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
• 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, 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
• Stephen Morillo, Professor Emeritus of History
• 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]