Purdue University

The Purdue Boilermakers football team is the intercollegiate football program of the Purdue University Boilermakers. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I Bowl Subdivision, and the team competes in the Big Ten Conference. The Boilermakers have an all-time record of 571-487-48.

Stadium
The Boilermakers have called Ross-Ade Stadium home since 1924. It replaced Stuart Field, which was home to the Boilermakers since 1892. It is named for David E. Ross and George Ade, the principal benefactors. Ross–Ade Stadium opened on November 22, 1924 with a seating capacity of 13,500 and standing room for an additional 5,000 people. A series of additions and renovations pushed the seating capacity to almost 68,000 (70,000 with standing room). In 2001 Purdue University began a $70 million renovation, which led to a reduced seating capacity of 62,500.

Marching band
The Purdue All-American Marching Band is the marching band of Purdue University. The Purdue "All-American" Marching Band (AAMB) is the primary source of auxiliary entertainment for Purdue University football games. AAMB does many service performances for high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools, and has been the host band of the Indianapolis 500 race every year the race has been held since 1927. The band has grown from an original 5 members to 373 members, making it one of the largest marching bands in the world. The two most distinctive features of the AAMB are the World's Largest Drum and solo baton twirler the Purdue Golden Girl.

In 1886 the Purdue Student Army Training Corps produced 5 men who provided music for the Army trainees to listen to during their morning conditioning runs. While operating without a director until 1904, the band had started playing at Purdue football games and had grown to over 50 members. In 1904, Paul Spotts Emrick, joined the band. His experience as a conductor resulted in his election as band president and director the next year. During his senior year at Purdue, the marching band, under Emrick, became the first band to break ranks and form a letter on the field—the famous Block "P".

Emrick stayed on as director after his graduation in 1908. In 1921 Emrick commissioned Leedy to construct the World's Largest Drum, and it has been a part of the marching band ever since. In 1935, during a Purdue football game at Northwestern University the band donned lights on their uniforms while performing at halftime. With the stadium lights turned off for the performance, the band drew such awe from radio broadcaster Ted Husing, he referred to them as a "truly All-American marching band," hence the current title of the band.

Boilermaker Special
The Boilermaker Special is the official mascot of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. It resembles a Victorian-era railroad locomotive and is built on a truck chassis. It is operated and maintained by the student members of the Purdue Reamer Club.

Purdue University is a land-grant university (or Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) university) created through the Morrill Act of 1862. In the 1890s, Purdue became a leader in the research of railway technology. For many years Purdue operated the "Schenectady No. 1", and later the "Schenectady No. 2", on a dynamometer in an engineering laboratory on the West Lafayette campus. These were 4-4-0 type steam locomotives manufactured by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Schenectady was a classic Victorian-era design similar in construction to the Western and Atlantic Railroad No. 3 (see The General (locomotive) on display at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History). Purdue even operated its own railroad to connect the campus to a main rail line. In the 1930s the dynamometer was decommissioned and the Schenectady No. 2 was retired as the railroad industry in the United States converted from steam to diesel-electric locomotives.

Purdue did not have a mascot. In 1939, Purdue student Israel Selkowitz suggested the school adopt an official mascot to represent Purdue's engineering heritage. He originally proposed a "mechanical man". After much debate, it was decided to build a locomotive on an automobile chassis. This choice allowed the mascot to build on Purdue's engineering and railroading heritage, as well as represent the school's nickname "Boilermakers" in a meaningful way.

The "Boilermaker" nickname came about during the early years of Purdue football. There had been rumors the university enrolled burly boilermakers from the Monon Railroad shops in Lafayette, Indiana as students/football players to help beef up the scrawny football team. When a railroad operated an extra train independent of the scheduled timetable, it was known as a "special". Thus, the trains which carried Purdue's sporting teams and their fans to other cities for athletic contests were known as "Boilermaker Specials". It was a perfect match.

Financial and moral support for the first Boilermaker Special was provided by key members of the Purdue University graduating class of 1907, and members of the Purdue Reamer Club from the graduating classes of 1940 and 1941.

Purdue Pete
Purdue Pete was first designed as a logo by the University Bookstore in 1940. They would put it on their products and portray him dressed up in different clothes for the different majors. He got the Purdue part of his name from Purdue University. The owners of the bookstores gave him the name “Pete”, yet no one officially knows why this was chosen to be his name. He was given a physical identity in 1956 as he came out and helped the students cheer at a pep rally. Over the years, the appearance of Purdue Pete has gone under several drastic changes as well as several minor changes. His original head was made of paper-mâché, pasted onto a chicken wire frame. This was very inconvenient for the person who would be underneath because it would limit his movements, yet he was still expected to move around and do stunts. This head was changed to a giant fiberglass head where the person inside would use a harness to support it. This was unpractical due to the sheer size of it. In the 1980s, Purdue Pete acquired the appearance he is now associated with. Proposals to switch to a soft-sculpture costume were rejected in 2006 and 2011.

