Whoever has the bell gets to ring it throughout the entire game. After we win the game, uh, we'll be ringing it some more. Everyone like is fond of their college or their university or where they went, but I think it just means more we can provide access to folks who had never even thought college was gonna be accessible for them.
When you got to the game, went to your first Monon Bell game, what was it like? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation.
Today we have a special episode. I am joined by Dr. Lori White. She became the 21st president of DePauw University in Greencastle on July 1st, 2020, bringing a 40 year career in higher education and becoming the first woman and first person of color to hold that role. She was raised in San Francisco. She earned her bachelor's in English and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and her PhD in Education administration and policy analysis at Stanford.
Maybe you've heard of them before. Before holding leadership positions at institutions including WashU in St. Louis. I am also joined by Dr. Scott E. Feller. He's the 17th president of Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Having served as dean of the college from 2014 to 2020 and as a professor of chemistry.
Since 1998, he's a native of Oregon. He holds his bachelor's from Willamette University. Is that the correct way to pronounce that? It's Willamette, dammit, Willamette, dammit. From Willamette Darn it. And a PhD in physical Chemistry from the University of California, Davis. Today we are, and this might be my favorite episode that I've ever got to host.
We're talking about the history, the tradition, all that is the Monon Bell game. We're also gonna talk about how small private colleges are competing on the national level and some of both of these esteemed president's. Favorite things about moving to the state of Indiana from the West Coast. Guys, welcome to get in.
Thanks for having us. Thank you for having us. Let's go. I am so excited. I, I prefaced this on our, our pre-work call that when I first started this podcast a long time ago, I think we just crossed 200 episodes. I said, man, how cool would it be one day to do a Monon Bell episode and just share my love of this game, this rivalry, these two institutions to the entire state of Indiana and here we are.
The future has become the president and it's time to talk all things Monon Bell. So thank you all so much for agreeing to this, this episode. I'm really, really pumped up. Need to lay the ground for everyone who might not know what we're talking about when we say the Monon Bell. And if you don't know about the Monon Bell, you might live under a rock if you're here in the state of Indiana.
This is a football game that has happened every year since, I believe 1890. I think the song goes since 1890. They have played the last game every fall, and this is one of the oldest standing traditions and the oldest standing rivalries in all of college sports. It's an incredible, uh, clash between two Great.
Programs, uh, the little Giants from Wabash and the Tigers from DePauw. And this is the day that in D three Football, oh my gosh, a, uh, a, a typical D three game maybe gets a thousand attendees. This game gets well over 10,000 tons of people have gone. It's a spectacle to see, and you all get to be two of the masterminds that help host this game.
The first thing I wanna know, uh, both of you, not originally from Indiana, talk to me about your first Monon Bell experience when you got to the game the first time. Uh, Dr. Feller, this was first for you, so we'll start with your experience. When you went to your first Monon Bell game. What was it like? So that was the fall of 1998.
And people had told me about the game, told me it was a spectacle, but until you get there, you really have no idea. And so, uh, I have to admit that the intensity of, uh, 10,000 fans, uh, coming in to watch a Division III football game was something I probably wasn't prepared for. Uh, I have to admit, I also wasn't prepared.
Uh, Wabash came into that 1998 game, undefeated and was soundly beaten by DePauw. I think it was 42 to seven. It was a, it was a shellacking. So Wow. That was my very first Wabash experience. Home Homer Away home. That was at, on, on Wabash campus. Wow. Okay. So 1998, this is the part that I love about it. Records go out the, out the window.
It does not matter when it comes to the Monon Bell game. And I think if you asked. I would say 99% of players. Would it be like win the conference or win the bell? I think they'd say win the bell game. I don't Thoughts. I agree with you. They would say, win the bell game. Win the bell game. Dr. White, what was your first Monon Bell experience?
Well, let me start by saying I was a D one girl. Oh. And so I've worked at some really good D one football schools, including the University of Southern California. And so I'm used to these big, huge rivalry games, USC, Notre Dame, U-S-C-U-C-L-A. And so when folks started talking to me about the Monon Bell game, I thought to myself, okay, this is D 3D three.
How can it rival some of those other contests? So my very first was 2021 and it was at Wabash. And as you said, uh, 10,000 fans. Game sells out, uh, when we post the tickets in about 30 seconds. And, uh, you've got the DePauw tigers in the black and gold. Uh, you have the little giant all dressed up in red. Uh, we have separate entrances.
We have separate tickets. Uh, the president, uh, fellow and I, uh, walk the game together before it starts just to show that we like each other, uh, and, uh, we are unified. At least before the game kicks off. We're not showing the security guards that are here in the room, like keeping everyone tamed, right?
Yeah. Yeah. And so, uh, we go up, I think we score three quick touchdowns in a row in the first quarter. Don't, don't take, I'm yelling and screaming and I'm thinking I'm gonna be ringing that bell all the way back to Greencastle, and all of a sudden you all come back. Furiously and they end up winning the game.
So that was my very first Monon game. I still remember that one. People were like, oh, should we go? That was ouch. That hurt. Should we leave that halftime? Should we go back? I'm like, I know. And yeah, that, but anything can happen. Like there have been such crazy endings and even since then, in the last decade, there have been crazy.
Oh yeah. The blocked PAT or the blocked field goal. Oh yeah. The double overtime game. Oh my gosh. Oh, that was great. Course we won. Yeah. The, the snow game, the fumble into the ends, this would've been 2017 fum. Like there's a lot of just heartbreaking wins if you're on the, or heartbreaking losses if you're on the wrong side of that.
And just great games. Uh, I'm, the first year that I got to DePauw, so this would've been 2016, we had, you guys had won seven years in a row and it was like. I don't, you guys had this running back. That was Mason Zurich. I think that was, I still remember his name. Yeah, dude was like a Clydesdale good, like impossible to get take down.
We got like slacked and then from then, I feel like it's been super competitive since 2017 on and it's been incredibly fun. Those are the first Monon memories. So did it change your perspective when it came to seeing this D three game? It absolutely did. It absolutely did. Did it live up to the hype that you were assuming it more than lives up to the hype.
We've played this game 130 times, like to be in charge of carrying on this tradition and this legacy. What does that mean to you all and, and like the night before a game? Like how are you sleeping if, if you're the host? Oh, it certainly, it's a big weight on your shoulders. I mean, we have alums who've been to 50 games in a row, right?
And, uh, they have high expectations, um, because the series has been so competitive, so intense, so crazy, uh, that we've got a lot of people who, you know, we have people who will. I come from across the Atlantic for this game. Okay. So it definitely, there's a lot of weight on the shoulders. There's a tremendous amount of preparation that goes on behind the scenes.
I think a lot of the fans don't realize that, uh, small colleges, uh, like Wabash and DePauw are not actually built to host 10,000 people on a Saturday. And so it's, it's everything from, uh, porta John's to security, to having a big enough supply of hot dogs, the stands, you know? Right. Like you have to bring in extra stands for this game and like to give everyone the, the magnitude.
It's like, I feel like you create two extra sides, and in that DePauw, sometimes there's an extension, like you create a full bowl to host this game. So it's kind of funny, like the home games leading up to the belt, you're like, they have this whole big bowl built, but it's like, you know, you're playing like a normal game where a thousand people show up and then all of a sudden.
10 x the people show up. What's the stress that you guys are thinking about when it comes to hosting 10,000 people for a football game at a D3 college? You had asked me about how much it costs. Oh yeah. And I checked in with our athletic director and it costs almost $300,000 to host the game because as, uh, Scott said, security, hot dogs, extra stands, parking, um, all of the things that you need to be able to take care of in order to be a host for 10,000 plus people.
Mm-hmm. And in addition to, um, the people that come to the game, we haven't even talked about the fact that they're telecast mm-hmm. Um, all over the country and the world. Uh, so DePauw and, uh, uh, Wabash fans get together all across the country in the world.
To watch the telecast, so those who,
uh,
can't score a ticket to the game.
Uh, then, uh, watch together in, you know,
Chicago,
St. Louis, Indianapolis, California, wherever the telecast might be. Yeah. And I mean, this year, uh, so Wabash is hosting the game. Uh, tickets went on sale. How quick did they sell out? DePauw tickets sold out in the first afternoon. Right. And, uh, the Wabash sold out every tailgating and RV spot in an hour and Oh, yeah.
