little Giants

By Jeff Rabjohns
jeff.rabjohns@indystar.com
November 11, 2007

GREENCASTLE, Ind. — There are moments, and then there are Monon Bell moments. There are heroes, and then there are Monon Bell heroes.

Jordan Havercamp, a backup kicker who missed an extra point earlier in the game, walked onto the Blackstock Stadium field for his first field goal attempt of the season with 2.4 seconds remaining in one of college football’s storied rivalries.

With one swing of his powerful right leg, the sophomore stepped forever into Monon Bell Classic lore.

The Park Tudor graduate connected on a 47-yard field goal with plenty to spare as time expired, giving the Tigers a 24-21 upset of previously unbeaten Wabash in the 114th meeting between the schools.

“This is huge,” said Havercamp, who transferred to DePauw after a year at Dennison. “My first year at DePauw, and I’m going to remember this forever.”

DePauw’s starting kicker, Brendan Smith, missed a 25-yard field goal in the second quarter, making him 5-for-14 for the season. So DePauw coach Matt Walker made the call to go with Havercamp, and he gave DePauw its only lead of the game.

“Unbelievable, unbelievable,” Walker said. “It doesn’t get any bigger than that. A 47-yard field goal to end the game in the Monon Bell.”

The kick came six years to the day of the most recent ‘Monon Miracle,’ Jake Knott’s pass that went off Ryan Short’s hands and was caught by Kurt Casper for a 52-yard touchdown as time expired to give Wabash a 27-21 win.

DePauw wins the bell for the first time in three years and trails just 53-52-9 in college football’s 12th oldest rivalry. The Tigers lead 37-34-6 since the 300-pound bell was introduced as a traveling trophy in 1932.

Seventh-ranked Wabash falls to 9-1 while DePauw is 8-2 with the NCAA Division III playoff pairings to be announced this morning.

The game-winning drive began when Jevon Pruitt intercepted Matt Hudson at the DePauw 4 with 1:23 to play. Marks had runs of 11 and 14 yards, and Spud Dick completed two passes for 25 yards in the drive.

After a timeout, Havercamp hit the winner in front of 8,000 fans.

“It was awesome, an awesome performance by him,” Marks said.

Marks was pretty good, too. The holder of every DePauw rushing record had 278 yards of total offense, carrying a school-record 45 times for 181 yards and catching seven passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

His first touchdown reception was a shovel pass he turned into a 36-yard score on third-and-14. His second score was a similar play that went 8 yards. DePauw followed with a two-point conversion to tie the score at 21 with 3:37 to play, capping the Tigers’ longest drive (83 yards) of the season.

“This is the best ending to my complete and total career in football, the best way I would ever want to go out,” the senior said as teammates rang the bell at midfield.

Marks, who has 3,873 career rushing yards, surpassed 100 yards on the first play of the second half.

“It’s nice to have a kid like Jeremiah Marks, who when in doubt, you can give it to him and let him pound it out 3 or 4 yards at a time,” Walker said. “What an incredible way to end a career that clearly is going to go down as one of, if not the best in the history of DePauw football.”

Plenty of star performances preceded Havercamp’s heroics.

Dick, a sophomore from Lawrence Central, threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore Bryan Mulligan had a Monon Bell record 15 receptions for 145 yards and a touchdown.

Wabash sophomore Matt Hudson threw for 322 yards and a touchdown, and senior receiver Mike Russell had eight catches for 151 yards. Bart Banach added a 65-yard touchdown reception that put the Little Giants up 21-13.

Yes, it’s Bell week, gentlemen. Right here, all in one place, is everything you need to fire you up and get you ready for the big game on Saturday. Just follow the links.

The Monon Bell Stag

It’s this Thursday in Indy. The Stag is a great revived tradition billed as a “Celebration of Our Schools’ Shared Tradition in the Best Small College Football Rivalry in the Galaxy.” Tix are $50 and spots are still available; just contact Jon Pactor at 317-636-0686 or by email pactorlaw@iquest.net.

The Game

It’s in Greendingle. It’s at Blackstock Stadium. And tickets are sold out thanks to the the poorly planning Dannies who only put up 8,200 seats for the game. (Last year at Wabash, we added enough bleachers to accommodate a crowd of 11,600!) Wabash faithful bought up our 3,400 allotment by All Saints Day. You could always try Ebay. If you’re tailgating, parking lots open for tailgating at 9am (map). Gates open at 11:30, kickoff is at 1:05. If you can stand the Dannie crowd, be sure to grab a GCB at Marvin’s.