Rivalries
Purdue's major rival has always been Indiana University, with whom they play for the Old Oaken Bucket, but during the Joe Tiller era the rivalry with Notre Dame in football has become the most heated and most competitive with Joe Tiller led teams going 5-7 vs. Notre Dame. Danny Hope picked up the Purdue-Notre Dame rivalry with a 24-21 loss in his first season as head coach. In addition, Purdue has a long-standing rivalry with Illinois, with whom they play for the Purdue Cannon trophy.

Due to having an odd number of teams from 1993 to 2010, the Big Ten utilized a rotating system of conference games. Every school was designated two official rivals, whom they played every year. The official rivals for Purdue were Indiana and Northwestern. However, after the expansion of the Big Ten to 12 schools, Purdue and Northwestern were placed into separate conference divisions and will no longer play each other on an annual basis. Beginning in 2011, Purdue's new designated cross-division rival will be Iowa. This matchup has been mocked by fans of both teams. The other cross-divisional rivalries set up by the Big Ten had some history or a trophy behind the pairing, but Purdue and Iowa were left over. The fans of Iowa and Purdue have taken this in stride and both now refer to each other, jokingly, as "OMHR" ("Our Most Hated Rival"), or "The Rivalry Jim Delany Forced On Us."

Logos and uniforms
Purdue's colors are Old Gold and Black, as are their uniforms. Home uniforms are black with white numerals and old gold outline. On the sleeve is the player's number in white, outlined in old gold, along with two outer old gold stripes and a black one inside at the end of the sleeve. The pants are old gold with two black stripes along both sides. The away uniform is white with black numerals and old gold outline. Both home and away jerseys sport the Purdue slant "P" logo in the center front of the collar, surrounded by a patch of black fabric. The away pants are black with two old gold stripes. Since the arrival of Joe Tiller in 1997, Purdue players have not worn names on the backs of their jerseys. This is the first year under Danny Hope that the players will wear their names on the backs of their jerseys.

The helmet is old gold with the Purdue "P" in black with a white outline on both sides. There are three stripes down the middle; two outer black ones, and one thick inner white one. The facemask is black.

Before Tiller, the team wore uniforms that sported the school's name across the front of the jersey, and the old gold color was more pronounced, with almost a copper hue. In Tiller's first season, the helmet color was lightened substantially, as was the gold used on the rest of the uniform.

Purdue's Pride sticker (given out for good performances) was the Purdue logo (locomotive). This was changed in 2006 to a sledgehammer with the slant "P" in the hammer's head (like the one wielded by mascot Purdue Pete). In the 2006 game against the Indiana State Sycamores, Purdue wore a throwback uniform from 1966, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the school's first Rose Bowl team. It featured a white jersey with two outer black stripes on the shoulder and one inner gold stripe. The numerals were black with no outline. They wore gold pants with two black stripes on the sides, and the helmets were old gold with black numbers and one black stripe down the middle. The gold in the throwback uniforms was more yellow in hue than that in the regular 1997–present uniforms.

In 2002, Purdue changed from its black home jersey to an old gold jersey. The old gold uniforms had white numerals and black outline for home games, and white uniforms with old gold numbers and back outline for away games. Some complained that the numerals on the jersey were too hard to see, so in 2003 they changed to an old gold jersey with black numerals outlined in white, and white pants with two black stripes down the sides. After losing their opening game at home to Bowling Green, Tiller and the team decided to dump the gold jerseys and go back to the black uniforms. After they changed back to the black uniforms, the team came out to Back in Black by AC/DC for every home game in 2003. Since then, Purdue has stayed with the black uniforms. In one game against Wisconsin in 2006, the Boilermakers wore the black jersey with black pants. They hadn't sported an all-black look at home since the last game of the season in 1996 against Indiana. In 2009, Purdue also wore the Black on Black in a night game against Notre Dame on the Purdue Blackout, and then wore them for the remainder of their home games. In 2010, the Black on Black remained the normal home uniform with the exception being the Homecoming game against Minnesota where the team donned Throwback Uniforms for the 2001 Rose Bowl team. While the original jerseys were made by Champion, the replicas were Nike branded.

"Spoilermakers"
Purdue has knocked off the #1 ranked football team in college football seven times over the years—the third most of all the Division I teams in college football. Only Notre Dame and Oklahoma have accomplished this more times.