And the tickets sold out shortly after that. Yeah. Which is wild to think about. You know, I like there are,
I feel like it was easier to get Taylor Swift tickets, than Monon Bell tickets and it's like, it's a small school, so everyone thinks like, oh, I know someone that can help. Like, no, no one knows anyone that can help anyone.
Well, and I have a very funny. Story about that. And so two years ago, uh, I received an email, uh, from someone who I thought was one of our board members who said, I need a ticket to the game. And I said, oh, absolutely. I said, I'll talk to the athletic director. I'll make sure that you get a ticket to the game.
So when I reached out to the athletic director and I said, such and such needs a ticket for the game, she says, why are you advocating on behalf of a student, Dr. White? Well, it turned out the student had almost the exact same name, uh, as our board member. And so the student was going around saying, oh yeah, I talked to the president.
She's hooking me up with a ticket for the game. And so at any rate, now I double check the status. Yeah. Well, what if I told you that's not nearly the craziest like impersonation story that's ever happened with the Monon Bell? Oh, you know, people are willing to go to extreme lengths to get a shot at the bell.
To get to ring the bell. There's so many to steal the bell, to steal the bell. I don't know. Uh, Dr. Feller, do you, I mean, want to talk the other impersonations that might have happened at some point? Yeah, there's a long history of stealing the bell. My first game in 1998 was a year when the bell was stolen.
The, the, at that point, I think DePauw had won two or three in a row. The bell was down in Greencastle. So just adding to the buildup of the game was, I recall the, uh. The dean of students having to, uh, exchange monon bells, uh, between the two campuses. So certainly there's some great stories. I think
one of the all time favorites, uh, is a time when a group of Wabash men, uh, did do a quite sophisticated interpretation, uh, uh, as, uh, uh, foreign dignitaries, uh,
to get the ball the bell outta Greencastle.
That was a great story. Yeah. What is this like 1965 Operation Frijoles Like, talk about the lengths that someone in 1965 went to, to like pose as foreign dignitaries and like find out the location of this bell. Like it matters that much that you're willing to like. The ultimate long time. It was incredible and the president fell for it.
That's the funny part. I mean, this is before the age of the internet. Like you take people's word for that, like it's incredible. Like I think some of the lore is just like what makes it so great When the bell ended up getting buried beneath the Yes. In Blackstock Yeah. And it froze over. It's like there's just so many spectacular stories that are like fun that just feed into this rivalry.
I mean, talk about crazy endings to games two. I mean, if there are like. Multiple, multiple hype videos on the internet that talk about like, whether it's the field goal or the Hail Mary or this that, like, it's, it's so much fun. If there was a, a memory from, from you all in the past. So this is your fifth game.
Mm-hmm. Fifth game. This is not your fifth game. You've been to a few of them. If there's a memory on the football field that has, uh, stood out to you over the years, what would that one be? Well, I'll, I'll go first because my best memory is actually Lori's first memory. That game when we were down by three touchdowns right away.
And you might recall also that was 21. We hadn't played football in 2020. Oh. 'cause of the COVID. It's a big buildup. Uh, it is the opening of Little giant stadium, our brand new stadium. Uh, we've got VIPs all crawling all over the place and it did not look good for Wabash. Um. But you know, our, our saying at Wabash is, Wabash always fights.
And I think the way that we ended up coming back to win that very tight game, that, that for me is all time best wa Monon memory. Yeah, that's a good one. And ours of course is DePauw never quits. Yeah. And so my memory is 2023, uh, when we battled back and forth and it looked like we were going to lose the game.
And that's when we blocked the PAT and then we went into overtime and then it went into a second overtime and then we ended up having a walk-off touchdown, uh, caught by a player, which I think that was only his third catch ever. And so that is my best memory. Yeah. Because of that game, my future grandkids are gonna have two Yes.
Two less years with grandpa. Like, I lost two years of my life expectancy because of the end of that one. It was wild. I was in the end zone. Like right behind the goal, the goalpost when the blocked field goal. And I was like, oh man, this is so, and like I just remember like having a legitimate like cra, like everyone was just like falling over.
It was crazy. It was like. That's like a top memory of, of mine as well. And there's just been so many spectacular, uh, Monon memories. The interesting piece is that obviously, you know, these are rival colleges, rival universities, rival institutions, but there is a lot of similarities as you think of the impact that, that alumni, the impact that both these organizations guy, you know, crawfordsville, it's not that different from Greencastle and what these alumni go on to do.
Mm-hmm. As you guys are thinking of the, the mutual respect you hold for each organization, obviously, you know, there are rivals on the football field and all these other sports. What has been interesting to you in, in learning about the impact that students from each of your universities make, uh, once their time at the institution is over?
You know, one observation that jumps out is how many, uh, folks from Wabash and DePauw work together in the state of Indiana? Right? Yeah. There's, there's. It's hard to find a law, large law firm in this city that doesn't have people from Wabash and from, uh, DePauw. And you see that across all kinds in, in teaching, in medicine, in government, Wabash and DePauw folks, uh, both leading the area and, and leading together, uh, coming back.
Um, the other piece that I always find interesting, we, we've, we've got a lot of marriages between, let's just get ready to say that Wabash and DePauw folks families with, um, divided loyalties. Somebody might even have a daughter that went to DePauw. That's right. No, both my, my daughter and son-in-law are both proud graduates of DePauw University.
I, that had to be a hard pill to s swallow. Well, we're fighting over my grandson. Yeah. Oh, oh, your grandson is Wabash all the way. Not the granddaughter, but the grandson. Wabash all the way. Well, I was gonna say, uh, you talked about, uh, DePauw and Wabash alums working together, and one great example is the Lilly Endowment headed by, uh, Jennett M. Hill and Clay Robbins.
Uh, Jennett is a DePauw alum, and Clay is a Wabash alum. And to me that's a, it's an incredible partnership. And of course, the Lilly Endowment has had such an incredible impact on our state. Yeah. And specifically to both of your organizations, both of our organizations, all of our organizations, um, with the recent, you know, the grants that have been, you know, distributed to both, uh, universities.
Talk to me about the impact that's making, not only on campus, but in both your communities. We'll start in Crawfordsville and we'll come to Greencastle. Yeah. So the, the Lilly, uh, College and Community Collaboration Program has just been absolutely fantastic. And you're right, both Wabash and DePauw have, uh, been able.
To make real improvements in their college and in their, their town. Yeah. So, uh, in Crawfordsville, uh, we are working hand in hand with our local nonprofit institutions. They are the backbone of a small rural town like ours, so we've found ways to support them so that they can, uh, do even better work with everything from childcare to, uh, mental health, uh, to, uh, helping people get their GEDs, uh, to English as a second language.
We've got a whole range of things. Uh, we're been, uh, we're working on a, uh, a community center for Crawfordsville. Montgomery County's gonna be located right in the heart of the Wabash campus. That's awesome. Okay. Dr. White, talk to us about the impact that, uh, the Lilly Endowment has made on DePauw as well as Greencastle.
Sure. What I think was great about the Lilly Endowment's campus and community collaboration grants, that's a lot of Can. Yeah. You said that and I was like, wait, what? Yes. So the campus, say that again. Yeah. Campus and Community Collaboration grants. Okay. And the idea was that Lilly Endowment recognizes that, um, many of our small colleges are in rural communities, and the colleges and the communities thrive when they work together.
As a matter of fact, the reason that DePauw is located in Greencastle, Indiana is because over 188 years ago, the citizens of Greencastle pulled together their, you know, little dollars, uh, to advocate that a college be established in Greencastle. And so, if not for the citizens of Greencastle. DePauw would not exist.
And as I always say, and Scott would say the same thing, Crawfordsville thrives when Wabash thrives and Wabash thrives when Crawfordsville thrives. Similarly, in Greencastle, we thrive when Greencastle thrives. Mm-hmm. And, uh, our grant is focused on four particular areas. One is, is we heard, uh, from. Employers, and we know this also at DePauw, both of us have trouble recruiting employees, um, because there's not enough housing, believe it or not, uh, in small town Greencastle.
And so, uh, one of the biggest parts of our grant is going to be to build, uh, 150 unit apartment complex on land, uh, that we own right across from the university. Oh. And so we will be able to provide, uh, more housing and having more people live in close proximity to downtown. Uh, means there'll be more people looking to buy coffee.
