Speaking of Sports
| FALL 2021
A HISTORY OF LITTLE GIANT STADIUM
1904 Scene from the Wabash–IU game from 1904. Baseball was the first sport played on campus. In this view from the 1870s, the diamond is seen in the upper-left corner of campus, roughly the spot where Little Giant Stadium stands today.
post-WWI An undated photo of the first-ever bleachers, which were erected post-World War I. During this time, the field was oriented north to south. The house pictured behind the bleachers sat on Crawford Street and was torn down to build the Allen Center. It sat about where the west end of the Knowling Fieldhouse is today.
1870s
1929
1908
1923
The Little Giants of 1908 on Philistine Field, so named for its disreputable appearance. As seen, there are 11 players pictured and no grass.
Game action from 1923. Note Lee Norman “Pete” Thorn ’24 is playing without a helmet. Thorn was the only Wabash man to earn 16 varsity letters in his college career and received the John Maurice Butler Prize given to a senior with outstanding scholarship and character.
Photo of the 1903 Wabash football team. Pictured third from the left is William M. Cantrell of Danville, Illinois, Wabash College’s second Black player.
1903
48 W A B A S H M A G A Z I N E
In 1929, Athletic Director Harry Scholler was determined to light the field for night football, an experiment that had worked well in the states west of Indiana. The lighting experiment was successful. The first game or two to be played at night attracted sufficiently large crowds, mostly due to the novelty. As the season went on and the weather grew colder, it became a chore for all but the most eager lovers of football to stay out in the damp cold of an autumn night.
Game action from the Wabash–Butler game of 1939 at Ingalls Field.
1939
