Wayne State University Athletics

William "Rip" Collins lettered in baseball for Wayne State in 1941, 1946, and 1947, earned varsity basketball letters in 1941 and 1946, and also played football during a busy athletic career which saw him attain national recognition as an All-American diamondsman. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame posthumously. Capturing the attention of baseball observers from the outset, Collins led Wayne State in hitting with a .364 batting average and .568 slugging percentage in 1941, while also topping the squad's charts in hits (16) and total bases (25), finishing second in runs scored with 10, fourth in RBI's with seven, and posting an impressive .972 fielding percentage. Collins was forced to enter the military service the following year and thus put his college playing career on hold until 1946. However, he still managed to remain as an active participant on the army baseball teams, first at Camp Crowder in 1944 and then with the Manila All-Stars in 1945. Besides playing baseball during his army career, Collins managed to also meet his wife, Isabel, who was serving as an army nurse at the time. Always colorful and witty, Rip handed Isabel an engagement ring while sitting in a jeep and told her it had been constructed out of spare airplane parts. When Collins returned from overseas, he continued his education at Wayne State and embarked on the most successful baseball season in his college career in 1946. Recording a .325 batting average as the squad's second leading hitter and notching a lofty .625 slugging percentage, Collins also led the team in runs with 13, tied for the team lead in hits with 12, and registered a .956 fielding percentage as an outstanding catcher. Consequently, he received All-American status following that banner campaign and was selected to the West Team in 1946 for the First Annual College All-Star Baseball Game at Boston's Fenway Park, sponsored by the American Association of College Baseball Coaches. He played catcher in that eventful summer of '46 with the Shorty Moran team in the Class A division of the Detroit Baseball Federation. Although Collins was an extremely adept baseball player, his talents as a fine basketball player also single him out as a tremendous athlete who loved his fun and games. He finished as the fourth-leading scorer on the Tartans' 1940-41 basketball team with 56 total points, sixth on the scoring charts in 1945-46 with 28 points, and fifth among the squad's top scorers in 1946-47 with 50 points. Following his illustrious athletic career, Collins became the athletic director of Detroit's McMichael Junior High School and also served as president of the McKenzie Honor Society in 1953. He and his wife Isabel have four children: William T. Jr., Jeannie, John, and Michael. Rip died on September 16, 1963.