Mm-hmm. To go out to dinner, to take walks in downtown. So, uh, that's one part of our project. Where is the, where's that development going? It's going across from the in at DePauw. Right across the, in at DePauw. Oh yeah. Nice. So that's one of the initiatives. There's, uh, four altogether. Uh, the second was the community told us, uh, that they wanted an indoor swimming pool.
So we have just opened in the town of Greencastle, uh, YMCA. And so part of our grant is, uh, going to build an indoor swimming pool for the community. That's something that the community said that they wanted. Uh, and then the other two pieces, um, are that we wanna make sure that the businesses in downtown Greencastle thrive.
And so we have resources to help support those businesses. Um, not in terms of us directly investing, uh, in the business, but directly investing in the people, um, who want to make sure that their businesses thrive. And so, working with our school of business and leadership, um, providing, um, good advice and counsel about how to make sure that your business idea is going to be viable and make sure that you have the support, uh, that your, so that your business can thrive.
And then the fourth is that we wanna build a beautiful connector between downtown and our campus. And so that it, um, invites people to come from downtown, uh, to the DePauw campus and invites the DePauw campus to go from DePauw to downtown. Yeah, it is. Incredible how important both universities, both, uh, institutions are to their local community.
Like if you think about, I don't know, big employers, like by name or anything. Mm-hmm. But it has to be one of the biggest employers in each of those counties. Yes. You know, and like as you said, um, as DePauw, so does Greencastle. As Wabash does, so does Crawfordsville and like getting the community to rally around their organization that helped start it back in the day, and I'm sure a very similar story in Wabash.
It, it turns out in the early years of Wabash College, after we'd built our first, um, real building for the college, uh, the building burned down. Oh God tragically. And, uh, these, this is in the, you know. Mid 18 hundreds. It was a real question if the college would go on, and the citizens of Crawfordsville, uh, rallied, uh, raised money to rebuild, um, this building for Wabash.
Uh, we also, we repay the community every, um, every other year, we, uh, provide a full tuition scholarship to a resident of, uh, Montgomery County, uh, to come to Wabash College. We've done that since the 1850s, I guess, when the, when the fire happened. Wow. That's pretty cool. Yeah. That's pretty awesome. Yeah. Talk about like in, you know, growing up, you grew up in Montgomery County and you get this prestigious scholarship to attend the uni, the, the institution that.
The community helped save. Yeah. And, you know, that's, that's really, really cool. I love that. Um, hey, I wanted to, you, uh, also talked about, uh, the impact economically. And we just did, DePauw did an economic impact report and one of every 17 jobs in Putnam County, um, is a result of DePauw, um, either, uh, through our, uh, employees, uh, through the people that we contract with to, uh, build things on campus through the money that we spend in the community.
So one out of 17 jobs in Putnam counties is a result of DePauw, and it's about an $80 million overall impact between our students, our staff, our faculty, and our alumni in Putnam County. Yeah. And if you think of a, I mean, what's the population of Greencastle 10,000? Yeah. Like. That is a huge economic impact there.
And I think Crawfordsville might be a, a slight bit bigger. We're, we're a tick larger, I think, uh, more than a tick. You all have a, you know, bigger stores. You have a Culver's, the Culver's, the coveted Culver's. You have a Culver's. Uh, I, and the other thing that we add, I think there's also a, a quality of place that these institutions add to these small towns.
They end up having amenities they couldn't possibly have. If you just think about the, the arts that, uh, the colleges bring and share with the community. Not to mention some good athletic contests, but you know, kids. Crawfordsville high school have a chance to, uh, come to our music. Yeah. To see our plays, to come to our art galleries.
These are just things that, um, towns of, of the size of Crawfordsville and Greencastle, you would not expect to be able to have these amenities. Yeah. And I wonder, I would wonder to see like how many other towns of similar sizes maybe used to have, uh, institutions like this that are, and like looking at the difference of like cultural mm-hmm.
You know, impact there. That's something Go, go down your own YouTube Rabbit hole or Google Rabbit hole on that one. And we're making it seem like it's all sunshine and unicorns when it comes to private liberal arts colleges here in the state of Indiana. But you guys have faced a real challenge and like the rise of is post-secondary education the right path to go on?
You know, like public school, private school, all these different things. Like, it's, it's a very competitive landscape. Could you guys talk to the. The competition and just the challenges that you're facing as small institutions here in the state of Indiana. L Lori and I have been in higher education for a while, and I don't think that either of us wouldn't, would've thought when we started our careers that we would be in a conversation about the value of higher education.
That we'd be in a conversation about declining numbers of high school graduates, and especially declining numbers of high school graduates choosing to go to higher education, and specifically that, uh, small liberal arts colleges, you know, which are the, a uniquely American form of higher education that, uh, have done so much for our, uh, nation, that there would be real questions about their viability.
So I think we're in an era that I, I certainly didn't expect, and we both started our careers as presidents. In 2020. Heck yeah. Come home. It's been, and it's been a roller coaster ride, uh, ever since then. Makes and, and you're right. I, I never imagined after working in higher ed for 40 plus years, uh, that, uh, people would be questioning the value of a, a college education when we can each provide example after example, after example of, uh, students who graduated from our institutions whose lives were forever changed because they had the opportunity, uh, to study at Wabash or to study at DePauw.
And so, you know, our goal is to continue to articulate, uh, the value of a small residential, uh, liberal arts college and the ways in which that really can, uh, be life changing. Yeah. I mean, let's talk into that a little bit. I think that it is the, the well one, there is this thing. That I heard maybe a few years ago of like, people are having less children.
Mm-hmm. And there was like a number or a year or something. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? Where like we Yes. The demographic cliff. The cliff. Yes, the cliff. What is this? The cliff is here. What is this demographic cliff? Just what you said. People are having fewer children. There are fewer high school graduates and all of us want them.
So all of the colleges and universities in our state and across the country, uh, want the same shrinking population of students, the demographic cliff. So if you had to explain that in, in like how big of a, Like a cliff? Is this like, is it like an average, uh, child per household or something?
Like what's the number? Or is it just in general? It's a big number. So, you know, if you, roughly after 2008 financial crisis, the birth rate declined dramatically. Yeah. So, you know, in, in Indiana we are probably looking at something between a 15 and 20% decline. In the number of high school graduates, uh, as, as those children reach college age.
Yeah. EAB says, uh, 15% on national average of decline in college. Uh, going students like the age of those students, like 15% less. That's like a market shrink of 15% for all universities, all colleges across the country. That's significant. That is a cliff. Well, and then that's also on top of. The question of the value of higher ed.
And so there are fewer students and uh, there are many who are questioning whether college is even worth it. And so what we have to be able to do is articulate, um, why it is that somebody would want to invest, uh, in four years, uh, living on campus. Uh, to, to go to Wabash or to DePauw. Yeah. And one of the commitments that both of our institutions have made is to meet a full financial need.
Uh, ours is called the DePauw Promise. Uh, Scott will have to talk about, uh, uh, how Wabash articulates that. But for both of us, uh, we wanna really be able to take money off the table for a student and to say, if DePauw or Wabash is the best place for you to get a college degree, we are gonna make that possible for you financially.
Yeah. Guess what? Ours is called the Wabash Promise. I think we had ours first, by the way. Okay. Everyone's promising you, we copied. There are promises made here. Yeah. I think that it's interesting if we were talking through Dr. White. What the value of attending an institution like DePauw or an institution like Wabash is?
What should we be saying? I'm sure there are lots of parents of high school aged kids that listen to this show. How should they be thinking about this and talking about it with their kids? When I talk to prospective students, one of the things that I always encourage them to do is look at DePauw's Wikipedia page.
And when you look at the DePauw Wikipedia page and it talks about the success of our alumni. We have so many successful alumni that we have categories. So we don't just have three or four famous alumni. We have categories of those who've been successful, say, in politics like the former, uh, vice President, uh, Dan Quayle, uh, or, uh, Vernon Jordan, who was advisor to, uh, many US presidents.
Uh, we also have, uh, alumni who've been successful in business. The current CEO of General Mills. Everybody eats cereal. Uh, and the previous CEO of General Mills are both DePauw alumni. Um, more, uh, closer to home. Uh, the last two, uh, IBJ, uh, entrepreneurs of the year were DePauw alumni, uh, Justin Christian, uh, who started his own f uh, yeah, tech firm BCforward.
