WANN, Norman G - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

Calumet, July 25 – Services will be held tomorrow for Norman G. Wann, a member of the Wayne State University coaching staff for 24 years. Wann 74 died Tuesday at his home in Eagle Harbor.  Wann joined Wayne as head football coach in 1929. He became head tennis coach in 1932 and held that post until he retired in 1953.

Source: Decatur, Ill Herald & Review Tue 6 Aug 1957 p 13

“Once Over Lightly” by Forrest R. Kyle.

The death of Norman G. Wann a fortnight ago came so unexpectedly and at such an inopportune time, there was little chance until now to look back on the record established by the one-time Millikin coach. Wann who devoted a half century to coaching was tennis coach at Wayne in Detroit when he died.  But back in the days of WWI, and shortly thereafter he was coaching Millikin football teams which were the scourge of the minor colleges in Illinois.  Wann came to Millikin in 1915 and coached until the spring of 1923, except for the 1918-19 school year when he was in the service. During that period Wann’s football teams won 46 games, lost 9 and tied 5.  26 victories came in a row, a school record.  His 1920 team was the highest scoring in Millikin history, rolling up 476 points in 9 games.  Opponents scratched out 29 points.  Although his basketball teams did not enjoy the unqualified success of his football elevens, they were strong and the 1919-20 team went through the regular season undefeated.  He won four football championships and in the state basketball tournaments after the regular season, his Big Blue teams won two first, a second and two thirds. Fuzzy Sutherd one of his outstanding linement, remembers him as “a great psychologist. He could get you in perfect mental condition for a game. Hank Gill, another outstanding athlete under Wann, once recalled that Wann was the first real proselyter in these parts.  “That was one big reason for his good teams,” Gil said. He always had good material. If he knew of a big farm boy he wanted for a tackle, he’d go shock wheat all day with the boy’s father. The boy would come to Millikin.”  Gill also remember Wann as one who could inspire his players to the limit of their ability. “He would start talking on Monday about the wildcats we were going to play on Saturday and by Saturday we were ready to take on real wildcats.”  Some of Millikin’s most illustrious players performed for Wann … the kind of players he termed “hard – going players who liked to sock and rock ‘em – and chill ‘em; good players and good students. In a letter once he recalled Chet Cox, Joe Catlin, Ralph Goltra, Frosty McCown, Sutherd and Butch Meyers, Fred Long, Leo Johnson, Johnny MacWherter, Cecil Abrams and Joe Carp – and many more – as “great players” who were outstanding consistently every Saturday. Wann’s coaching contributed a glowing chapter to Millikin athletic records. Long after Wann and his players have been forgotten their records very likely will still stand as a fitting memorial in their prowess.