The outstanding work ethic, booming personality, and bright smile of Quinn Sholar ’26 make him a gravitational center for community wherever he goes.
On fall Saturdays, Quinn Sholar ’26 is a force on the gridiron. The captain and four-year starter at tackle clears lanes for the Little Giants’ offense with the kind of strength and precision that leaves opponents frustrated and teammates end zone bound.
“He is really strong, and he has excellent feet,” says Jake Gilbert ’98, head football coach. “He’s always in control. When you watch him play, he’s in control of himself, but he also controls the opponent so well. I haven’t seen many linemen own their opponent so regularly. It’s almost impossible to get past him.”
The Indianapolis native has been named to the all-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) team four times and has earned all-region honors twice. As a junior, he helped the Little Giants average more than 35 points per game and
score 49 touchdowns, tied for 15th on the program’s all-time singleseason list. In 2023, he anchored an offensive line that paved the way for the conference’s best rushing attack at nearly 236 yards per game.
“New guys know that he’s a really good player, so they flock to him,” says Gilbert. “It’s easy to trust him because he has a desire to teach and to help. And he does that with younger players not because it’s his job as a captain—that’s just who he is. He has a heart to serve others.”
Sholar is also a captain on the track-and-field team, where he is the reigning NCAC champion in the weight throw and an NCAA qualifier in the discus. He was Field Athlete of the Year his freshman year, but his value extends beyond the stat sheet.
“Quinn is hardworking and continually trying to level up while helping others improve too,” says Clyde Morgan H’11, director of Wabash track and field and assistant athletic director for scholar athlete development. “When his teammate Evan (Furuness) won the shotput—one of Quinn’s events—Quinn was the first person to run over and
tell me. He was so pumped for him. He’s always celebrating other guys’ successes.”
That same sense of enthusiasm shows up off the field, where Sholar serves as chairman of the MXIBS, the place he calls his “home away from home.”
When Sholar was a high schooler touring Wabash, the MXIBS had resonated with him—more specifically, the bond he formed with the students he met at the Institute during his short visit.
“I kept in touch with those upperclassmen and really looked up to them, so it felt like I already had a connection to Wabash coming in,” he says. “When I signed the papers committing to Wabash in March and the news was posted on social media, I immediately had 75 new followers, all from Wabash, and a lot of them were brothers from the MXIBS. I felt that first sense of community, and it continued when I got to campus. That made me realize I was in the right place.”
The transition to college life wasn’t seamless, though.
“I definitely experienced some culture shock. This is the first school I’ve been to where I’m a minority,” says Sholar. “My mom talked to me before I left home about codeswitching and people-pleasing and told me to stay true to myself and not try to blend in or fade away my Blackness to fit in. I felt myself doing that after a little bit and had to have some serious conversations.
“I really found my identity by surrounding myself with brothers who were authentic to themselves and made me feel I could be transparent about who I am,” he continues.
Finding belonging at the MXIBS gave Sholar the confidence to lean into passions he had pushed aside.
“I started drawing in middle school and got a sketchbook and took art classes in high school, so art was always simmering on the back burner,” he says. “I lost it for a bit because when I came to college, I wanted to pursue a career to make as much money as possible and be a savior for my family. But I realized through my time building my own identity that I needed to be creative.”
The art major with an economics minor and a schedule full of extracurricular commitments had found himself. Next, he needed to find balance.
“I was the biggest procrastinator,” Sholar admits. “Now I have three calendars to keep track of everything so I can see everything laid out and make sure I’m in the right place at all times.”
As his coaches see it, his involvement in a variety of activities around campus gives him a maturity and perspective that ripple back to his teams.
“Quinn is extremely well rounded,” says Gilbert. “He brings a width and a range to the room, not just for football players, but for anybody. He has a heart for people, a heart for justice, and a brain with a wide-ranging perspective.”
Sholar has a way of gathering people around him and building trust and connection in the process.
“I think it’s his sincerity. People can smell that,” Morgan adds. “At practice, things might not be going well with the throwers, but then he’ll laugh and everyone loosens up. Most people say when a young man like Quinn leaves your campus, you can feel it. But I think the work Quinn’s done with the younger guys has set us up with rising leadership.”
That gift for building people up has shaped his teams, his role at the MXIBS, and now the communities he hopes to serve beyond Wabash. This summer, he tested that calling as a community engagement intern with the Mind Trust, a nonprofit in Indianapolis working to improve public education.
“They helped me realize how much I can get a community going and crowded around one mission,” says Sholar. “God put me on this planet to love, lead, and impact others. What better way than creating a sense of community and impacting youth through education.”