Remember way back last month, when the moon fully eclipsed all you good folks in Columbia, Mo., much like Kansas does? Well, one of Purdue’s own was the first to walk on it. We had the last one there, too. We’ve long been above all.
Before Armstrong and Gene Cernan, we gave Gus Grissom the right stuff and, later, Sully. We gave a new plane to a third-year employee, Amelia Earhart. She never brought it back, but we got her papers instead. Neil’s, too. We even flew with the Wright Brothers and upgraded their ride. And our man George Peppard won “The Blue Max,” just after he’d had breakfast and won The West.
Yes, we are Purdue, and, yes, we had the first university airport, the first degree for pilots, the first man to fly over 100,000 feet and two dozen astronauts, but that’s getting off track, because we’re better known for making trains. Or mastering terrain, like our tie guy, Pete Dye. Many watch the game long mastered by John Wooden while eating the products of Orville Redenbacher, two more of our guys. Some might know we’ve won more Big Ten Conference basketball championships than anyone else in the league … which, by the way, we founded.
We’ve taken other giant leaps for mankind, like being first to map the Zika virus and winning world food prizes. Boilermakers invented fiberglass, barcodes, C-SPAN, Little Orphan Annie and Nemo. We engineered Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate. We’ve headed McDonald’s and Walgreen’s. We’ve won Daytona and the Brickyard. We had a football player named “America’s Next Top Model.”
Yes, football is where we really look good. Again, by air, we’re above all. Fact is, Purdue quarterbacks have passed for more yards and more touchdowns than any other school in NFL history. And we’ve got the most NFL wins, too.
Perhaps your old folks recall a guy named Len Dawson, who chiefly starred in the first and fourth Super Bowls, coached by another Boilermaker, Hank Stram. Then there was Bob Griese, leading the perfect Dolphins before becoming the best in the booth. The voice of the SEC, our Gary Danielson, had a nice run in the NFL, as did GQ cover-boy Jim Everett, Scott Campbell and Kyle Orton. Mike Phipps and Mark Herrmann were consensus All-Americans after leading their teams to the No. 1 ranking and bowling over Missouri, respectively. And topping them all is the third-leading passer in NFL history, the third of our three Super Bowl champion QBs, Drew Brees. One of your best, fittingly named Chase, has held his clipboard.
Heck, even our castoff QBs from the worst four years in our football history became the starters last year for LSU and Florida. Both finished better than 4-8.
And that’s just our quarterbacks. So, after winning exactly one more football game than us in the past year, if you still think Purdue is so beneath you, try telling your new basketball coach. Or U.S. News. Or walk into a bar and ask for a Tiger, then a Boilermaker. See which one draws a blank and which one always has a shot.
Before Armstrong and Gene Cernan, we gave Gus Grissom the right stuff and, later, Sully. We gave a new plane to a third-year employee, Amelia Earhart. She never brought it back, but we got her papers instead. Neil’s, too. We even flew with the Wright Brothers and upgraded their ride. And our man George Peppard won “The Blue Max,” just after he’d had breakfast and won The West.
Yes, we are Purdue, and, yes, we had the first university airport, the first degree for pilots, the first man to fly over 100,000 feet and two dozen astronauts, but that’s getting off track, because we’re better known for making trains. Or mastering terrain, like our tie guy, Pete Dye. Many watch the game long mastered by John Wooden while eating the products of Orville Redenbacher, two more of our guys. Some might know we’ve won more Big Ten Conference basketball championships than anyone else in the league … which, by the way, we founded.
We’ve taken other giant leaps for mankind, like being first to map the Zika virus and winning world food prizes. Boilermakers invented fiberglass, barcodes, C-SPAN, Little Orphan Annie and Nemo. We engineered Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate. We’ve headed McDonald’s and Walgreen’s. We’ve won Daytona and the Brickyard. We had a football player named “America’s Next Top Model.”
Yes, football is where we really look good. Again, by air, we’re above all. Fact is, Purdue quarterbacks have passed for more yards and more touchdowns than any other school in NFL history. And we’ve got the most NFL wins, too.
Perhaps your old folks recall a guy named Len Dawson, who chiefly starred in the first and fourth Super Bowls, coached by another Boilermaker, Hank Stram. Then there was Bob Griese, leading the perfect Dolphins before becoming the best in the booth. The voice of the SEC, our Gary Danielson, had a nice run in the NFL, as did GQ cover-boy Jim Everett, Scott Campbell and Kyle Orton. Mike Phipps and Mark Herrmann were consensus All-Americans after leading their teams to the No. 1 ranking and bowling over Missouri, respectively. And topping them all is the third-leading passer in NFL history, the third of our three Super Bowl champion QBs, Drew Brees. One of your best, fittingly named Chase, has held his clipboard.
Heck, even our castoff QBs from the worst four years in our football history became the starters last year for LSU and Florida. Both finished better than 4-8.
And that’s just our quarterbacks. So, after winning exactly one more football game than us in the past year, if you still think Purdue is so beneath you, try telling your new basketball coach. Or U.S. News. Or walk into a bar and ask for a Tiger, then a Boilermaker. See which one draws a blank and which one always has a shot.
