Class of 1959: Pro football Dave Smith took his standout success on Ripon College’s gridiron to success on the new American Football League. David William Smith was born March 23, 1937, in Milwaukee. At Ripon, he majored in physical education, played football, was a member of Phi Kappa Pi (Merriman), and was commissioned through ROTC. […]
Class of 2017: International basketball Ty Sabin is one of the greatest scorers in the history of NCAA Division-III basketball and holds numerous Ripon College records that still stand. Tyler Francis Sabin was born Oct. 15, 1994, in New Berlin, Wisconsin. He was recruited to come to Ripon by Head Men’s Basket Coach Ryan Kane. […]
Class of 1977: NFL coach Dick Rehbein was an NFL offensive position football coach for 23 seasons. He served the Minnesota Vikings from 1984-1991, the New York Giants from 1992-1999 and the New England Patriots from 2000-2001. He was born Richard Marvin Rehbein Nov. 22, 1955, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. At Ripon, he majored in […]
Founder of National Basketball League Alonzo Lewis “Lonnie” Darling, an older brother of Bernard Darling, was reported to have spent a short time at Ripon College in the 1920s. He was a businessman in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. To keep active during the off-season, he created a new professional basketball team, the Oshkosh All-Stars, in 1929. In […]
Class of 1926: Green Bay Packers Bernard Edward “Boob” Darling played 36 games for the Green Bay Packers football team in 1927-32, starting 16 as a center, and was a member of the NFL Championship teams in 1929, 1930 and 1931. He was born Nov. 18, 1903, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He earned his unique nickname […]
Class of 1942: Green Bay Packers Milburn Russell “Tiny” Croft was a 6’3” 285-pound offensive tackle who played 51 games in the National Football League for the Green Bay Packers in 1942-47. He was born Nov. 7, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois. At Ripon, he studied sociology and was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. He […]
Class of 1965: Legendary basketball coach Wisconsin coaching legend Richard Anthony “Dick” Bennett was a star student-athlete at Ripon College and went on to become one of the most accomplished basketball coaches in the state of Wisconsin. He was born April 20, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raised in Clintonville, Wisconsin. At Ripon, he earned […]
Class of 1964: Sports executive, broadcaster After graduation from Ripon, John March “Jack” Ankerson, Class of 1964, was drafted by the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals as a record-setting quarterback, then has spent the rest of his career as a sports executive and a longtime sports broadcaster. He was born March 1, 1942, in Neenah, Wisconsin. […]
Class of 1992: Dallas Stars president and CEO After three decades in professional sports, Dallas Stars President and CEO Brad Alberts oversees all aspects of business operations, including finance and administration, box office, human resources, information technology, and communications. A native of Delevan, Wisconsin, Alberts majored in history at Ripon College and was a four-year […]
Class of 1973: A life in the arts Her liberal arts education at Ripon taught her to think creatively and supported her curiosity, Sharon Walton said, and this led to a career enhancing the arts community in myriad ways. She was born in July 1952 in Chicago, Illinois. She said she came to Ripon because […]
Class of 1989: Nonproliferation, international security Kathryn R. Schultz, a former U.S. diplomat of Fairfax, Virginia, has said she would not be where she is professionally, personally, and financially were it not for her Ripon College education and the experiences she had here. A native of Schofield, Wisconsin, at Ripon she majored in politics and […]
Class of 1975: Environmental attorney With an eye on the environment and repeated honors from his peers as a top-rated attorney, Richard J. Lewandowski has been practicing law in Madison, Wisconsin, for more than 40 years. He was born in September 1953 in Menasha, Wisconsin. At Ripon, he majored in politics and government and economics […]
Class of 2003: Space industry Jennifer White has held numerous high-profile positions supporting the space industry. Since May 2025, she has been a senior systems engineer at Reliant Space in Pasadena, Maryland. “We are working with Firefly Aerospace on the next Blue Ghost missions as well as their first low Earth orbiting mission,” she said. […]
Class of 1963, Expert on nuclear issues For 35 years, Cheryl Rofer worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. She now is a source for reporters on nuclear weapons issues and popular on social media and the Nuclear Diner and Lawyers, Guns & Money blogs. Rofer had an interest in science from […]
Class of 2015: Indigenous knowledge in science As a tribal member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Raymond Lance Allen said there are Indigenous traditions and ways of knowledge production that typically are overlooked or even “stolen” by Western science. He wants his work in science to change that perception. […]
Class of 1962: Corporate chemist With 45 years of photochemistry experience, George F. Vesley has contributed innovation and expertise to the development of products that continue to enhance products used in industry and everyday life. He was born June 12, 1940, in Omaha, Nebraska, and grew up in towns in the Chicago area. At Ripon, […]
Class of 1991: Advancing medical knowledge Scientific research often is based on a team dynamic more so than individual work, said Brian L. Frey of Madison, Wisconsin. He is a senior scientist doing research in the Chemistry Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has more than 50 publications which have been cited more than […]
Class of 1963: Educator, Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force When Alexander H. Levis retired in 2020, he celebrated 30 years of teaching electrical, computer and systems engineering at George Mason University in Fairfax Virginia. He spent three of those years, 2001-2004, at the Pentagon, serving as the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air […]
Class of 1910: Over the moon The impact crater Meggers, on the far side of the moon, was named in honor of physicist William Frederick Meggers, a pioneer in the field of spectroscopy, by the International Astronomical Union. Meggers was born July 13, 1888, and grew up on a farm in Clintonville, Wisconsin. He earned […]
Class of 1923: Oceanographer Floyd Melville Soule, Class of 1923, was a physicist, pioneer in oceanography and an authority on the Arctic. He was born July 19, 1901, in Ripon, Wisconsin. At Ripon College, he majored in physics and mathematics and participated in Men’s League, Glee Club, the rifle team and the math club. He […]
Class of 1968: Quantum Physicist Tom Reinecke is Ripon’s second Rhodes Scholar. He has been with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., since 1974 and now is a broad-based solid state and quantum physicist. He was born July 14, 1945, and grew up in Ripon. At Ripon College, he majored in physics and mathematics. […]