Congratulations Caleb from a fellow Boilermaker – Ron Jackson.
Posts Tagged ‘Purdue’
Encouragement
March 4, 2017Football, TR, and the ER
November 2, 2016My Alma Mater is Purdue. Their nickname is “Boilermakers” and here is the story on where that name came from: It seems in the early days of college football Purdue had a difficult time in winning, not much different from today, so the school president intervened. Across town was a boiler works where they worked with heavy steel and the workers were known as burly tough guys. They were magically enrolled at Purdue as students and quickly gravitated to the football team. They began to win and the “boys” at the other schools dreaded playing the “Boilermakers” thus a new moniker for the team was born: “Here come the Boilermakers”
Thank you Johnny
September 23, 2015My beloved wife who died 20 years ago and I danced endlessly to our favorite song, Misty, at the Purdue recreational gym. I had no money after paying for books and tuition so the gym was a godsend for a boy courting his love. Johnny Mathis recently had a great interview on Tavis Smiley and you can see it by clicking the below. Perhaps the song Misty is not your favorite but I bet you like at least one of Johnny’s songs.
Purdue – 50 years later
September 28, 2010A survey published in the Wall Street Journal September 10, 2010 listed the top 25 schools that produced graduates that were top-rated by recruiters and Purdue was 4th from the top (click here for article). Below are some images from my recent trip to Purdue for my class of 1960 50th reunion.
New engineering building named in honor of Purdue graduate Neil Armstrong
The below 22 astronauts all graduated from Purdue
The clean room where nano-technology experiments are carried out
A Pudue student working on his/her flying skills flies over University Hall
A one million dollar mass spectrometer used in cancer research
A part of the old Sweet Shop left undisturbed. It is where I met my deceased and still beloved wife
Game day against Toledo; unfortunately the Boilermakers lost
The student body gets loose and they were not served chocolate at Harry’s Chocolate Shop.
Many dress up for home games
The lions that roar when a virgin passes; during my four years I never heard them once
Watching the team practice from one of the new press boxes
Athletes must maintain a B average to stay on their teams. Drew Brees (a leading NFL quarterback and Purdue graduate) donated several million dollars for a state of the art academic center where each athlete may meet with their personal tutor during their college career. Drew’s money pays for the personal tutor that stays with the athlete his entire college career at Purdue. Note also that John Wooden a Purdue graduate and renown basketball coach is also noted on the building. Purdue also named one of their streets after the famous coach.
New Boilermaker statue. The term Boilermakers refers back to a game around 1891 when Purdue after a tough season had to face an arch-rival. They temporarily drafted some big burly Boilermakers from the local iron works to clear a path for their runners and won the game. Their foes thereafter would say “here come the boilermakers”
A future band recruit
The below video shows the Boilermakers making their entrance
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What’s it all about Alfie?
September 22, 2010It is time to pause, go back to those days of innocence and find out from my Purdue freshman buddies (below) what over a half century of “Life” has exacted from their dreams of 50 years ago. Yes, alumni weekend at Purdue is this coming weekend and it will be 50 years since I have seen some of the Boilermakers. It should be fun if not enlightening and I am looking forward to it. Posts on this site might be a bit lite while I delve into the mysteries of life over a Budweiser with those whom I started the journey many years ago.
Later – Ron
Dorm picture 1956
PS In case you are interested I am the cool dude, top row, 2nd from left in the black “Go to Hell” hat.
A Hoosier, A Purdue Boilermaker, A Gem
June 5, 2010RIP John Wooden. You made this world a better place.