Big Ten Championships

 * 1918, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1943, 1952, 1967, 2000

Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championships

 * 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894

Bowl games (9-7)

 * 1967 Rose Bowl (W 14-13 vs. USC)
 * 1978 Peach Bowl (W 41-21 vs. Georgia Tech)
 * 1979 Bluebonnet Bowl (W 27-22 vs. Tennessee)
 * 1980 Liberty Bowl (W 28-25 vs. Missouri)
 * 1984 Peach Bowl (L 24-27 vs. Virginia)
 * 1997 Alamo Bowl (W 33-20 vs. Oklahoma State)
 * 1998 Alamo Bowl (W 37-34 vs. Kansas State)
 * 2000 Outback Bowl (L 25-28 vs. Georgia)
 * 2001 Rose Bowl (L 24-34 vs. Washington)
 * 2001 Sun Bowl (L 27-33 vs. Washington State)
 * 2002 Sun Bowl (W 34-24 vs. Washington)
 * 2004 Capital One Bowl (L 27-34 vs. Georgia)
 * 2004 Sun Bowl (L 23-27 vs. Arizona State)
 * 2006 Champs Sports Bowl (L 7-24 vs. Maryland)
 * 2007 Motor City Bowl (W 51-48 vs. Central Michigan)
 * 2011 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (W 37-32 vs. Western Michigan)
 * 2013 Heart of Dallas Bowl (vs. Oklahoma State)

Trophy games

 * Old Oaken Bucket - Indiana Hoosiers
 * Shillelagh Trophy - Notre Dame Fighting Irish
 * Purdue Cannon - Illinois Fighting Illini

Individual award winners

 * Maxwell Award
 * Drew Brees - 2000


 * Sammy Baugh Trophy
 * Bob Griese - 1966
 * Mike Phipps - 1969
 * Mark Herrmann - 1980


 * Ray Guy Award
 * Travis Dorsch - 2001


 * John Mackey Award
 * Tim Stratton - 2000


 * Chicago Tribune Silver Football
 * Bob Griese - 1966
 * Leroy Keyes - 1967
 * Mike Phipps - 1969
 * Otis Armstrong - 1972
 * Mark Herrmann - 1980
 * Drew Brees - 2000

Purdue has had twelve Heisman Trophy finalists, an award given to the best player in college football.
 * Heisman Trophy

Players

 * Elmer Oliphant, 1955
 * Alex Agase, 1963
 * Mark Herrmann, 2010
 * Cecil Isbell, 1967
 * Bob Griese, 1984
 * Chalmers "Bump" Elliott, 1989
 * Leroy Keyes, 1990
 * Mike Phipps, 2006
 * Otis Armstrong, 2012

Coaches

 * Andy Smith, 1951
 * Jim Phelan, 1973
 * Jack Mollenkopf, 1988
 * Jim Young, 1999
 * William Dietz, 2012

Pro Football Hall of Famers

 * Len Dawson
 * Bob Griese
 * Hank Stram
 * Rod Woodson

Current NFL players

 * Kyle Adams
 * Royce Adams
 * Cliff Avril
 * Drew Brees
 * Jared Crank
 * Ray Edwards


 * Nick Hardwick
 * Dustin Keller
 * Dennis Kelly
 * Ryan Kerrigan
 * Niko Koutouvides
 * Mike Neal


 * Rob Ninkovich
 * Uche Nwaneri
 * Greg Orton
 * Kyle Orton
 * Mike Otto
 * Shaun Phillips


 * Bernard Pollard
 * Anthony Spencer

Current Professional players in other leagues

 * Joey Elliott - CFL, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
 * Kory Sheets - CFL, Saskatchewan Roughriders
 * Ken Plue - AFL, Chicago Rush
 * Dray Mason - CIFL, Owensboro Rage
 * Keith Smith - IFL, Texas Revolution
 * Justin Siller - IFL, Texas Revolution

Former players

 * Ian Allen
 * Mike Alstott
 * Ryan Baker
 * Steve Baumgartner
 * Jim Beirne
 * Cliff Benson
 * Gregg Bingham
 * Larry Bowie
 * Pete Brewster
 * Mark Brown
 * Don Brumm
 * Kelly Butler
 * Dave Butz
 * Scott Campbell
 * Rodney Carter
 * Rosevelt Colvin
 * Scott Conover
 * Gary Danielson
 * Charles Davis
 * Len Dawson
 * Bob DeMoss
 * Billy Dicken
 * Scott Dierking
 * Cris Dishman


 * Jim Everett
 * Tim Foley
 * Gilbert Gardner
 * Jeff George
 * Wayne Gift
 * Jon Goldsberry
 * Mel Gray
 * Bob Griese
 * George Hall
 * Michael Hawthorne
 * Ryan Herbert
 * Mark Herrmann
 * Mark Jackson
 * Steve Jackson
 * Bill Kay
 * Leroy Keyes
 * Brandon King
 * Brandon Kirsch
 * Bruce King
 * Matt Light
 * Pete Lougheed
 * Lamar Lundy
 * Alex Magee
 * Marc May


 * John McKay
 * Ron Meyer
 * Nick Mondek
 * Chukie Nwokorie
 * Chukky Okobi
 * Curtis Painter
 * Mike Pruitt
 * Matt Pike
 * Jacques Reeves
 * Chris Scott
 * Darryl Stingley
 * Hank Stram
 * Fred Strickland
 * Taylor Stubblefield
 * Vinny Sutherland
 * Keena Turner
 * Brandon Villarreal
 * Ray Wallace
 * Calvin Williams
 * Perry Williams
 * Rod Woodson
 * Dave Young