Mm-hmm. Uh, and David Becker, uh, who, uh, started a bank, First Internet Bank. Yeah. And so those are just a, a few examples of the ways in which our alumni have utilized their liberal arts degree, uh, and have gone on to successful careers, uh, in a range of fields. And I know that the, the list of Wabash alumni is equally, equally as impressive.
Impressive, yeah. Sure. If. Just focused here in Indianapolis. Uh, Mark Miles, head of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Uh, we mentioned, uh, you know, clay Robbins, the head of the, um, in, in the, um, Lilly Endowment. Mm-hmm. Uh, the, the governor of Indiana Wabash graduate. There's no way that colleges with a thousand or 2000 students should have this impact on a state or national stage.
The, I think the value proposition for these liberal arts colleges is incredibly strong. Um, I think the challenge that Lori and I face every day though, is, uh, you know, that it's a crowded, it's a crowded landscape out there. People are hearing a lot of messages about a lot of different colleges and universities that are pretty different from us, that are not focused on the mission the way that we are.
And the, the final thing I'd say is. People don't understand the level of philanthropic support that these two institutions receive. So we can provide this highest quality education and we can provide access to folks who never thought a college a private college was for them or who never even thought college was gonna be accessible for them.
It is interesting, there's such a profound value of surrounding yourself with people who wanna win, whether it's win on a football field, whether it's win in a boardroom, whether it's win, and I say win in terms of like make a change in the world that you want to see and like that was one thing. So I'm from a small town, 1500 people in the middle of Northern Indiana, like.
The dream, I think when I was growing up was like, go become like the accountant at the manufacturing plant. You know, like work in the office of the factory. Like that would've been what I thought like my cap of success would look like if I came back and had to wear a collar to work and you know, I got to be in the office and not on the floor.
We were in good shape there and I show up at DePauw and. Like my, like I met people who worked on computers in tech. Like I met people that were, you know, former politicians or doing these crazy things that didn't just impact a local small community. Like maybe they did, but they also impacted the world, you know, like I remember hearing.
Angie Hicks, like talk about, she literally left AAW to go start Angie's List. Like that was a crazy thing that happened right here in Indianapolis that came from a DePauw student that just broadened my horizons to what I was even capable of doing. And then surrounding yourself with people who talked like that, who were like, oh, when I graduate, I'm gonna go do this.
I'm gonna go work at Eli Lilly, or I'm gonna go do these. Like, I had to Google what Eli Lilly, who the heck is, who is this Lilly guy and why is his name everywhere? Uh, DePauw grad. Just gonna say that. Asbury grad, but similar. Yes. Um, but it, I just thought that, like, I think that, that at a time when yes, could you probably teach yourself something using chat GPT to like push the right buttons and produce a podcast?
You could probably do that, but like. Without my DePauw connection and going there and like pouring into that network, like this doesn't happen. You know, without like so many different stories of entrepreneurs and politicians and business leaders that by surrounding yourself, I'm kind of monologuing right now, but surrounding yourself with people that want to win in life and want to make an impact wherever they are.
It can change your life. And like, I, I love it. I think wherever you're gonna go, if you're going to, to a place and just thinking like, I need a degree on a piece of paper. Like it may might not be the right decision for you if that's how you're thinking of college, but if you're thinking of like, I want to go out and do these big things and I want to be around other people who want to make a big impact, that's the place.
Huge. Yeah. Well, and the other piece is the strength of our, both of our alumni networks. And so when. People graduate from Wabash and from DePauw, uh, they pour back into the institution. They are available to current undergraduates, to mentor them, to network with them, to, uh, provide internships for them. Uh, and they also contribute philanthropically back to the university because they want to pay forward the education that they receive from DePauw to that next generation.
And on both sides, like DePauw and Wabash alumni mean that, like, if you reach out to them, I know stories from both sides. I know even stories across, like I've, we had the intern upstairs that came from Wabash last year and it was like he reached out and made the connections and it's just incredible and they actually want to help.
It's a little bit of both of them being like, who's your organizations? Like Hoosiers always wanna help. Um, but it, I would say if there are, if there are current students that are listening to this podcast, the biggest piece of advice I would have for you is reach out to those alumni and cultivate those relationships.
Like actually take the time. Don't just say, I want to get coffee and pick your brain, but like, do some thoughtful research and say something you know about them and you know, start that conversation. They will respond. It's like worked nine times outta 10 and the 10th time was because they turned off LinkedIn, you know, they didn't get the connection.
Um, sorry. I can, like, I can get going about this 'cause I'm passionate about the impact that both of your organizations are making in lives all across the state of Indiana and the global impact. I think it's very, very fun looking for a new place to call home. JC Hart Company has been helping Hoosiers find their perfect fit for 50 years from Hamilton County to downtown Indy to Bloomington, and everywhere in between they've got over 30 communities, plus seven brand new luxury spots.
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JC Hart Company where your next home suite home is waiting. As we look forward at the time when we release this episode. It's gonna be the week of the bell game. When you think about your favorite traditions, obviously being at the game and you know, being there and, you know, celebrating, doing all the things there, what are the other things that come with the Monon Bell rivalry, the Monon Bell Week, the game that you get excited about on both of your campuses?
Well, since we have the bell, and we've had it for the last three years, uh, one of the best traditions is whoever has the bell gets to ring it throughout the entire game. And so we will be ringing that bell, uh, all the way from Greencastle to Crawfordsville and, uh, back home. Uh, after we win the game, uh, we'll be ringing it some more.
So I love that tradition. I also love the tailgating, uh, before the game and, uh, both. Alumni bases getting really excited about seeing one another. So the DePauw people that come back for the game, seeing their friends, uh, seeing former teammates, uh, I love that part of the tradition. I love the fact, and I mentioned this earlier, uh, that Scott and I walked together around the field before the game, uh, waving to our respective fans and again, reinforcing, uh, that we want to have a good.
Clean, hard fought football game, and we wanna do that respectfully. So my current favorite tradition is that, uh, after we win the football game for that week, uh, the students ring the bell each, uh, passing period between classes. And so we'll have it right at the center of campus. And it's very, it's very close to my office, uh, but I'm not gonna let it disturb what goes on.
Uh, I'm also really excited about a new tradition, something we started last year, which was a alumni gathering the week of, um, of the bell game. So we'll do that together on Thursday. Uh, and we're gonna come together in fellowship and, uh, this and the spirit of rivalry, uh, to, uh, remind each other how much we admire what each institution's doing.
Yeah. One big piece of this is that we are rivals. Not enemies, you know? And I think that's important to remember after a morning of tailgating when you get into the stands, we're fired up, we're rivals on the football field. But yeah, this level of camaraderie and, and mutual respect. Uh, obviously, you know, we're intense when it comes to the football game.
Um, but yeah, coming together on, um, the week of the game before this, uh, this event is gonna be fun. What can we expect? Oh. So we're gonna get together. We're gonna, we are gonna say nice things about each other. Uh, is that like a segment? Like you're like, Hey, say one nice thing about the other. Yes. What you like most about Scott, what he likes most about Lloyd.
Yes. But I think the better part of the, the, the, even the better part of that is, uh, that the DePauw will choose to honor a Wabash alum. Mm-hmm. And Wabash will choose a DePauw alum to honor Wow. On Thursday night before the bell game. And so this is a kind of a reigniting of an old tradition that had gone dormant.
And that's one piece I'm just really excited. Yeah. The classic. Say something nice about, you know, and, and I just, what I love about the game, the rivalry, the thing is that it matters so much. Like, imagine having, you know, let's say it's 5,000 people on each side, give or take, that wanna show up whether it's cold, whether it's hot, whether it's snows, and that they care enough about.
It, it is about football. It is about the teams, but it's also just about how proud they are of their place and of the time they spent there. Maybe the money that they've donated their kids that they want to go there. Like it just holds such a special place. And I would, I would say like, I don't know, everyone like is fond of their college or their university or where they went, but I think it just means more.
Mm-hmm. And I feel like you guys have seen that, like neither one of you are alumni of your organizations, but I don't know, what would your perspective, if I said it just on that day in November means? It means, means, it means more, means more. Just means more means more. And, and it's important. And a time when our sector of liberal arts education, it's a tough time.
Right. And you've, you probably see in Lori and I, there are two, there are not two more optimistic college presidents that you'll find, uh, in this country. And part of it is. You know, we come together on that weekend in November. We're both gonna look around and say, look at the people who love these institutions.
