Richard J. Dunn ’60 has been selected as one of the six inductees in Allegheny College’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Dunn, who won three varsity letters in football and four letters in wrestling, was highly regarded on both the gridiron and on the wrestling mats, not to mention in the classroom.
As a center and linebacker in football, Dunn served the Gators as co-captain his senior season and was named to the All-Methodist Team in 1958 and in 1959. It was during Dunn’s senior campaign that the Gators sported the best record, 6-2, of his four years.
Coached by John Chuckran, the squad scored 102 points to the opponents’ 54 for the season, downing teams from Washington and Jefferson, Bethany, Grove City, Dickinson, Case, and Thiel and dropping two to Rochester and Wayne State.
It was also his junior and senior seasons that Dunn won the Francis W. Myford ’26 Memorial Award, which is presented to the football player with the highest grade point average.
In wrestling, Dunn served as captain his senior year and was Presidents’ Athletic Conference champion at 167 pounds in 1959 and at 177 pounds in 1960. In the 1958-59 seasons he was undefeated, and altogether Dunn lost only three wrestling matches in four seasons.
An Alden Scholar and a member of R.O.T.C. and the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, Dunn was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Following his graduation from Allegheny with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960, Dunn received his master’s degree from Western Reserve University in 1961 and his doctorate in 1964 from the same institution.
From 1964 through 1967 Dunn was a member of the faculty at the United States Air Force Academy. Since 1967 Dunn has been teaching at the University of Washington and is currently professor of English and Dean of the Summer Quarter.
