Hall of Fame
Thomas E. Wangler ’60 – Class of 1990
The drive to excel…
Much is made of the role of athletics in molding spirit and character. Perhaps foremost in importance among the great lessons of athletic competition is the realization that pursuit of excellence is a worthy goal in itself.
It is a lesson that is at the core of the strength of character in Wilma Rudolph. It is the wellspring for the heroism in Lou Gehrig. And it is the lesson at the heart of scholarly pursuit.
The drive to excel consistently expands the frontiers of athletic accomplishment, just as the pursuit of knowledge for the pure thrill of grasping an insight never before perceived, constantly expands the wealth of human experience.
Tom Wangler might well be the finest cross country runner ever to wear the green and gold. Eight intercollegiate championship trophies prove this point.
He also ranks among the finest pure scholars to hold a Le Moyne degree.
His scholarly record is as clear as his eight championships. Here is a man with a Marquette University doctorate in religious history and who is an associate professor of theology and director of graduate studies at Boston College, a specialist in the history of religion in America and American Catholicism, and an author recognized by his peers in the College Theology Society through their annual award for the best article published in the field.
There is another dimension of Tom Wangler’s pursuit of excellence: writing programs for the Archdiocese of St. Louis radio and television apostolate; teaching adult religious education; serving on the Boston Rent Review Board, the Newton Neighborhood Association, the Parent- Teachers Association; serving as a coordinator for the United Farm Workers, as a member of the parish council; and laboring to provide emergency housing for homeless families…
The image is further illuminated with devotion to wife Gail, daughter Julie Ann and son John, and the portrait emerges: here is a man who refuses to accept boundaries – in sport, in knowledge, in society, in life.
The drive to excel requires the humility to know one must do better, the wisdom to reject complacency, the pride to demand the maximum from one’s talents.
All these are difficult lessons. And many who learn them through sport stumble at the challenge of applying them to the other arenas of life.
The Le Moyne College athletic and academic traditions merge in recognition that the pursuit of excellence is an end in itself. And the Jesuit tradition acknowledges the responsibility to bring talent and knowledge to bear on practical issues.
Tom Wangler is a man with a drive to excel that permeates all his endeavors, who chooses to use his talent to benefit the commonwealth. An athlete and scholar in the Le Moyne Jesuit tradition, Thomas E. Wangler ’60 is inducted to the Le Moyne College Athletic Hall of Fame.
April 20, 1990
