The Boilermakers
Everyone has been called names at some point in their life. Many names, while hurtful at the time, eventually are forgotten. The sad part about name-calling is that it usually comes from someone who is jealous or feels inferior to another. Every once in a while, a nickname will stick.
The Purdue Boilermakers are a group of people who take pride in that name. The sports teams are perennially talented and competitive, and every student who wears the Black-and-Gold of this school wears it with pride. Where did the Boilermakers get that moniker? Why are the colors black and gold? To answer these questions, we will need to take a trip back in time.
The Midwestern United States was a hotbed of college football in the late 1800s. Indiana, in particular, had three powerhouse schools that dominated the area in DePauw University, Wabash College and Butler University. There was another small school in Indiana that was slower to field a football team, but would end up being an important one. Purdue’s first team came together in 1887 and managed to play one game that year. It was an embarrassing 48-6 loss at Butler. The very next year, the team did not even play a single game. Those woeful beginnings would soon turn around.
In that first year of football, the team needed to pick colors to wear on game day to distinguish the team. The powerhouse of the day, Princeton, was known for their black and yellow jerseys, so it came as no surprise that the team considered their colors. They eventually settled on those colors, except with the slight difference of exchanging the yellow for a more distinguished gold. That they would choose Princeton’s colors would be a bit of foreshadowing for the next few years.
The Purdue Boilermakers are a group of people who take pride in that name. The sports teams are perennially talented and competitive, and every student who wears the Black-and-Gold of this school wears it with pride. Where did the Boilermakers get that moniker? Why are the colors black and gold? To answer these questions, we will need to take a trip back in time.
The Midwestern United States was a hotbed of college football in the late 1800s. Indiana, in particular, had three powerhouse schools that dominated the area in DePauw University, Wabash College and Butler University. There was another small school in Indiana that was slower to field a football team, but would end up being an important one. Purdue’s first team came together in 1887 and managed to play one game that year. It was an embarrassing 48-6 loss at Butler. The very next year, the team did not even play a single game. Those woeful beginnings would soon turn around.
In that first year of football, the team needed to pick colors to wear on game day to distinguish the team. The powerhouse of the day, Princeton, was known for their black and yellow jerseys, so it came as no surprise that the team considered their colors. They eventually settled on those colors, except with the slight difference of exchanging the yellow for a more distinguished gold. That they would choose Princeton’s colors would be a bit of foreshadowing for the next few years.
In 1891, Knowlton Ames was hired to coach the mediocre Purdue University football team. A graduate of Princeton, he had played on their dominant squad during his collegiate career and immediately brought that success along with him. Arguably the best coach in Purdue football history, he is the only coach to go undefeated throughout his tenure as the coach in West Lafayette, and he is the man responsible for training the team that brought the future Purdue identity home.
Many names are tossed around at the teams that are better than the home team, and in 1891, one certain name stuck to the Purdue football squad. In the late 1800’s, the newspapers, being considerably more tied to the hometown squads, joined in the name-calling. In one Crawfordsville newspaper on November 1, 1891 in an effort to defend their hometown Wabash College, the writer lashed out at the “Boiler Makers from Purdue.” These “Boiler Makers” had just handed Wabash a 44-0 drubbing on the football field, and returned home where the name stuck.
Among all of the names handed to that dominant football team, why did this one stay? It stuck because it certainly fit. Being a primarily engineering college at the time, it was a school for mostly hard-working class people instead of the highborn that normally attended such institutions as Wabash. Along with that, the school had just purchased a train engine to use to teach the students about locomotive engineering.
The label that we Purdue students use proudly to identify ourselves was taken from being an “insult” and made an image of pride in where we come from and what we study. We should be even more proud of where we attend and the education we have received.
Many names are tossed around at the teams that are better than the home team, and in 1891, one certain name stuck to the Purdue football squad. In the late 1800’s, the newspapers, being considerably more tied to the hometown squads, joined in the name-calling. In one Crawfordsville newspaper on November 1, 1891 in an effort to defend their hometown Wabash College, the writer lashed out at the “Boiler Makers from Purdue.” These “Boiler Makers” had just handed Wabash a 44-0 drubbing on the football field, and returned home where the name stuck.
Among all of the names handed to that dominant football team, why did this one stay? It stuck because it certainly fit. Being a primarily engineering college at the time, it was a school for mostly hard-working class people instead of the highborn that normally attended such institutions as Wabash. Along with that, the school had just purchased a train engine to use to teach the students about locomotive engineering.
The label that we Purdue students use proudly to identify ourselves was taken from being an “insult” and made an image of pride in where we come from and what we study. We should be even more proud of where we attend and the education we have received.