List of Wabash College people

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

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
Robert Wedgeworth, founding president of ProLiteracy Worldwide

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, 1901Ã¢ÂÂ14; 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 (1874Ã¢ÂÂ1942), composer, arranger, music editor, publisher, music teacher, multi-instrumentalist, and conductor
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
Frank Sellke, cardiothoracic surgeon, academic, and researcher

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 '

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

Sports

Knute Cauldwell, NFL player

Bert Inks, coached the Wabash College Presbyterians in 1905

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, faculty 1993Ã¢ÂÂ1995; in 2024, became president of Connecticut College

Garfield V. Cox, established the college's Department of Public Speaking in 1917

Jeremy Hartnett, Anne and Andrew T. Ford Professor of the Liberal Arts

William Placher, postliberal theologian, LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities

Ezra Pound (1885Ã¢ÂÂ1972), poet and critic; appointed chair of the Department of Romance Languages for the 1907Ã¢ÂÂ1908 academic year, but left in February after alleged sexual impropriety

Benjamin Rogge, economist; taught at Wabash 1949Ã¢ÂÂ1980; dean of the college 1955Ã¢ÂÂ1964

References