Wayne State University Athletics

Wann, a native of Silverwood, Indiana, was head coach of tennis and football at City College of Detroit and Wayne University, and a professor of health and physical education at the University from 1929 to his retirement from Wayne in 1953, after serving 24 years with the school. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame posthumously. Wann joined the CCD staff as head gridiron coach in August 1929, succeeding Detroit Junior College's first football coach, WSU Hall of Fame athletic director and coach David L. Holmes. He handled the football coaching duties for three seasons, and was succeeded by Joseph Gembis in 1932. He was then appointed head coach of the student-managed clay-court tennis teams as its first head mentor, to establish the program into a top-flight intercollegiate. Wann was to achieve that goal. He would stay as mentor for 20 seasons, compiling a 191-96 (.666) record. 12 of his teams finished with winning seasons, led by the 1939 team, composed of Irv Blumfield, William Maul, Jack Rice, and Mike Swetina, which went 24-0 and defeated such teams as Alabama, South Carolina, Ohio State, Minnesota, Indiana, and Michigan State. His 1947 team finished second in Wayne's only appearance in the Mid-American Conference tournament. During his tenure two Wayne players participated in the NCAA national tennis championships, including WSU Hall of Fame tennis great Jack Schelsinger. Before coming to CCD, Wann was a football and basketball coach, and professor of health education at several Midwestern colleges, including Ball State, Millikin, Purdue and Ottawa colleges, and at his alma mater, Earlham College in Indiana. At Earlham, Wann was director of physical education, and head football and track coach. On the gridiron he compiled a 6-8-1 record during the 1923-24 seasons, his hoop squads went 21-17 from 1923 to 1925, and his track team was 2-2 in 1924, the only year he coached that sport. During his playing days at Earlham, from 1903 to 1908, "Happy," as he was called during his career, was a four-year letterman in football and track, and was voted to two Earlham All-Star teams during that era. He played both offensive and defensive line positions in football, and was the track squad's leading scorer each season, running the short distance events. Wann established seven track records at Earlham in the 50-, 100-and 200-yard dashes. On May 12, 1954, Wann was inducted into Earlham's Athletic Hall of Fame. Though Wann was in the Class of '08 at Earlham, he did not receive his Bachelor's of Biblical until 1922. He left the Indiana campus in 1908 one class short of graduation, his foreign language requirement. During World War I, he served with the AEF in France, Belgium, and England, and in 1922, the Earlham faculty decided his overseas military service could be substituted for the language requirement, and voted to award him his degree. In 1929 Wann received a Master's of Physical Education from the University of Wisconsin. Upon his retirement from Wayne, Wann and his wife Luise settled in Eagle Harbor, Michigan, where he died on July 23, 1957