And these are people. And you're right, it's usually stupidly cold. Right. And, and everybody's showing up. Right. And if you show up when things are difficult, I think there's some message there that people are gonna keep showing up for Lori and I, when we come and need their help, I think it would've been fall of 2019, so it would've been at DePauw and it was like not that bad.
And then out of nowhere, a literal like blizzard showed up and we were sitting there like we had a grill. We were like grilling some hot dogs or hamburgers, and all of a sudden it was just like massive. They had to like shovel the field. And I was like, where did the only, the Monon Bell game. Oh yeah. Like it just only, and there's been.
Oh my gosh. Blistering cold days. There's been, you know, I feel like snow. Yeah. Yes, there's definitely been snow. Yeah. I think the other piece is it's Division III football at its finest. And you know, there's a lot of things going on right now in Division one football. In fact, I always listen to college football.
Uh. When I'm, uh, driving in the car and, you know, there's this, uh, coaching carousel at Division one and the money for the buyouts and this, that and the other. And for us and for our students, they're pa playing for the pure love of the game. I don't know that anybody on either one of our teams is going to go pro.
Um, none of them came to our schools through the transfer portal. Um, all of them are outstanding students who are gonna graduate and go on and have incredible careers, and they're playing for the love of the game. Yeah. Uh, Robbie Valentine, if you do make it pro, please keep us in mind when you No. Robbie Valentine might have a chance he wants to go to dental school.
Yeah. And we, we do have to talk about that real quick, I have to dive into this. Mm-hmm. This kid is incredible. Yes. He is up for the Campbell Trophy. That's correct. Which is a combination of your athletic performance as well as, you know, in the classroom and your service to your community. Can you talk a little bit about Robbie?
Sure. Uh, Robbie Valentine. Valentine is a wonderful young man. He is quite shy. So if he's listening to this, he's already embarrassed that the president is talking about him. Uh, he is one of 16 finalists for the Campbell Trophy, and as you said, Nate, it is a combination of athletic prowess on the field, uh, and, uh, academic performance.
He is a 3.97 GPA in biochemistry. He wants to go to dental school. And of the 16 finalists, he's the only D three athlete that is represented. I mean, that's pretty cool. Like, and it's been our first time, uh, having a Campbell finalist since the eighties for a long time. We've had four total. Uh, but it's been a long time since we've had one.
I mean, I think that's pretty cool and speaks to all of Division III. Mm-hmm. Like we gotta get all of D three in on like, 'cause he's, there's D two and there's division one players. Correct. And I think that's such a cool thing. And he's really good at football, but like I see some of the videos, all the receiving records at DePauw.
Yeah. He holds. Uh, and it's cool to see someone from Division III having the opportunity to, you know, be on this net. How does someone win this award? Is it like a vote? Is there a fan vote, or is it like there's no fan vote. Oh, I wish so. Yeah, I know there's right, it's probably rigged, but, uh, yeah, I'm, we're obviously rooting for it.
Yeah, absolutely. Come on. Got my outfit picked out. I'm gonna go to the, the award show and everything. Where's the award show? It's going to be in Las Vegas. Well, I'm glad to hear you're going 'cause I was gonna put a little pressure on Yes, because I've been to the Campbell finalist. Of course. Liam Thompson Wabash record setting quarterback was a, also a finalist.
Also the only, he was Division III. Uh, he's north central, right? North Central High school. North Central grad. And, uh, he was a great player. The, uh, the, the award ceremony in Las Vegas, it's a lot of fun. Is it? It's a lot of fun. It's putting the pressure on, so yeah, you gotta go obviously. Well, and as a matter of fact, so the two of us, we chair and co-chair, um, our athletic league and uh, we have a meeting in December and I would be chairing and because I'm going to the event in Vegas, he gets to chair the meeting.
Hey, there you go. Wait a hey to help out there. Well, I mean, no, I remember, uh, hearing about Liam North Central, 'cause he was like the only D three quarterback at like Peyton Mannings, like camps or whatever. He was great. I was like, wait a second. That guy looks familiar. So, yeah, heck of a player and it has led to another great.
Uh, Monon Bell's story. Uh, you know, the Archie Manning has, uh, vi come to the last two Monon Bells. The Wabash has hosted after meeting Liam at the, uh, at the camp. And, and so we've, we've found a new friend for Wabash College in the Manning family. Well, if, if some, obviously, you know, the Mannings all are avid listeners to the Get In podcast, so I think that we definitely have Eli and Peyton on our side.
That's really cool. Yeah, but what's interesting is you could take a football fan from anywhere in the nation and you could drop them into Crawfordsville on November 15th, and you would have a blast. Like if you're out there and you were a football fan and you're just interested in the love of the game, you gotta show up.
Agreed. It is. Well, there's no tickets, so you can't show up now. Well, that's fair. Next year. You're right. Next year, get in early, put it on your list. Pretend you're a DePauw student and trick president White into giving you one. Yeah. You're a, so you gotta say you're a foreign dignitary. You're going to the game to research, uh, American football for whatever it might be.
Right? You're a scout for the NFL one. One interesting piece is we talk about next year's game is DePauw just announced. that we're getting a new stadium, which we're very, very, very excited about. A lot of new developments on campus from the, um, the athletics side of things. Mm-hmm. Uh, the problem with this being is that we're set to host the Bell game in 2026.
What are, what are the plans that we're hearing? I don't have a, a, an early lead on where we're going to play, so I will let you know. Our new stadium won't open until 2028, and so obviously we're going to have to figure out, uh, where we're going to host the game next year. Mm. Okay. We're glad to have it in Greencastle.
We are so generous. It is expensive. But, you know, I, think so much of President White, I'd help her out this way. Oh, yeah. Ah, yeah. Okay. All right. So I do have a, a couple interesting ideas to pitch you, and I just just wanna get both of your, your thoughts, right, because this could be the potential.
Has the game ever been played on like a neutral site before? We've talked about it, but we've not done that yet. I don't think it, the game has ever in the history of it, been at a neutral site. So this is an opportunity that could be. So I have a few, as, as a resident Indiana guy, I have a few different options that I think would be interesting.
I'd love to just hear like, they're probably just gonna nod their head and say, Hmm, that's, we will take that into consideration. Um, so thoughts being Scheumann Stadium at Ball State in Muncie. Pretty good. Si. You could nar you could, uh, make the narrative of we're gonna host the largest Monon Bell in recorded history and try to sell out, what is it like, I don't know, probably 15,000 or 16,000 tickets there.
We, maybe we wouldn't run into selling out tickets. Problem. Initial thoughts. No, keep going. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, that's what I was expecting Keep going. Hear me out on this one, just up the road. It does lean slightly more crawfordsville, but up in West Lafayette at Ross-Ade Stadium and we really try to blow this thing up.
I think there are like 55,000 or 50, I don't know. Don't quote me on that number either. West Lafayette could be interesting. keep going. Could we get some Purdue students to come and support one of the sites they wearing in my colors? So, uh, that would work. That's true. I, I like Ross-Ade Stadium because it's got a monument that, uh, recognizes an early Wabash Purdue football game in the 18 hundreds.
So that is pretty crazy when you go back to like the early 19 hundreds. Like, like it was like iu, Notre Dame, Wabash de ball, like all in the mix together. It's wild. Um, okay. And then if we were thinking of other options, a historic stadium here in Indianapolis where Arsenal Tech plays downtown at a high school state could be interesting.
Probably a lot of logistics to go through from like a tailgating perspective, but I think that the being in Indianapolis could draw another Record setting crowd. Yeah, just a few years ago we played a game, we played football against Butler. In the Butler Bowl. Yes. And, uh, there's a great turnout from Indianapolis.
Uh, we, uh, set, well, Butler was able to set a all time record for their attendance. Uh, driven largely, I would say by Wabash fans, but lots of tailgating space there outside, because Butler doesn't go into football games. Like they don't go in, they go into the tailgate parking lot, but they don't actually go in.
We were, we played at Butler in 2019 or 20, somewhere around there. And we brought so many people and then we were like, oh, we saw some Butler friends. You guys go into the game. They're like, no, we would never go into the game. They were basketball school. Yeah. You know, that's there thanks to a DePauw. Um, yeah, just say, but also Avid Brad Stevens.
