Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1988
- Class:
- 1947
Called by those who played football and basketball for Coach Cam Henderson, “The Old Man’s right arm,” John Wellman was Henderson’s student manager through the mid-1940s. Called by Henderson himself, “The best manager I’ve ever had,” Wellman handled team travel arrangements, meals, cleaning uniforms or any other jobs assigned to him. When Marshall was allowed to travel only Henderson and eight basketball players to Kansas City for the NAIB National Tournament in 1947, Wellman was forced to stay behind. After Marshall won the national championship, it was Wellman who saw that a huge crowd had massed at the Huntington C&O Railroad Station and raced in a car to Ashland to board the train and alert Henderson and the team to clean up a bit after the long journey and prepare for the crowd estimated at 15,000 or more waiting for them.
After graduating in the Marshall class of 1947, Wellman remained to assist Henderson the following year, a season in which the Thundering Herd made its first bowl appearance – in the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Fla. – and a return to the NAIB National Tournament. Wellman was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988.
