Speaking of Sports
Living
HISTORY
Bob Richards
—by Brent Harris Director of Sports Information
IT WASN’T THE RESPONSE I expected when I walked up to sports legend Rafer Johnson at this year’s Division III Track Championships in Madison, WI, and introduced myself as being from Wabash College. “Ah, yeah, Wabash,” he smiled. “I know Wabash.” And Wabash knows Johnson. In 1956, he competed at Wabash in the decathlon (along with Olympians Bob Richards and Milt Campbell) in the AAU Championships to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. Johnson, a 20-yearold from UCLA, won with 7,754 points, just short of his world record. After sharing his fond memories of Wabash, the former Olympic champion, NFL great, and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year posed with Wabash Coach and Great Lakes Coach of the Year Clyde Morgan, former Coach Rob Johnson H’77, and the national qualifying members of the Wabash track and field team.
Rafer Johnson
POSING WITH LEGENDS: (above) Joel Whittington ’15, Ronnie Posthauer ’15, Great Lakes Coach of the Year Clyde Morgan, John Haley ’13, Sean Hildebrand’14, Daniel Ambrosio ’12, and Evan Groninger ’13 with former Olympian Rafer Johnson and former Olympics Coach Rob Johnson H’77.
Wi n t e r 20 1 3
| 67