List of Wabash College people

This page lists notable alumni and former students, faculty, and administrators of Wabash College.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Alumni

Academia

• George J. Graham, Jr., political theorist
• John S. Hougham, natural scientist and President, Purdue University, 1876
• William Parker McKee, President, Shimer College
• Stephen G. Miller, archaeologist
• Tom Ostrom, social psychologist
• Stephen H. Webb, theologian and philosopher of religion
• Jamie Bopp, Middle School Principal at Savannah Christian Preparatory School

Business

• Robert Allen, former AT&T CEO
• David Broecker (born 1961), CEO of Alkermes and Indiana Biosciences Research Institute
• James Bert Garner, Head of the Chemistry Department, 1901–14; inventor of the gas mask used in World War I
• Brad Gerstner, founder of Altimeter Capital
• W. Paul Tippett Jr., former president of American Motors, Springs Industries, and STP

Law

• Edward Daniels, co-founder of Baker & Daniels (now Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath)
• David E. Kendall, President Bill Clinton's attorney, known for a number of anti-death penalty cases

Media and the arts

• Richard Elwell (R.E.) Banta - writer, rare book dealer, publisher and humorist
• Eric Daman, Emmy-winning costumer and fashion designer
• Silky Nutmeg Ganache, drag queen and competitor on RuPaul's Drag Race season 11 and All Stars
• Dean Jagger, Oscar-winning motion picture actor
• Kenyon Nicholson, Broadway playwright, screenwriter
• Byron Price, winner of a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism (1944), director of the Office of Censorship
• Frank Reynolds, ABC World News Tonight anchor
• Lawrence Sanders, novelist
• Allen Saunders, cartoonist
• Dan Simmons, science fiction author, dedicated his novel Ilium to the college
• Lee Orean Smith (1874–1942), composer, arranger, music editor, publisher, music teacher, multi-instrumentalist, and conductor ^[1]
• Sheldon Vanauken, author, confidante of C. S. Lewis

Medicine

• Robert G. Roeder, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Biochemical and Molecular Biology at The Rockefeller University
• Emery Andrew Rovenstine, co-founder of the American Society of Anesthesiologists

Military

• Major General Edward Canby, only United States general killed during the Indian Wars
• Major General Oscar R. Cauldwell, Marine Corps officer during World War II
• Brigadier General John Coburn, Civil War officer; accepted the surrender of Atlanta
• General Charles Cruft, Civil War officer
• Brigadier General Speed S. Fry, Civil War officer
• Lt. Gen. Charles D. Herron, United States Army
• Major General Lew Wallace, Civil War officer, statesman, and author of Ben-Hur

Politics

• Jeremy Bird, National Field Organizer for Barack Obama's 2012 Campaign
• John C. Black, US Representative and Medal of Honor recipient
• Mike Braun, Governor of Indiana; United States Senator; former Indiana State Representative, District 63
• Kevin P. Chavous, Council of the District of Columbia Representative
• John Coburn, United States Representative from Indiana, Civil War Brigadier General
• Hiram Orlando Fairchild, speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Cleon H. Foust, Indiana Attorney General
• Stephen Goldsmith, Mayor of Indianapolis, Deputy Mayor of New York City
• Dwight Green, Governor of Illinois and Capone prosecutor
• Andrew Hamilton, United States Representative
• Bayless W. Hanna, Indiana Attorney General, United States Ambassador to Iran and United States Ambassador to Argentina
• Will Hays, postmaster general and film censor czar
• Randall Head, Indiana State Senator, District 18
• William A. Ketcham, Indiana Attorney General, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic
• Thomas Riley Marshall, twenty-eighth Vice-President of the United States (under Woodrow Wilson)
• Joseph E. McDonald, United States Representative and Senator
• Reginald Meeks, Kentucky State Representative
• Luke Messer, United States Representative
• Thomas MacDonald Patterson, United States Representative and Senator
• William Pittenger, United States Representative
• John Pope, Chicago alderman (10th ward)
• Todd Rokita, United States Representative, 44th Attorney General of Indiana
• Richard J. Stephenson, financier of conservative causes
• Reginald H. Sullivan, Mayor of Indianapolis
• Brent Waltz, Indiana State Senator, District 36
• Charles P. White, Indiana Secretary of State
• Raymond E. Willis, United States Senator
• Henry Lane Wilson, United States Ambassador to Mexico
• James Wilson, United States Representative from Indiana
• John L. Wilson, United States Representative and Senator
• William Allen Woods, federal judge and Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court

Science

• Geoffrey W. Coates, polymer chemist
• Robert Dirks, computational chemist
• Watson McMillan "Mac" Laetsch, plant biologist ^[2]

Sports

• Knute Cauldwell, NFL player
• Bert Inks, coached the Wabash College Presbyterians in 1905 ^[3]
• Ward Lambert, college basketball coach
• Don Leppert, Major League Baseball player, homered in first at-bat, first position player All-Star in Washington-Texas franchise history
• Ward Meese, National Football League player
• Pete Metzelaars, National Football League all-time leader in games played by a tight end and four-time AFC champion
• Century Milstead, college football Hall of Famer
• William H. Spaulding, football head coach, University of Minnesota and UCLA
• Ed Summers, Major League Baseball player, pitched in Games 1 and 4 of 1908 World Series

Faculty

• Andrea Chapdelaine, was on the faculty from 1993 to 1995. In 2024, she became president of Connecticut College.
• Garfield V. Cox, established the college's Department of Public Speaking in 1917 ^[4]
• Jeremy Hartnett, Anne and Andrew T. Ford Professor of the Liberal Arts
• William Placher, postliberal theologian, LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities
• Ezra Pound (1885–1972), poet and critic; appointed chair of the Department of Romance Languages for the 1907–1908 academic year, but left in February after alleged sexual impropriety ^[5]
• Benjamin Rogge, economist; taught at Wabash 1949–1980; dean of the college 1955–1964 ^[6]

References

1. Rehrig, William H.; Bierley, Paul E. (1991). "Lee Orean Smith". The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music: Composers and Their Music, Volume II. Integrity Press. ISBN   9780918048080.
2. Asimov, Nanette (February 1, 2020). "Watson McMillan 'Mac' Laetsch, UC Berkeley botanical expert, dies". San Francisco Chronicle.
3. Gagnon, Cappy (2 September 2023). Notre Dame Baseball Greats: From Anson to Yaz. Arcadia. ISBN   9780738532622.
4. "Garfield Cox Dies; Former U.C. Edducator". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. February 10, 1970. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
5. West, Evan (February 2008). "Poetic Injustice". Indianapolis Monthly. Emmis Communications: 60–68. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
6. College, Wabash. "New Residence Hall to Honor Rogge". Wabash College. Retrieved 2023-11-29.