WALKING THE TALK The culture of caring at Wabash begins with teachers ready to step in during seemingly small but significant moments—moments we rarely get to see. But sports make the personal public, and last spring’s dramatic finish to the North Coast Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships offered this glimpse of Wabash men “walking beside each other.” after aaron schuler ’17 strained his hamstring at the Indiana Division III meet two weeks earlier, it looked like the 2016 conference champion in the 200 meters might not be able to run at all at the NCAC Championships in May. Certainly his quest for nationals was over. But the Little Giants and Ohio Wesleyan were so evenly matched that Coach Clyde Morgan needed Schuler to run the 100 meters. Victory while nursing such an injury was unlikely, but if he could displace the Battling Bishop’s runner, he could help his team. “Aaron was conference champion in the 200, and our conversation at the beginning of the year was about going to nationals, but now we needed him to play a whole different role,” recalls Coach Morgan. “He was putting all this pressure on himself, but I told him ‘just displace someone.’ That’s a tough role to take when you’re one of the top guys. “So when he finished the race, he knew he hadn’t made the finals, and he was just feeling down.” The coach walked over and put his arm around his runner. “It was a tough way to end his career, and he felt like he might have let the team down. I had to remind him of our plan. Then I peeked up at the scoreboard to see who he had displaced—it was the Ohio Wesleyan guy. “That’s when he got that little grin on his face, and I just started laughing. “He didn’t win, he didn’t break the record, but he took care of business, and that’s a big deal. I was proud of him.” photos by Steve Charles
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