Right. Also avid listener of the podcast. Brad Stevens, of course. Um, and then the final one, uh, could be interesting just. Just rip this thing in Lucas Oil Stadium. We'll see if we could get the entire state of Indiana behind us at the largest Monon Bell and recorded history you have to phrase it, that we're, breaking a record, people we're trying to host the biggest D3 game in history.
great and get College GameDay to come out. out Yeah. Pat. Pat McAfee come on out. Right. That would be insane if you got ahead of this and marketed as we're hosting the largest Division III game on in recorded history and And just blew this thing up. I love the way you think. big Oh yeah.
Pat would pick this up. Mm-hmm. And then they were talking about taking college game to do a D two school already. So ITing, I read about that. So we'll get in for D three. Hey, there we go. Those are also, I have to shout out, thank you to Brooks help for helping me ideate on some of those. He's a good friend of mine and helped me come up with some of those ideas.
Those are all good. Thank. Yeah, there's, yeah. We'll take those into consideration, Nate. Yeah. Good job. There we go. Um, amazing. As we wrap up, the final thing I wanna talk about today is. Both of you did not grow up in the state of Indiana, but in your efforts as presidents of these institutions, you've been able to see a lot of the state.
And so at first, my first question is, you're both from the west coast originally, obviously, Dr. Feller, you've been here for a couple minutes now. Um, what was your first opinion of the state of Indiana when you showed up here to be a resident for the first time? Lot of corn. True. That the backbone of America.
Agriculture, baby. Let's go. Uh, so true. Absolutely. Lot of corn. Because where you were in, when you were in st, you were in Missouri before, before this, right? I, I've been moving my way from California. California, then Texas, then Missouri, and then yeah, and then Indiana. So I'd already been in the Midwest.
What I love about living in the Midwest and in Indiana in particular and in Greencastle specifically, is I love the small town vibe. I love the fact that in on a, a warm spring day, everybody is out on their porches saying, hello, uh, inviting you in for a cocktail or a conversation. I love that part of it.
I I love the fact that, uh, there are so many interesting places that if you just get in your car and start driving around through some of the small towns, you just happen a upon. Um, I love the fact that. When I grew up in California, no matter which direction you drive in California, unless you're driving toward Las Vegas, uh, you're still in California, similarly in Texas.
But when you're in, uh, Indiana, uh, if I wanna go to, uh, Illinois, I wanna go to Ohio, I wanna go to Kentucky. If I want to go to, uh, contiguous states, it's just a couple hour drive. Uh, you can't do that when you live in California or in Texas. So, um, those are some of the things that I appreciate about living here.
Yeah. And everybody's so friendly and, and nice and welcoming was like, I was gonna say, was that like, I feel like sometimes we get people from the West coast and they come on the show and they say like, it was kind of alarming at first. Like, wait, am I like, what's going on here? Is this like real? Yeah.
People in California are quite friendly, however, people in the. Indiana actually want to know the answer to the question when they say, how you doing? Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Dr. Feller. Oh, I think, you know, friendly. There's a kind of Midwest modesty, uh, very, uh, gen people are very genuine here. I actually think that's part of this secret sauce of why we have these incredible alumni networks.
People are very relational here. And, um, so, you know, we have a bit of a small town feeling in these college campuses where everybody knows each other, uh, everyone cares about each other. These are some of the things that I think separate us from, you know, the kind of large mega universities that people are coming to assume everyone goes to.
Have that college experience. Yeah. One of the important pieces that helps make both these, um, institutions work is the strong alumni base. Right. And it's a lot of that is, you know, you have to have donors, people to help fund the future of these institutions. And as you're going out, one of the big parts of the job is talking to alumni and, you know, getting donations and all those things.
When mon, when the Monon Bell game comes up in your conversations with alumni, have you heard any. Wild, impactful stories from alumni of how much this game means to them 20, 30, 40, 50 years later. That have just resonated with you about how important this weekend in November is. I've heard a lot of stories.
I, I also, I have to take 'em all with a grain of salt. They couldn't possibly all be true based on the set of stories that I've heard. Uh, but you know that that's part of it. People look back fondly on this and, uh, it, it is true. If, if somebody went to school and they had an oh and four record in the Monon Bell, they'll mention it.
And if they have a four and oh record, they'll, they'll mention it. The number of people who claim a four oh record is probably couldn't be true. Uh, but I, I think it is, it's one of the things. That people, it's a concrete memory they take from their experience at Wabash or DePauw. You did win seven in a row.
So it is quite possible that a couple of, uh, groups of your alums can say, uh, we are four and oh, I would say I'm on a, a, a regular, a text chain, uh, with one of our alums who was a football player. And so we. Text after each DePauw game, and even when we win, he says, yeah, but this is not as important, uh, as winning the bell game.
Isn't that wild? Uh, we had, uh, coach Lynch on the podcast. That episode drops on Wednesday. Get ready for it. Um, coach Lynch was my coach at DePauw while I was there, and he is coached at Ball State. He's been at Butler, he's been at Indiana University. And he said like, it's just different at the Monon Bell game.
Mm-hmm. Again, like that's like the, the who, the title of the episode is. It's just mm-hmm. It just means more. And that's the guy who's been, you know, at Ohio State at Michigan doing these crazy things. And he says, the boys just show up to play in that last, uh, the last regular season game of the year. Okay.
We've come to the final portion of the show where we get to talk. All things Indiana. A little bit of a, like a rapid fire timeframe here. Uh, we're gonna just go back and forth. I'm gonna find interesting questions where we talk about, uh, different pieces of your, your Indiana experience. I'll start with Dr.
Feller. You joined the Wabash faculty in 1998. What was your first impression of Crawfordsville? When I would ask someone where they lived, they wouldn't tell me the address. They would tell me who used to live there. Right. That is a very, uh, crawfordsville small town thing to do. Old, old Dr. Scott's house on Main Street or whatever.
Exactly. I love that. Okay. That's a, that's a good one. That's a good, great first impression on the theme of small towns. Um, Dr. White, you've called yourself a city girl. You know, coming from California, what has been the most enlightening part of living in a small, rural Indiana town? The ice cream Dairy Castle and scoops in particular in a green castle.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. It's spectacular. And it's, it's not just like the treat itself. It's like the active, it's a whole experience. On Sunday you go to get ice cream, you know, and it's like a whole thing. And when Dairy Castle, I feel like it's only open a little bit when the students get back in the fall. And you gotta like make your runs early.
Absolutely. And in fact, when I was being interviewed and had my first visit to DePauw as a candidate for the presidency, I was talking to the vice president for Academic affairs and trying to find out a little bit more about the town. And of course I asked, uh, where might I get ice cream? So he told me about Dairy Castle.
I said, that's great. I said, I wanna go there. He goes now. And I said, yes, I wanna go there now because, you know, I can't come to a place if they don't have good ice cream. That's, I love that. That's that you have some more Midwest than you, than you care to imagine. That's That's right. In line with what we think.
Um, okay. President Feller, besides the Monon Bell game, what is your favorite Wabash tradition? Chapel Sing. So one of the things people might not know about Wabash College, we love to sing. We sing a lot. We have a singing competition among the freshmen. They sing our fight song, which we believe is the longest fight song in the nation.
And, uh, it's every Wabash graduate knows the fight song and they can sing it. And, uh, well that's my favorite piece. So is this kind of like a, what is that, like American Idol, but for singing the fight song? So it's about as far from American Idol as you could possibly get. Ah, okay. I would say. All right.
Soll. It has a lot more, uh, intensity. I'll say that. I'm here for that. Okay. Dr. White, what's your favorite? DePauw tradition besides the Rumbel game. My favorite DePauw tradition is the way in which we welcome our newest students on the first day on their way to convocation. Mm-hmm. And so what happens is we have bag pipers start at the furthest residence hall.
Uh, and all of the first year students, uh, come out of the residence hall, march behind the bag, Pipers, and they pick up successive groups of students at the various residence halls. And the walkway is lined with upper class students, uh, who are cheering students on and, uh, saying, go Tigers. We're so glad to have you here at DePauw, uh, lining the walkway all the way into the convocation auditorium.
It's great. Oh, yeah. I still remember that. One of the interesting pieces from that too, when I went through there, they also had flags from like around the world that represented all the different students from everywhere that were there. And it's like, you almost need to like take a picture to like Google this of like, where, where does this?
Yes. All the different countries. It's, it's crazy. It's great. Oh, so, so, so cool. Dr. Feller. When it comes to hosting the Monon Bell game, when it's at home. In Crawfordsville. What, take me through the routine. What you wake up in the morning, like hour by hour. What does it look like to host a Monon Bell game from sunrise, or whatever time it starts in the morning till you lay your head on the pillow at night?
