Ed Wing '67

Ed Wing knew he was a good football player and a
good running back, too, that's why the Port Washington, NY kid had a
hard time telling Harvard, Dartmouth, and Princeton he had decided to
attend Williams. In the mid 60s the Ivy League was still drawing
decent crowds and playing big games while receiving weekly national
attention. So why in the world would Ed Wing want to turn his back on
Harvard, Dartmouth, and Princeton? Why would any decent football
player in his right mind want to go to little old Williams College in
the northwest corner of Massachusetts? The Ivy League recruiters were
very surprised and disappointed by Ed Wing's choice of college. He,
on the other hand, has never regretted choosing Williams.

"I
just felt I could play football and lacrosse without undue pressure at
Williams and could make academics a priority," said Wing. If high
school buddies Bob Snibbe and David Tobis, both Class of 1966, had not
attended Williams, Wing likely would not have made the trip up to the
Purple Valley. "I really liked Williams when I visited," said Wing.
"The atmosphere was just what I was looking for--great academics,
outstanding sciences, and a flexible academic schedule that was ideal
for a pre-med student."

Upon arriving on campus in August of
1963, Wing was a little surprised to see that he was listed as
second-string running back on the freshman football team. He almost
hung up his cleats right then and there. "I called my dad and told
him I was thinking of quitting and he said if that's what you want to
do, then do it" said Wing. "If my dad had said anything but that or
challenged or questioned my decision in any way I probably would have
quit, but instead I reconsidered."

Wing did see a fair
amount of time running the football on the Eph freshman squad and he
felt good about his efforts. Apparently the coaches had other plans
for Wing because as a sophomore he was moved to the defensive
secondary, where he played all eight games for the 7-1 Ephs. The 1964
Ephs had dramatically turned around their record from 1963 when they
finished 2-6. Wing was fully involved in the turn around and was a
solid and reliable defensive performer, but he really wanted to run
with the football as he had done in high school. "It wasn't that I
felt I was the greatest running back there was, I just loved running
with the football," said Wing. "I still find myself on occasion
thinking back to the days of running with the football at Williams.
It's just something in me, I guess."

Shortly before the start
of the 1965 season an assistant coach informed Wing that he was going
back to offense. "He said that the coaches had remembered that I had
run over a few people during freshman football and they thought that I
could be effective," said Wing. "I was pretty excited knowing I was
gong to get to carry the football again."

Wing did okay in
the preseason drills and scrimmages before the 1965 season kicked off,
but there was no hint of what he was about to
accomplish.

College football was changing in the mid 60s with
the two-platoon system coming into vogue. The Ephs opened the 1965
season on the road against a very good Trinity team. Eph head coach
Frank Navarro had committed the Ephs to the concept of two-platoon
football early and Trinity was about to learn first-hand what that
meant.

The score was 12 to 7 in favor of Williams at the
half. "Coach Navarro walked up and down the sideline at the beginning
of the third quarter urging us on by saying this is our half," said
Wing. "I think Coach Navarro knew that on a warm September day our
two platoons would eventually overcome Trinity's mostly single-platoon
team."

Navarro's boys did not exactly "wing it" against
Trinity with their new apporach, but they did unleash Ed Wing. In his
first intercollegiate start, Ed Wing ran for a then Williams record
205 yards and scored four TDs, one a 55-yard see ya later burst off
left tackle in the third quarter. Williams 34, Trinity 23. "After
the game I was more excited about just being involved in the offense
than I was in how many yards and TDs I had," said Wing. "I was
thrilled to be able to be back running with the ball again."


When the 1965 season ended Ed Wing was the owner of the
Williams College rushing record for a single season with 1,139 yards,
breaking the previous record of 910 held by Chip Ide '58. Wing
averaged 142.4 yards a game and scored 15 TDs for the 6-2
Ephs.

The front cover of the November 1965 Williams Alumni
Review featured an action shot of Wing and the inside cover recapped
his remarkable season. Two paragraphs from the inside cover pretty
much summed up Ed Wing and his glorious season:

"A Dean's
List pre-med student majoring in chemistry, Ed Wing is a starting
midfielder on the lacrosse team and a Junior Advisor as well as a
football player. As a sophomore last year he was overshadowed by the
"Berkshire Bulldozer," Jim Leitz, and was chiefly used as a defensive
halfback. He only carried the ball six times in 1964, gaining 40
yards. His emergence as a star this year can be credited to the same
factors which apply to his success in the classroom--great
determination and ceaseless hard work. Which is not to suggest that
he lacks natural ability in either environment. Clearly he
doesn't.
"Ed never lets up," states Frank Navarro. "Even when
he's running against dummies in practice he winds up 30 yards
downfield. He is always striving for excellence."

Somewhere
along the way before the start of the 1966 season Ed Wing contracted a
virus and that, combined with vertigo, knocked him out of playing
football his senior year. "I was disappointed that I couldn’t play as
a senior, but at least I had the chance to run with the ball as a
junior and it was an awful lot of fun," said Wing.

"One of
the things I remember best about Williams is the quality of teaching
in both the classroom and on Cole Field," said Wing. "Coach Navarro
taught us how to block one day and he broke it down to the six basic
steps in a successful block with the same passion and attention to
detail that Professor Hodge Markgraf displayed in the chem lab or
Professor Robert Gaudino exhibited in the classroom. Williams was the
perfect learning environment for me."

Upon graduating from
Williams, Wing enrolled at Harvard Medical School and graduated in
1971. An internship at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston was
followed by postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford University and the
Palo Alto Medical Research Foundation.

Wing then went to the
University of Pittsburgh where he spent the next 20 years. Starting
as an assistant professor he advanced to associate professor,
professor, and physician-in-chief at Montefiore University Hospital
and vice-chairman of the Department of Medicine. He also served as
executive vice chairman and vice chairman for clinical programs in the
Department of Medicine.

Currently Wing is chairman of the
Department of Medicine in the Brown University School of Medicine in
Providence, RI. Wing's research focuses on how the body defends
itself against various microorganisms that cause Legionnaires'
disease, listeriosis, and pneumonia.

"I have a picture of
me running at Williams in my office and if I do say so myself I look
pretty determined as I’m running over a tackler," said Wing.
"Sometimes I tell my coworkers that if I have to put on the helmet and
pads again to get something done around here I’ll do it and they
quickly get the message."

Wing and his wife Rena, a
behavioral psychologist, have two sons, Jonathan and Kenneth, and they
are also proud grandparents.