Wenrich arrived at Franklin and Marshall College following asuccessful career at Hershey High School. At F&M, he excelledin three sports--football, basketball, and track and field--andearned three varsity letters and freshman numerals in each of them.In football, Wenrich was a strong punter during a period whenkicking was often used as an offensive weapon to gain fieldposition. He also excelled as a six-foot, 180-pound running back onsome of F&M's finest teams. He scored three touchdowns in ninegames during 1934, and four touchdowns in 11 games a yearlater.
Individual highlights include a 98-yard touchdown run againstMoravian, a 76-yard dash against Gettysburg witnessed by 10,000fans, and a chance to play a strong role in the infamous Fordhamgame at the New York City Polo Grounds against Vince Lombardi andthe legendary "Seven Blocks of Granite." The football team's recordduring Wenrich's career was 19-8-1 against exceptionally strongopposition. Wenrich played basketball at a time when high scoringgames were not fashionable or even possible because of the rules.He captained the 1936 team and averaged 4.3 points per game. Theprevious year he averaged four points per game on a Diplomat team,coached by Shober Barr that went 13-1 and won the EasternIntercollegiate Conference basketball championship.
The 13-1 record was the best in F&M history up to that date,and is still the team record for best regular-season winningpercentage (92.9%). The 1936 team was selected to play TempleUniversity in the pre-Olympic tournament at the Palestra. As amember of the track and field team, there were limited competitiveopportunities for Wenrich, who was primarily a field event man. Inhis last season, Wenrich capped a fine career by placing second inthe discus and fourth in the shot put at the Eastern PennsylvaniaCollegiate meet.
He would later place fourth in the MAC discus throw. Followinggraduation with a bachelor's degree in sociology, Wenrich earned amaster's degree from Pennsylvania State University. He spent 44years teaching and coaching in public schools until he retired fromManheim Township High School in 1980. He and his wife live inLancaster.
