A Look Back: Weekend in New England
In this week's Look Back feature, we are reaching a bit, as there aren't many things to draw from an historical perspective. After all, Purdue and UConn have never faced one another in football.
But the location of Saturday's game is unique. It has been 74 years since the Boilermakers have played a game in a New England state. And, back then, it was literally a weekend spent in New England for Purdue, as it left on a Thursday via train and didn't return until late Sunday night, a day after the game was played.
What was also unique was the 62-7 score coach Stu Holcomb's first Purdue team posted in a victory over Boston U. in a contest played Oct. 18, 1947, at the venerable Fenway Park. It wasn't the first time the Boilermakers had played at a MLB venue, as it had squared off in Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds in the 1930s.
Putting 60 points on the scoreboard was also an anomaly. The Boilermakers wouldn't score 60 points in a contest again until 57 years later in the Bucket Game in 2004, when coach Joe Tiller's squad destroyed IU, 63-24. Four years later, the Boilermakers hung 60 on IU once again, in Tiller's final game, marking the only times Purdue has scored in the 60s in a game since '47. The Boilermakers won that one in 2008, 62-10.
Not a lot of folks witnessed this one in Beantown.
According to newspaper accounts, a crowd of 40,000 was expected at the venue of the Boston Red Sox. But only 11,466 showed up. It was an 82-degree day, a rarity for that time of the year. The high temps allowed fans one more weekend at Cape Cod. Harvard, a strong program at the time, played in nearby Cambridge, and also had a very small crowd on that warm Saturday, far below expectations.
Coincidentally, The Crimson was the Boilermakers' opponent 20 years earlier, in the only other time the Gold and Black played in a New England State. Purdue won that one as well, 19-0. The Boilermakers were slated to travel to Boston College to return the game played in Ross-Ade in 2018, but the game was a casualty to the COVID season and no longer is on the docket, according to the Boilermakers' future schedules.
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Despite the lopsided score back in '47, the game was actually competitive for the first 24 minutes. Purdue led just 14-7 before the blowout ensued.
Harry "The Hurricane" Szulborski, a Purdue Hall-of-Famer, had an 86-yard TD run and gained 166 yards in the contest on just 17 carries. Eight different Boilermakers scored the team's nine touchdowns.
One of those to hit paydirt was a seldom used running back named Hank Stram. More known as a place-kicker during his college days, Stram, also a member of the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame, would later serve as an assistant football and head baseball coach at his alma mater. That is, of course, before he became a AFL/NFL head coach and (eventually) broadcaster, leading the Kansas City Chiefs to a Super Bowl crown in 1970.
Not surprisingly, the game was as statistically lopsided as the score, as the visitors had a 498-86 advantage in yardage.
Will history repeat itself with another blowout in New England? We will know shortly.
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