It'll vary a little bit from year to year. A typical thing might be to, uh, might be to go to the team breakfast, uh, with the football, uh, team. Uh, see, see the young men wish them, uh, luck many, many, many hours of tailgating until the game starts. Um, you know, one of the things when you're in our roles, uh, you never miss a chance to shake hands with alumni, and so this is a chance you just can't miss.
Uh, since it's in Crawfordsville, uh, we would be at. Sometime, maybe a half hour before the game, we would move up into, uh, the W Club in the upper floor of our beautiful new stadium. It's nice to hear DePauw trying to catch up and we're looking forward, uh, to their attempt. Uh, we'd spend time up there in the best.
Football stadium in Division III football and watch a great game, uh, afterwards. Um, the, uh, Sphinx Club, our Student Spirit organization, they'll take the bell around campus. Uh, they'll want to get some pictures with, um, Mrs. Feller and I, uh, they will be. Uh, filling it with beer that various people will drink from not the president.
Um, but, uh, not once. No, not even once. I, I, I've watched that giant 400 pound bell move around and I, I, I really wanna hold onto my teeth, so I don't want to get anywhere close to that thing. It's an experience, lemme tell you. And, uh, at, at, at some point then, uh, I'll just crash. Yeah. Okay. Dr. White, what does your day look like when you're hosting the Monon Bell game?
Oh, I thought you were gonna say when I'm going over to Wabash. Uh, so I have a, actually a funny story about, uh, their. Their stadium and, uh, ours is gonna be awesome, our new stadium. Uh, but yes, we're competitive. And so I suspect, um, our new stadium was inspired by the fact, uh, that they built one. So this is my very first Monon game, and this was 2021.
And, uh, you know, it's always cold for Monon. I don't like to be cold. And so I say to Scott, I said, well, at halftime I said, uh, can I come up in your box and get some hot chocolate so I can get warm? He pauses and he says, it won't be safe for you up there, Lori. Honestly, you know that. Hey, Lisa was honest, right?
So when we are hosting the game, I of course start with, uh, I lay out my outfit the night before. I do. We already have it picked out. I don't have it picked out yet. Uh, but I will. But the snow game, I actually had to change my outfit because I thought the weather report was going to be different than what it turned out to be when it snowed.
Yeah. Uh, so, uh, I will lay out my outfit the night before. Uh, put it on. I have a pair of, uh, kick in, uh, yellow boots, uh, that I wear for game day. Um, I do not speak to the team, uh, the night before or the morning of, because the one time that I did, we didn't win. And so our tradition now is when we win. Uh, then I go speak to the team afterwards.
She's not superstitious, but a littles. Not at all. And I have a special cheer, uh, that I lead, uh, when we win. Ooh. Ooh. Yeah. So I, I I can sing that, uh, a little bit later. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, uh, like President Feller, I do the same thing. I go out and I, first of all, I greet all the people that are working that day, so the parking lot attendants, all the other people that are helping to support the game, and then walk all the tailgates until, you know, our hands fall off.
Uh, and we lose our voice from saying go tigers and, uh, all of those things. Uh, I, uh, like to watch the team march into the stadium, and so I'll do the tiger walk and, uh, sing the fight song, uh, with them. Then ultimately I'll meet my colleague here, and as I said, we will walk around the stadium together, uh, and then, uh, we will take our seats and, uh, get ready for a great game.
Where, what does, where does your seat at during the, during when we host? When, uh, well, when you host or when you're there. When, when I wanna see you. So when, uh, I am in Crawfordsville, uh, as I will be this year, I'm sitting out in the cold, uh, in the midst of, uh, our fans, which is fine. Uh, you know, oh, I love being in the middle of things.
Yeah. You know, because I can take any seat I want. So you, I'm gonna make sure I get a good seat. And then, uh, when, uh, we are hosting, uh, uh, we have a presence box. Yeah, that's fun. Where's the seats at? So when it's at Wabash, it'll be up in the W Club and float around and visit with lots of different people when it's in Greencastle.
You know, I usually, it's a game day decision. Uh, last, the last last year actually sat with a bunch of parents and my wife thought that was the funnest seat we've taken at the DePauw game. So that may become a new tradition. And wait a second. I think I remember you shirtless and overalls down in the front at one time.
That wasn't you. That wasn't me. Oh, okay. I thought I saw that one time. Um, okay. This is what I'm most excited about, about this episode, and I've been excited the whole time. This is the 131st playing of the Monon Bell game will be in Crawfordsville on November 15th, 1 0 7 kickoff. Shout out to Greg R.
Straw. He'll be on the call. Lot at stake here. We're gonna put a little bit more at stake if you're both accept what I'm about to say. Um, I think that we've seen it all across. Sports where leaders of institutions, organizations, even cities, you know, with Pacers in Oklahoma City, make a little friendly wager when it comes to the athletic events.
And I pitched a few ideas before the show and we landed on one that I think is gonna work. I'm hoping for the stakes here would be on the Monon Bell game, uh, hand delivery. Of a local item from your community. Right. So if I, uh, land this Dr. Feller, you would hand deliver a special piece of Crawfordsville to Greencastle?
What is the piece I did? I will bring chocolates from Miss Sugar Ray Chocolatier in Crawfordsville, Indiana. They're the absolute best chocolates in the state of Indiana. Oh, okay. And Dr. White. I will bring you sweet treats from Breadworks in Greencastle and hand deliver them to you. Wow. So we've got a lot of sweet treats.
This is hand deliver like I want and maybe, I don't know, maybe you make a welcoming party on the other side, like some students lined up there. You know, you could do a whole big thing here, but we need to see, this is a handshake agreement. Can we see the, the agreement was sealed with a handshake Yes. And hand delivered sweet treats to either organization.
And I love that. It too is a local, like Breadworks is a local Greencastle, correct. Um, company, miss Sugar Ray is a local business in Crawfordsville, Indiana. After doing my research, uh, I love Breadworks. I've had Breadworks before. I've never had mis Sugar Ray. They do look pretty good. Like I'm, I hope I'm not eating Miss Sugar Ray well as a result of this.
Exactly. Right. Exactly. But I will, I, you know, way after the game. Yeah. Maybe we like, you know, obviously, you know, maybe we take the bell and enjoy some of our own fine chocolates on our own dime. There we go. This has been so much fun. Uh, I love the rivalry. I love the fact of your guys' just comradery. It is truly, um, I'm sure a friendship, is that what we, you guys call Exactly.
Absolutely. And taking over, uh, two incredible organizations at the same time during a challenging landscape of higher education in general. I'm sure it's nice to have a rival that is also a friend that pushes each organization to be better in and always can. Absolutely. Um, we do ask the same three questions to everyone as the every guest that we have that comes on the show where we learn a little bit more about what you guys love about Indiana.
Mm. Okay. So, Dr. White, I'm gonna start with you. We've kind of talked about it a little bit and danced around it, but I want you to, to, to really hone in on this. What is something that the world needs to know about Indiana? This is one of the, uh, friendliest states in the country. Um, what they need to know is that our small towns are all hidden gems.
Um, what they need to know is that they need to get in the car and take a road trip and visit as many small towns, uh, in, uh, Indiana as they can, and also visit our wonderful colleges and universities, particularly those that are located in small towns. Absolutely. Okay. President Feller, what's something the world needs to know about Indiana?
People need to know that the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in Indiana is exceptional. Mm-hmm. I think it's so easy to think that, uh, all the. Technology in this country happens on the, the two coasts. And as someone from the coast, I just gotta say, uh, if you open your eyes and look at the dynamicism of, uh, of this state and particularly Indianapolis, uh, there's just a lot to like there.
Yeah. And in, in the spirit of talking about, I almost forgot that we were gonna talk about some of the incredible alumni from both organizations. I think you guys talked about, uh, one current student and maybe a few other previous alumni. Do we wanna talk about that for a second? Um, so if you guys had to just talk about the impact that, uh, maybe a few alumni, we'll kind of go 1, 1 1 1, uh, from your, from organizations are are making across Indiana.
Do you have a few on the top of your mind? I, I mentioned, uh, some earlier. Yeah. I talked about Justin Christian. Mm-hmm. And starting a tech firm BCforward, um, talked about, um, David Becker. Yeah. Um, starting a bank, an internet bank, First Internet Bank. Yeah. Uh, and of course I talked about Robbie Valentine and how proud we are.
