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Published Oct 13, 2020
A Knucklehead at 97
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Alan Karpick  •  BoilerUpload
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NOTE: GoldandBlack.com subscribers are often referred to as Knuckleheads...a label that coach Joe Tiller had years ago for Internet dwellers.

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We don't have any way of proving it.

But if Howell Wheaton, who turned age 97 in August, isn't GoldandBlack.com's most senior subscriber, we don't know who is.

Most senior?

Well, despite having been born in 1923, the last thing Wheaton can be called is "old." That simply would be an inappropriate characterization of the man who still farms every day near his home in Columbia, Mo.

"I've noticed in the last year I have slowed down a bit," said Wheaton, who earned his bachelors and masters degrees from Purdue in the early 1950s. "But I still cut, raked and bailed 150 bales of hay this year, and I still feed cattle in the winter."

He also writes a monthly column for a Missouri agriculture newspaper, giving him an outlet for his pleasantly cornball sense of humor.

If that is slowing down, then maybe the rest of us should speed up a bit. He is a man in constant motion, seemingly enjoying every bit of time he has.

Yet, he took his time making his way to Purdue's campus, not arriving in West Lafayette until the fall of 1950, becoming a freshman at the age of 27.

Wheaton grew up in a small southern Indiana town of Elberfeld, graduating from high school at age 16 in 1939. He bounced around a bit, before enlisting in the Marines in January, 1943. He served in the Pacific Theater as a mortar man and was part of the bloody battles at Saipan and Tainan and even spent time at Okinawa.

"I was so close to some of the Japanese kamikazes that I could almost touch the planes as they flew by," said Wheaton who was proud to be a second generation veteran after his father was decorated for his service in World War I. "I was lucky to come home alive."

After the war, Wheaton took a job at the local Seeger (now named Whirlpool) plant, but it wasn't for him. He missed the farming life. Money was not plentiful in his family, and it took Wheaton a few years to be able to pool his resources so that he could attend Purdue.

Wheaton had been a high school athlete and loved competition and sports. So when the Boilermakers ended Notre Dame's 39-game unbeaten string in the fall of his freshman year, Wheaton was hooked on Purdue sports for life.

"I loved reading your story (linked above) on the 70th anniversary of that win over Notre Dame," Wheaton said. "But I have one correction: President Hovde didn't cancel classes the following Monday until it was clear none of the students were going to go to call any way. There was a lot of celebrating going on, that much I remember."

When recalling Hovde's actions, Wheaton has to pause for a few seconds to do something that is as much in his being as breathing and eating; and that is to let out an infectious belly laugh. If you converse with Wheaton long enough, you will get several of those pauses.

A discussion with Wheaton is a trip down memory lane of Purdue history. Wheaton, and his wife Jeannette, who had grown together in Elberfeld, became entrenched in the Gold and Black community staying in West Lafayette until 1968. Jeannette shared that love for Purdue as well, having graduated from the school before her husband did. Yet, working with cattle was Wheaton's passion, and in those days, the cattle population in Missouri was 10 times what it was in Indiana. Wheaton decided to move the family to the University of Missouri in Columbia so he could "be where the action was."

And 52 years later, he still resides there.

Yet, he has never lost touch with Purdue sports and the Boilermakers remain his team despite living and working for all those years in the land of the Mizzou Tigers.

"I would say I check GoldandBlack.com every day," said Wheaton who has been a subscriber dating back to the print days of GBI. "I am a Boilermaker all the way to my toes"

He reads the premium message board Knucklehead Central, as well, though he often wonders out loud, "what are some of these people thinking?"

Cue another prolonged belly laugh from Wheaton.

Wheaton is quick to recall some of his favorite Purdue sports moments over the years. He attended games when Purdue visited Missouri in hoops in the 1970s and again in 2007. Wheaton said possibly his all-time favorite was when the Boilermakers upended No. 4 Kansas State in the 1998 Alamo Bowl.

"It was great that Purdue and Drew Brees was able to show those Big 12 folks a thing or two that night in San Antonio" Wheaton said. "I was extra proud to be a Big Ten guy that night as we watched the game with several Big 12 folks. There were quiet most of the evening."

Wheaton's palpable optimism remains intact even in a 2020 world embattled by a pandemic along with racial and political challenges. Having lived in 11 decades, he has learned to take loss in stride. Wheaton has "adjusted" to life without Jeanette, who passed away in 2001, though he admits he misses her daily. He has been fortunate to have a great family life with three daughters, with his oldest daughter a Purdue graduate. But he has also had to endure the death of one of those daughters who was killed in a motorcycle accident a few years back.

So what keeps Wheaton optimistic in a troubled world?

"I have lived long enough to see this country get through the Great Depression, World War II and the unrest of the 1960s," Wheaton said. "I suspect we will survive this crazy time. In many ways, it is like the late 1960s and I hope we can somehow all come together."

Wheaton will be keeping track of his beloved Boilermakers when they face Iowa on Oct. 24. Like just about every Purdue fan, he is excited to see Rondale Moore play again.

"Rondale and Drew are really special," Wheaton said. "They put Purdue in a good light and that is great."

And in his well-lived life, it is reasonable to say that Wheaton has also shown a positive light on his Boilermaker roots.

"I am a glass half full guy," Wheaton said. "Especially when that glass is filled with Scotch."

It seems only appropriate that Wheaton has one more belly laugh to share.

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