Mutka: Monon Bell stirs memories for Haklin

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Updated: December 15, 2011 10:02AM

When Joe Haklin was named Wabash’s athletic director in July pleasant memories about his alma mater came flooding back.

Inevitably some of them involved the Monon Bell, which the unbeaten Little Giants retained by thrashing arch-rival DePauw.

The Chesterton native earned 11 letters in football, basketball and baseball at Wabash, but his most treasured mental image was preserving a 20-14 victory over DePauw in 1972. 

Haklin was carried off the field by jubilant teammates after intercepting a pass to stymie a belated DePauw drive.

“Dick Bowman (coach) broke out four bottles of champagne, which he had on ice, for the seniors,” said Haklin. “Just a great memory.”

His heroics took on added significance because John Underwood, a Sports Illustrated writer, had spent that week on campus researching the game.

 “He was working in advance on an article for their 1973 football edition,” Haklin said. “I got quoted in the story, which was pretty cool.”

No small-school rivalry can boast the international flavor of Wabash-DePauw, which met for the 118th time. Haklin’s family offers an example.

“My daughter, a 2008 graduate of DePauw, was a French major,” said Haklin. “She told me about watching the game in a cafe when she was in Paris.”

Wabash, one of only three all-male colleges in the country, carried an enrollment of 800 when Haklin was an undergrad. Now it’s climbed to 910.

“We’re swimming upstream,” said Haklin, pointing out that women outnumber men nationally in enrollment.

Athletically speaking, no college football program seems to appeal to Northwest Indiana more than Wabash. I counted at least 15 on the roster who migrated from the Post-Tribune circulation area.  Basketball players Nick Curosh (Clark) and Pete Niksic (Andrean) boost the unofficial total to 17.

Wabash’s attractive Division III athletic plant  is part of the appeal, according to Haklin.

“In terms of quality of athletic facilities on campus we’re ranked fourth in the country,” he said. “That takes in all NCAA colleges. Georgia Tech is ranked No. 1.”     

Haklin signed on with his alma mater after serving as athletic director at  Marian University since 2005.

At the NAIA school he jump-started football by hiring Ted Karras, who came over from Rose Hulman. In just four years the former Hobart and Northwestern lineman elevated the Knights to back-to-back 10-game winners. Currently they’re unbeaten and ranked No. 1.

“We started from scratch, using athletics to build enrollment,” Haklin said. More than 30 percent of Marian’s student body of 1,350 are now involved in sports.

Haklin’s college coaching career started at Wayne State, where he teamed up with basketball coach Vernon Payne of Michigan City.

“He broke me in,” said Haklin. Three years later the coaching combo departed Detroit for Western Michigan.

Haklin spent five years with the Broncos before becoming Kalamazoo’s basketball coach in 1987.

“It was literally across the street,” said Haklin, who posted a 218-166 record from 1987-2002. He also coached softball and golf before exiting for Marian.

Trojan horses: All this seems so long ago, but the memory of playing football for Ray Banary at Chesterton is deeply ingrained.

“We were 10-0 in 1968 and ranked eighth in the state by UPI (a now-defunct wire service),” Haklin recalled.

Back then the Trojans belonged to the Calumet Conference, which was split into north and south divisions for football.

In a playoff at Lowell, which was coached by Les Klein, Chesterton won 19-14, but not before a dramatic last-second stand.

“Lowell was driving and their ball carrier ran over me,” Haklin said. “I made the tackle, but he got into the end zone.

“I was ready to bawl, but then heard a roar from our stands. A motion penalty nullified the touchdown and we stopped ‘em when they ran the play over.”

Ironically, both Klein and Banary played for St. Joseph’s, a school which was once an Indiana Collegiate Conference rival of Wabash.

“I scored my only college touchdown at St. Joe with Ray in the stands,” said Haklin, who picked up a blocked field goal and toted it into the end zone.

Crusader congrats: Emotions play such a big part in athletics. No greater example then Valparaiso’s stirring upset of Campbell.

On paper this looked like a mismatch. The Camels had won five straight and boasted powerful running backs Carl Smith and C.J. Oates, who bulldozed for 239 yards and three touchdowns.

“I’m sure they came in thinking they were going to steamroll us,” said fifth-year senior Sean McCarty, “but we came out in the second half, stayed fired up and executed our assignments.”

No play was more important than Mike Gerton’s 20-yard reception on fourth-and-16. The Crusaders didn’t score on the fourth-quarter pass, but wouldn’t have won without it.

“They were playing prevent and (QB Eric) Hoffman did a great job of extending the play,” said Gerton. “I read the first down, stopped and he hit me.”

Hopefully, breaking a 29-game drought signals the dawning of a new era.

“I’ve been here three years,” said the junior tight end, who caught seven passes for 71 yards. “It means the world to me.”