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 university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

West Lafayette West Lafayette ( ) is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Wabash and Tippecanoe Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Tippecanoe Townships, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, approximately northwest of the state capit ...

campus's intercollegiate sports

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 ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

bearing the number 90 of the team's co-captain Ryan Baker was worn by the statue during each home game. The tradition was started by Purdue

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

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 (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

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

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's Parks and Recreation. 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 campus Bronze sculptures in Indiana 2003 sculptures