The 1887 Purdue football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

as an independent during the 1887 college football season. The team compiled an 0–1 record in the university's first season fielding an intercollegiate football team.

Albert Berg Albert Berg (April 16, 1864 – March 5, 1945) was an American football player, coach, teacher, and an advocate, writer and editor on issues of concern to the deaf. Berg was rendered deaf as the result of a childhood bout of spinal meningitis. ...

, a deaf 23-year-old

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

alumnus, was the team's coach. The team of 12 players practiced for one week before playing in the school's first official football game. The Purdue University football team traces its origin back to October 29, 1887, when its team fell to

Butler College Lee D. Butler College is one of the six residential colleges of Princeton University, founded in 1983. It houses about 500 freshmen and sophomores, 100 juniors and seniors, 10 Resident Graduate Students, a faculty member in residence, as well a ...

by a score of 48–6 in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. A group of students at

formed the school's first football team in 1887.

was hired as the coach. Despite being deaf, Berg was reportedly "the only man in the territory with any knowledge of the game." Berg was 23 years old when he became Purdue's football "coacher." He was paid $1 for each lesson he gave to the newly organized football team and had only one week to prepare the team for its first game. The 1887 Purdue team played its only game on October 29, 1887, against the

team at Athletic Park in Indianapolis. Butler soundly defeated Berg's squad by a score of 48–6. J. B. Burris was the team captain.

Schedule

Roster

Henry Luke Bolley Henry Luke Bolley (February 1, 1865 – November 9, 1956) was an American botanist and plant pathologist known for his work that led to the control or eradication of several major crop diseases. He was also a pioneering college football player and ...

* J. B. Burris * Henry Caraway * Charles Gough * R. Gregory * L. D. Hord * Dumont Lotz * B. F. McCoy * Charles Middleton * John Moore * W. J. Ransdall

References

{{Purdue Boilermakers football navbox

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

Purdue Boilermakers football seasons Purdue football College football winless seasons