Or you could gather with Wabash and DePauw faithful at a Monon Bell Telecast Party. At last count 59 were set up throughout the country, from Montana to Mississippi to Michigan to Massachussets to Minnesota.

Or you could catch the game on HDnet on your local cable or satellite provider, including AT&T, Bright House Networks, Charter Communications, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Insight, Mediacom, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and more than 40 NCTC cable affiliate companies. “The Golden Voice of Wabash College Football” Joe Emmick will be helping call the game.

Wabash is 9-0, is currently ranked 9th, and clinched an NCAC title and a playoff berth last week. DePauw is 7-2 and has nothing to lose. Yeah, we’ve seen this setup before, which tells us to take nothing for granted.

The Rivalry

It was voted by the ESPN faithful as “Indiana’s Best College Rivalry” in 2005. Wabash leads the series 53-51-9. The Dannies have a pretty good page with the history of the rivalry. They were also nice enough to provide video highlights of Bell Games of our recent history, including the “cursed years” when we were students, The Ice Bowl I; the Ice Bowl II, The 100th Game on “the Deuce,” and The Catch.

The Merch

Alumnus John Goodrich ‘67, who runs the Falcon Mint in Portland, IN, has once again made commemmorative coins for the game. The Tekes are selling them for $10 as a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs.

I have always laughed at the way the Dannies pre-sell the Monon Bell Game DVD. I know many Wallies who watch the game and buy it from the our Bookstore after we win.

Yup. Even if the leaves have been slow to turn and the nip is not yet in the air this year, the surest sign of fall is availability of Monon Bell tickets. They just arrived in the Bookstore. You can purchase them online here.

Our intrepid gridders have gone undefeated so far with a chance to run the table for a playoff berth. But, as always, there’s DePauw, waiting for us.

The Bell Game is in Greendingle this year, so if can’t stomach a trip to Blackstock Stadium, the two rivals are co-hosting dozens of Telecast Parties across the country. At last count Wabash had 52 lined up with DePauw, but Wabash hosts are still needed in the following cities:

• Boise, ID
• Detroit, MI
• Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Kalamazoo, MI

If you’re gonna be in any of these cities on Nov. 10 and would like to help out, contact Mike Warren at the Alumni Office. Also, DePauw has parties listed in the following cities without Wabash hosts:

• Ann Arbor, MI
• South Padre Island, TX
• Vail, CO

I’m not sure whether we’re invited to these, but check with Mike if you’re there and interested.

Does the thought of traveling to the Fourth Bolgia of Hell (e.g. Greencastle) for this year’s Bell game have you reaching for the Tums? Or are you far afield in some remote locale (like DC, NYC, or LA) and can’t make it back home again to Indiana?

Never fear, a Monon Bell Telecast Party may just be in your neck of the nape. Just click here for a continually updated Google Map that lists our cities and venues for the Monon Bell Telecast Parties. The Alumni Office tells us that they anticipate having over 50 party locations again this year. The game will air via Mark Cuban’s HDNet.

With this year’s crowd topping out at 11,600, the “Official Class of ’91 Tailgate” for the 113^th annual Monon Bell Classic scattered to all parts of the parking lot.

At gametime, the line to get into the stadium snaked the length of the stands. “I’ll watch first-half highlights on the DVD,” I heard someone quip. It gave me time to catch up with Dave Riggs (who works sales for Raleigh bicycles in Ann Arbor, MI), Joab Schultheis (who is a business analyst for Atlas Van Lines in Evansville, IN), and Steve Turk (who works for Chase Bank out of Evanston, IL) (pictured above). (Yes, you guys made the blog!)

I also had a great opportunity to catch up with Matt Hanson (who’s Morgan County Circuit Court Judge). He’s been turning his Phi Psi pledge brothers on to our blog. I also talked to Scott Handlon, who is doing very well as president of The Partnership for Medical Education.

With about three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Wabash fans started making their way for warmer post-game festivities. They should know better. Never, ever leave the Bell game early! (Some of the Dannie stands were pretty bare by the fourth quarter.) This year’s contest turned into a grind-it-out nail-biter with a safety by Wabash clinching the win. (story)

After the game, I ran into the elusive Tom Kilbane and his girlfriend, Lisa, at the Phi Delt house (pictured below). Tom’s been following Wabash football since his Hall of Fame brother, Jim, tore up the field in the early ’80s. It was great to catch up as Tom’s still living in Hinsdale and is now working for Liberty Insurance Underwriters. Seeing the Dannies board the buses to go back to Greendingle, Tom had occasion to spout, “I see black, and I turn red.” Well said, brother.

Hey! If you have pictures from the game or a remote telecast party, send them to me. I’ll be happy to post them.