Wildermuth name change to be tabled after questioning

The recommendation to rename the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center is being tabled for now after one trustee objected to the compromise on Tuesday.

Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Terry Clapacs presented a proposal to the IU Trustees Facilities Committee to rename the intramural center the William L. Garrett/Ora L. Wildermuth Fieldhouse.

After some deliberation, board of trustees Vice President Patrick Shoulders suggested the Student Recreational Sports Center be named for Garrett, while keeping Wildermuth’s name on the intramural center.

There has been discussion within the All University Committee on Names about changing the name since a former Indiana Daily Student columnist reported a year and a half ago about letters Wildermuth wrote advocating segregation.

Wildermuth was a founding citizen of Gary, a judge, a school teacher and an IU trustee from 1925 to 1952 – head of the trustees from 1938 to 1949.

Garrett was the first black IU basketball player who broke the Big Ten’s “gentlemen’s agreement,” which barred black players from playing.

Shoulders said in an interview that Wildermuth, while having “horribly wrong” views, was just a product of his time.

Wildermuth did great things for IU, Shoulders said. He quoted a speech from former IU President Herman B Wells at the naming of the intramural center. Wells praised Wildermuth and said his name should be perpetuated.

Shoulders said he’d heard “poetic justice,” “irony” and even “a posthumous slap in the face” used to describe the linking of Garrett’s and Wildermuth’s name. This type of emotional outcry should not be the basis for naming the building, he said.

“They shouldn’t be linking the achievements of Garrett to a ‘bigot,’” Shoulders said. Garrett should be honored, and so should Wildermuth, but separately, he said.

What to do with the building baring Wildermuth’s name is still up in the air.

“We’ll wait and see what (IU) President (Michael) McRobbie asks us to do,” Clapacs said.

IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said McRobbie will give the alternative suggestion to the All University Committee on Names for more discussion.

The counter-proposal will be brought up in the next names committee meeting, but MacIntyre said he wasn’t sure how long it would take to get the 25-member committee together. Clapacs said the committee doesn’t have regular meetings, instead it gathers together when there is an issue to discuss.

When the original decision was announced, Clapacs said the two names together could provide a teaching moment.

Tom Graham, along with his daughter Rachael Graham Cody, wrote the book “Getting Open: The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball.” Cody first discovered Wildermuth’s letters in the University archives.

Graham said the original recommendation was a good one, but it’s a great honor to name the SRSC after Garrett. He said it’s a new building that will be around for a long time.

The original proposal also recommended the creation of an annual “signature series” lecture and conference that would focus on Garrett.

The main reason he supported the original proposal was because it called for the creation of a plaque and an annual lecture series to educate the public about the two names, Graham said. The lectures were as important as the name change because they made Clapac’s education argument plausible, Graham said.

Others disagreed with the original proposal.

Bill Tosheff, a 1951 IU graduate, played basketball with Garrett.

After the original proposal to have both Garrett’s and Wildermuth’s name share the building’s placard, Tosheff, 82, said the renaming was “bullshit.” It should be named after either Garrett or Wildermuth, but not both, he said. 

Though he said he liked Shoulders’ idea better than the original proposal, he had another suggestion for how to bring Garrett’s name into the University’s fold.

“I still think it should be McCracken Hall with Garrett on the floor,” Tosheff said. “But, hey, something is better than nothing.”

Branch McCracken was Garrett’s coach at IU.

“As long as it is individualized, I think it’s cool because you can’t have them both on there,” he said. “It’s like pro and con. As long as young people are going into the area where Garrett’s name is going to be, beautiful.”

Sports Editor Ryan Gregg contributed to this report