One of our current students, uh, who is a finalist, uh, for the Campbell Trophy. Heck yeah. Those are, that's a great Mount Rushmore of DePauw alumni. Mm-hmm. I'd start with the philanthropic work of Clay Robbins at the Lilly Endowment. Mm-hmm. Uh. People outside the state of Indiana do not understand how good we have it here.
That we have one of the largest philanthropic endowments in the country, uh, dedicated to helping the state of Indiana thrive. And, uh, clay's long-term commitment to that project is incredible. Yeah, I think it was like 79 point, like almost 80 billion with a B dollars in 2024. That's pretty impactful. It's, it's, it's, it's amazing.
Um, you know, uh, I'll, I'll, I'll. Talk about a, a current student. I think that's someone to watch. Also a member of our football team. Quinn Sholar is a, uh, team captain on the Wabash, uh, football team. He is, um, involved in all kinds of activities on our campus at the Malcolm X Institute of, uh, black Studies, uh, uh, and, uh, is going to be, uh, returning.
He's, uh, he's gonna return to Indianapolis and, uh, he is gonna work at the The Mind Trust when he graduates, uh, in, uh. In May. So That's awesome. Fantastic young man. Yeah. Well, if you're out there and recruiting top talent and maybe keep those guys on your radar, those are two awesome, you know, leaders at their communities.
They're doing big things. Anyone else that we need to know about? You know, I'll, I'll throw out one name, uh, Hoosier that I haven't mentioned, uh, from a small town in Northern Indiana in you're honor, uh, Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital. This is one of the largest, uh, hedge funds, uh, in the country.
And, uh, you can see him regularly on CNBC or any of the financial, um. Uh, channels and the guy's doing amazing, amazing work. I think it's so cool to see how far alumni from both these organizations go and like, it seems like every like third person you look around, it's like, oh my gosh. Like that person was where a debas student, why my student was sitting.
So, uh, incredible. I love that. And there are so many. If you are an alumni, which I'm sure lots of them will listen to this, you are special. You, you are doing big things. Keep up the good work 'cause you're making us all look good. As we round out the show, this is the portion where you get to talk a little bit about something that is special to you, that more Hoosiers need to know about.
It could be a place, it could be a park, it could be a restaurant. Uh, what is a hidden gem in Indiana? Pine Hills Nature Preserve on Sugar Creek in the south part of Montgomery County. It's, uh, it's off the beaten path, but it's a fantastic hike. Um, and, uh, just a beautiful place, especially to visit this time of year in the fall.
Oh yeah. Pine Hills. Pine Hills Nature Preserve. Mm. Alright, I like that. President White. Well, I'm gonna cheat and do two because I wanted to talk about the DePauw Nature Park, which I don't know that everybody knows about. Uh, it is also, I think, a hidden gem for Greencastle opportunity to, uh, really, uh, explore nature.
Yeah. We have hiking trails. It's quite beautiful. It's like an old quarry, right? Yes. it's quite beautiful. That's one of my biggest regrets is I like, did not really think about hiking or running or doing anything like that. I like, this is so sad. Like, shame on me. I probably went like two times, like during my four years there and I like, now I go back and I'm like, I gotta go to the nature park.
Maybe that's just a part of growing up though, and getting old and I'm like, now I have a fond appreciation for nature. Um, okay, what's the second one? The second one is I have enjoyed exploring the covered bridges and
as I was, uh, on a field trip with my cousin who was visiting
from California to look at the covered bridges, uh,
we ran across a little small, uh, replica of a frontier town, uh,
Billie Creek.
And uh, it is super cool. It's got all of these historic buildings that they've moved from other places to Billie Creek. There's an old schoolhouse, uh, there's a country store that has great sodas, uh, and in the old schoolhouse I actually found behind the glass a long ago. Uh. A program from a concert, uh, that was held, uh, at DePauw.
And so at any rate,
I really encourage people to, when they're out there looking at the covered bridges to stop by Billie Creek.
It's pretty cool. Billie Creek Village?
Just outside
of
Rockville?
Yes. Yes. Super cool. I have never heard of this one. That is. Mm-hmm. That seems pretty interesting.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Okay. Um, I know we've been talking about alumni. I know we've been like, you know, talking about a, a lot of the impact that, um, whether it's students, faculty, staff, alumni have made, this is your final chance to share the love, but it doesn't have to be an alumni. It can be anyone throughout the state of Indiana that like, would call themselves a proud Hoosier that is doing impactful things.
So this is a portion where we say, what, who is a Hoosier that we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things. So I might cheat, I'm gonna take an alum. Yeah. And the person I'm gonna hold up is the mayor of Crawfordsville, Todd Barton. He's in his fourth term as mayor. Uh, you know, he is the.
The epitome of someone who has committed their life to service and to making their community better, and we're proud that he happens to be a Wabash grad. He happens to be the father of a Wabash grad, but I appreciate him most as the mayor of my small town. That would be a fun full circle moment to go from like a resident of Crawfordsville to getting the scholarship to going to Wabash, to being the mayor.
I don't know if there's one of those out there, but that would be a story. That's awesome. Four term mayor. Four term Mayor. Heck yeah. That's a great one. I was thinking in a different direction, but because he talked about the local impact, I'm gonna copy you if that's okay. Um, but I'm gonna talk about one of our alums, young alums.
His name is Vince Vincent Aguirre. And, uh, he was a posse student. I dunno if you know anything about the Posse program, but real quickly, uh, the Posse Program is one that identifies, uh, talented young people, often first generation students, uh, and invites a group of students to come to a college, uh, as a group, AKA, a posse.
And so Vincent came to DePauw from Chicago, uh, as a Posse scholar. Uh, and he fell in love with Greencastle such that he married a Paw woman and has made Greencastle his home. And the reason I'm talking about him is we are talking about elected officials. He ran for the city council and he won by one vote.
And so when people say that voting does not matter. Voting absolutely matters. He won by one vote, uh, and in a Republican takeover of the city council. Uh, and I'm not, um, saying anything one way or the other. Only stating a fact that the Republicans took over our city council. He's the lone Democrat who won by one vote, one vote, one vote.
And it turns out there's no recount, uh, in Greencastle. So if you win by one vote, you win by win. Vote, dude that talk about the stress, like just sitting there. One vote. Yeah, one vote. So said, that's like a handshake's like going. He moved his mother from Chicago to Greencastle. So he says that that's the reason that he won.
Shout out mama. Let's go. Gotta vote for mom. Uh, I love that one vote. One vote. That's wild. When you talk about like going out there, shaking hands, kissing babies, like doing the thing. And it also speaks to the fact that we create opportunities, particularly I think for first generation young people mm-hmm.
Who might not otherwise have the opportunity for a college education. And here's somebody who came from Chicago, uh, to DePauw, was able to come to DePauw because of the. Posse Scholar program and has decided to make his home in Green Castle. Yeah. And serve. I love it. I think it's so cool the impact that both organizations have across the state, across the globe.
I do, obviously, uh, some of my fondest memories are in Green Castle, and I, I love my time at DePauw, but, so I, I've become the wrestling coach at Bishop Chatard High School. Mm-hmm. And so I have many, many of my former wrestlers, former guys from Shaar that have gone and, and chose to be men of Wabash. So I, I do tell them that I root for them 364 days a year.
Uh, but I have, give a shout out to those guys because I'm sure they're gonna be listening and, and I'm sure they're proud of the way that everyone who should be proud of the way you all have represented your organizations, we're really fired up for the game. It's gonna be super fun. This is your pitch.
If you are not going to the Monon Bell game this year, you need to get on the list to get your tickets. This is the biggest Division III rivalry. I don't care what anyone says, this is the biggest, it just means more in Crawfordsville this year. It's gonna be electric. It's gonna be fun. I, you never know what to expect.
The tigers are good, the little giants are good. There's good football being played in the NCAC, and I am really excited. I'm also honored that y'all joined me today to talk about what is the Monon Bell rivalry to talk about higher education. Talk about the importance of this surrounding yourself with winners, people that want to do big things in their communities.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming on. This is a dream come true. I'm fired up. I gotta say, go tigers, baby. Let's go. All right. Go Tigers. Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you for having us. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater.
If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state. Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State. Great. We'll see you next time here on Get IN.
