Chris Healy wasn’t
the only Little Giant athlete to earn the right
to be called an All-American this season. Several
Wabash sports performers have achieved one of
the highest individual honors.
Senior track and
field star Peter DeYoung earned All-American honors
at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field
Championships with a fourth-place finish in the
high jump. The senior, who owned the Wabash indoor
record with a jump of 6’ 9”, cleared
6’ 9-3/4” at the championship meet
at DePauw University to improve the mark while
taking fourth place.
DeYoung and Healy
joined three Little Giant football players who
were honored earlier in the season. Ryan Short
’03, Nate Boulais ’03, and Jake Knott
’03 were all selected to the Hewlett-Packard
All-American Team. Short earned First Team honors
as a tight end for the second consecutive season,
while Boulais grabbed a spot as a First Team linebacker
for the first time. Knott was selected as the
Third Team quarterback.
It will be a busy
summer in the sports information changing several
Wabash College records. In addition to Chris Healy’s
new mark for wins in a season for the wrestling
program with 48, Healy also set the mark for pins
in a season, topping the previous record of 17
by one. He also broke the record for wins at 174
pounds with 48, as did teammates Phu Hong ’05
at 125 pounds with 23, and Adam Miller ’05
at 157 pounds with 29.
Senior Joe DesJean
destroyed the Wabash basketball blocked shot record.
The senior forward moved past Chris Whitfield
’88 and his previous record of 163 career
rejections early in the season on the way to 190
career blocks. DesJean set the single-season record
as a sophomore with 61 and equaled it his junior
season.
The Wabash baseball
team didn’t break the record for most wins
in season this year, but certainly came close.
Finishing with a mark of 22-15, the Little Giants
became the third-winnings team in Wabash history.
They also set three records as Jared Began ’06
hit 14 doubles to eclipse the mark of 13 set by
Mike Mack ’04 one year ago. Shortstop Danny
Schubert ’05 recorded 110 assists, becoming
the first Wabash player to top 100 assists in
a season. He was also part of an infield group
that set the record for double plays in year,
turning 37 twin killings this spring.
Charging across
the football field in San Diego to celebrate the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers' victory over Oakland in
the Super Bowl was one man who Wabash fans saw
do the same thing game after game for the Little
Giants. Tampa Bay quarterbacks coach Stan Parrish
also enjoyed a successful run as the head coach
at Wabash in the late 70s and early 80s.
Parrish still holds
the record for the best winning percentage by
a head coach at Wabash, winning 42 of his 46 games
at the helm of the Little Giant football program.
He joined the Wabash staff as an assistant in
1977, helping the Wabash football team to reach
the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl to play for the Division
III National Championship.
He took over the
Wabash program as the head coach the next season,
leading the Little Giants from 1978-1982 and earning
himself a place in the Wabash Athletic Hall of
Fame. He left Wabash in 1983 to return to Purdue
University as a quarterbacks coach. He left the
Boilermakers in 1984 to take over the reins at
Marshall, and was head coach at Kansas State and
an assistant at Rutgers before moving to the University
of Michigan. He served under Lloyd Carr at Michigan
as the quarterbacks coach, working with current
NFL quarterbacks Brian Griese and Tom Brady. He
left the Michigan program shortly before receiving
a call from new Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach
Jon Gruden, who asked Stan to join his staff in
Tampa Bay as the Buccaneers' quarterback coach.
“I would
be lying if I said that being a part of a Super
Bowl championship team wasn’t a highlight
in my career,” says Parrish. “But
I still remember each of those victories at Wabash.
That was the starting point in my career. I learned
a lot from years at Wabash. I think it taught
me what it takes to be a success in football.
I learned the amount of hard work it takes to
reach this level, no matter where you are.”
Parrish is not
the first Wabash player to experience the Super
Bowl firsthand. Wabash Hall of Famer Pete Metzelaars
'82 caught a touchdown pass in Super Bowl XXVI
while playing tight end for the Buffalo Bills.
Metzelaars was part of the Bills' squads that
played in four consecutive Super Bowls.
Jon Gruden, head
coach of the Buccaneers, also has a connection
to Wabash. A graduate of the University of Dayton,
played one series on offense and was the holder
on a 37-yard field goal attempt in Dayton's 51-6
victory over the Little Giants on October 26,
1985 in Dayton, Ohio.
Gruden finished
the day with four carries for 33 yards, including
a 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter
that gave the Flyers a 44-6 lead. He also completed
a pass as the holder on a blocked extra point,
but the receiver could not get back to the original
line of scrimmage. The pass went for a 14-yard
loss, the only completion of the contest for future
NFL coach.