It was only natural that Wayn Wilkins would apply to Williams College when he was ready to leav Albany Academy and Rensselaer, NY to head to college. "There must have been a dozen or so Albany Academy graduates who were athletes at Williams during my time," said Wilkins. "Bud Hahn '37, was kind of a role model for me while I was at Albany Academy and he told me I should look at Williams. I figured if Bud liked it then I should at least take a look at it."

The Dean of Admissions back then was Charlie Keller. "Charlie Keller was partial to athletes and as the valedictorian of my class I thought I would be in good shape," said Wilkins. "Charlie told me not to apply anyplace else, so I didn't."

The Hahn connection and "don't apply any place else" approach would later surface in Wilkins' moving on from Williams.

Wayne "Wilk" Wilkins '41

A three-sport athlete at Albany Academy Wilkins planned to play football, basketball and baseball for the Ephs as well as being a pre-med candidate. He played all three sports on the freshman teams and as a sophomore he moved up to varsity in football and baseball and to JV in basketball. His junior year Wilkins knew would be tough academically, with three required lab courses, so he dropped basketball.

"I wasn't a world-beater athlete," said Wilkins. "I was just one of those guys who slugged it out in the trenches." He was, however, elected captain of the freshman football team that had 20 high school or prep school captains on the roster and seven in the starting lineup. In the 30s and 40s, players played both ways with substitutions being made rarely, unlike modern day football. As a freshman Wilkins played guard and linebacker. Onvarsity he played the blocking back (or two-back) and called the offensive plays. On defense he remained at LB.

Charlie Caldwell, who coached football, basketball, and baseball at Williams, relied a great deal on his two-backs in the single wing offense. "Oz Tower '41 and I would go over to Coach Caldwell's house three nights a week to go over our opponent's strengths and weaknesses," said Wilkins. "Caldwell was ahead of his time and he used one two-back in the first and third quarters (Oz Tower) and another (Wilkins) in the second and fourth because you could not send in plays with a substitute in those days. The referee would even stand in the huddle to make sure no plays were relayed." Caldwell later coached football at Princeton and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

When his junior year rolled around, Wilkins was forced to the bench because he was carrying the three required lab courses and he could not get down to practice until shortly after 5:00 PM each day. "You'd think that not playing much as a junior would have been a let-down, but what it did is give me a greater appreciation for the kind of teamwork that goes into playing football," said Wilkins. "One of my favorite Williams football memories is of a play that I saw from the sidelines."

Williams had lost three times in a row to
Amherst, with a 41-0 defeat in Amherst Wilkins' sophomore year being
one of the worst. A struggling Eph team entered Weston Field at 1-6
in 1939 to play a 6-1 Amherst team. "We led 9-0 at the half and they
came storming back early in the second half to make the score 9-8,"
said Wilkins. "With just over two minutes to go, Amherst mounted a
drive to get into field-goal position. They threw one pass too many,
though, and Harvey Potter '40 intercepted it and went 87 yards to
clinch the game, 16-8. We were all so elated because we ended a
three-game Amherst win streak and it made for a good end to a tough
season."

A Wilkins football memory that found him on the
field has to do with a game his senior year at Bowdoin. Bowdoin led
13-7 and punted the ball to the Ephs' one-yard line with just 30
seconds to play. "I can't remember what the name of the play was I
called, but what I called for was a pass to Bill Fowle '43 from my
former Albany Academy teammate Marsh Hannock '42. It worked for 99
yards and a touchdown to tie the game. Unfortunately Bowdoin blocked
the extra point attempt, so the game ended in a 13-13 tie. At least
we didn’t lose the game when it looked like we surely
would."

"Playing the two-back and playing football were great
preparation for me in clinical medicine," said Wilkins. "You have to
make quick decisions and be able to think on your feet in both areas.
You also have to be able to work with many different kinds of people.
Football is a great team sport that rewards solid teamwork and you
need that same approach in medicine. No one person can do it all in
football or in medicine, it takes teamwork"

After Williams,
Wilkins again used the sage advice of Bud Hahn and the
apply-only-to-one-place approach and enrolled at Harvard Medical
School. Wilkins completed medical school in three years with the
country's need for doctors in World War II burgeoning. The U.S. Navy
allowed Wilkins to do his residency at Mass General Hospital and he
would not leave there until 1986 when he retired and moved to
Williamstown with his wife Suki.

Trying to make ends meet
while at Mass General and teaching clinical surgery at Harvard Medical
School, Wilkins became involved with the Harvard Athletic Association
and began to serve as the team doctor for the Crimson's soccer, ice
hockey, and lacrosse teams. Wilkins' stint at Harvard landed him the
job as team doctor for the Boston Bruins from 1969 until 1986. In
Wilkins' first season (1969-70) the Bruins won the Stanley Cup behind
the heroics of emerging superstar Bobby Orr.

Ever the team
player, Wilkins rarely talks about himself and his
accomplishments. You have to be very direct and persistent with your
questions to get a personal highlight from Wilk. If you do persist,
though, you will get a baseball highlight out of Wayne Wilkins. His
senior year in a game in Amherst, the Lord Jeffs were leading the Ephs
2-1 behind their highly regarded pitcher Ace Williams. Wilkins
delivered a key bases-loaded single to give the Ephs a 3-2 victory.
"There's a story behind that moment," said Wilkins. "My mother was a
sports fanatic and she went to a lot of my games, but at the key
moment she was using the rest room and missed the big hit. I guess
she didn't think I’d be much of a factor in the game."

With a
little more prodding you might even learn that Wilkins has been
honored by Mass General with the naming of a visiting surgical
professorship that is awarded each November. You could even learn
that his daughter Wendy (Hopkins '72) serves the college as director
of alumni relations and that Wilk's two sons also attended Williams,
with Clint graduating in 1968 and Wayne in 1979. You might also learn
that Andy Rooney of CBS' 60 Minutes is a lifelong friend and was also
a classmate at Albany Academy. Before you glean any of those nuggets
from Wilk, though, you will first have to hear about the
accomplishments of everyone else who was on his teams in football,
baseball, and medicine.

If you are an accomplished prodder
and refuse to let up you might even hear about the time Wilk saved a
man's life at a sports dinner, but you likely will not hear it from
Wilk, at least I didn't. In tying up some loose ends on Wilk's career
with his daughter, Wendy, I learned of a story in the March 9, 1974
Boston Globe that recounted Wilk's heroics. Asked to be the main
speaker at the 1974 Gridiron Club of Greater Boston annual banquet,
Wilkins got a little distracted before he spoke. When Richard Dwyer
of the Harvard Athletic Association began choking on a piece of food,
Wilkins sprang into action from his head table position. Wilkins
borrowed a jackknife from a policeman and performed an emergency
tracheotomy and then inserted a ballpoint pen to keep the airway open.
Wilkins accompanied Dwyer to the hospital and then returned to deliver
his address as the main speaker.

Since retiring to
Williamstown in 1986, Wilkins has been involved with the Williams
College Sideline Quarterback Club (including a stint on the Board of
Directors) and playing golf at Taconic Golf Club. Wilk and Suki are
busy enjoying all that the Village Beautiful and the college have to
offer while keeping up with their five grandchildren.