Hall of Fame
Abbot Walter Coggin was President of Belmont Abbey College for two terms (1956, 1964-1967), served as Chancellor for 14 years and coached the Belmont Abbey Ramblers football team (at the Abbey’s prep school) in the 1940s. As a student, Walter Arthur Coggin distinguished himself in academics and sports, and as a campus leader. In 1936, he received The Bishop Haid Athletic Trophy for best all-around athlete. In 1938, Coggin’s football team won the National Junior College Championship, a season in which the team went undefeated, untied, and unscored upon. In the 1930s, the football team was considered the most competitive inter-collegiate team at the College. During his tenure as Abbot, Coggin oversaw the Abbey’s greatest period of campus growth, including the construction of three dormitories, the dining hall, the science building, the library, the renovation of the Basilica, and, as he was leaving office, the construction of the Wheeler Center.
