The Boilermaker is a statue that was dedicated on November 4, 2005, as a monument commemorating the "indomitable spirit of the urdueboilermaker." The statue is located adjacent to Ross Ade Stadium on the

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 ...

West Lafayette West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister c ...

campus's

intercollegiate sports College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des ...

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

. The statue was commissioned by an anonymous donor. The estimated cost was approximately $500,000.

Game day traditions

During the 2008 football season, an unofficial

jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

bearing the number 90 of the team's co-captain

Ryan Baker Ryan Edward Baker (born November 25, 1984) is a former American football defensive end who played for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He was originally signed by the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He playe ...

was worn by the statue during each home game. The tradition was started by Purdue

Army ROTC The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AROTC) is the United States Army component of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. It is the largest Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program which is a group of college and university-based offic ...

Cadet Tommy Woroszylo (BSME, 2010). Woroszylo passed on the tradition to the campus Army ROTC program. The honor of hanging the jersey for each home game has been carried out by the following Boilermakers: *2013: Dan Heath *2012: Dan Rosenbalm *2010-11: Keegan Wisehart *2008-09: Tommy Woroszylo The jersey tradition has been nationally recognized: it was shown live on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, written about in the Lafayette Journal & Courier, and shown during the 2010 season of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

Parks and Recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...

. During the 2013 season, the jersey was stolen on two separate occasions; therefore, the gameday tradition came to an end with the 2014 football season.

References

External links

Purdue University

Purdue Sports

Purdue Alumni Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boilermaker Outdoor sculptures in Indiana Monuments and memorials in Indiana Purdue University buildings Bronze sculptures in Indiana 2003 sculptures