Gold and Black @ 30: Year 1--1990-91

Gold and Black Illustrated is celebrating 30 years of publishing. For the next few weeks, we will look at each publishing year, recalling the moments that took place in that particular year.

Note: Captions giving context to the covers are not available on mobile platforms.

The business and publication began in the spring of 1990, and has evolved from newsprint (1990-2010) to glossy (2011-18) to an exclusively digital format. The website GoldandBlack.com is in its 23rd year, having started in 1997.

Gold and Black (dba Boilers Inc.) was formed by a group of shareholders with the intention of getting more publicity and news about Purdue sports and recruiting with the focus on football and basketball. The CliffNotes version of the story is that then Purdue athletic public relations director Jim Vruggink had seen several fan-centered publications arise around the country and thought it would be good for the publicity of Purdue sports to add one. Vruggink ended up locating a group out of Columbus, Ohio, that published a magazine called Scarlet and Gray Illustrated.

Vruggink partnered with Purdue standout receiver Bart Burrell, with Burrell in turn recruiting a group of investors to form the company independent from Vruggink and Purdue athletics. The Ohio group produced publisher Ken Halloy, who served in that role for Gold and Black through April of 1996. While I contributed to the magazine with mostly historical articles in the first two years, I joined the company in 1996 as publisher, replacing Halloy, and have served in that role since.

For football and men's basketball, it wasn't the best of seasons. Football coach Fred Akers had saved his job the year before thanks in part to a big upset of Indiana in Bloomington. But things didn't go well enough in 1990 to save his job.

The season started with promise, as the Boilermakers took No. 22 Washington to the wire in the opener in Ross-Ade Stadium, but nothing much developed from there. The Ross-Ade Stadium crowds were beyond dismal, and Purdue wasn't competitive in many games. The season culminated with a 28-14 drubbing at the hands of IU in Ross-Ade Stadium. A few days later, Akers was dismissed after four seasons on the job with a 12-31-1 record.

The truth of the matter was that athletic director George King was never a big fan of Akers. When Ron Meyer left the Boilermakers at the altar by taking the job with the Colts after agreeing to take the Purdue job after Leon Burtnett was fired in 1986, King wanted to hire Jim Colletto (or someone else). As I understand it, President Steven Beering was interested in hiring a higher profile coach. He especially liked Fred Akers, who had just been let go after a nine-year run at Texas.

The fireworks surrounding Akers' exit press conference (something you don't see much anymore) at Purdue came after Akers had left the podium. Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett took the microphone and went off in a fiery manner on the firing and basically saying he wanted to speak with AD King. I believe the two did speak, and Bennett calmed down, but it was quite the spectacle. Of course, Bennett lost his job, as well, along with most, if not all, of Akers' staff.

The men's basketball season was not a sparkling one, either, as the big story was standout guard and 1988 Indiana Mr. Basketball Woody Austin losing his academic eligibility after the fall semester. With Austin eligible, Purdue managed to eke out impressive wins at California and No. 17 Georgia. But Austin departed after the first two league games in early January, and the Boilermakers were able to win just two of nine subsequent Big Ten contests. But Purdue rebounded, thanks to strong play by seniors Jimmy Oliver and Chuckie White, and pulled a shocking upset over No. 2 Ohio State in Mackey to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament with a 17-11 overall and 9-9 league records. Purdue's offensive woes returned in the opening round of the NCAA tourney, as Temple, coached by John Chaney and led by senior guard Mark Macon, blew out Purdue in College Park, Md., to end the Boilermakers' season.

The Boilermaker women's hoops team managed to earn spots on several GBI covers in that first year, thanks to a remarkable 26-3 record. Coach Lin Dunn's team was ranked in the top-5 nationally and earned the school's first Big Ten title, thanks to All-Big Ten performers Joy Holmes and MaChelle Joseph. Despite a sparkling regular season, the 1990-91 season came to an abrupt end when Purdue was beaten by unranked Vanderbilt at home in the Round of 32.

One of the primary drivers behind the Gold and Black Illustrated and publications like it was recruiting coverage. Above, three top prospects on Coach Gene Keady's list were all pictured at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. The cover, with Glenn Robinson and Alan Henderson both among the top-10 high school seniors, raised the ire of sports columnists, and Indiana coach Bob Knight. Not surprisingly, a year later, Indiana had an independent publication called Inside Indiana.

Robinson and Brandon Brantley attended Purdue and were part of three Big Ten championships. Henderson went on to IU, and starred there, helping the Hoosiers to a Final Four.

At the risk of sounding self-serving, the fact that Gold and Black is still publishing on a daily basis is one of the by-products of that first year. Publications, websites and communities that have more of a laser focus on individual school have formed all over this country and many began at the time of GBI.

Also, who would have guessed that the facilities' arms race, as depicted on the first cover image in GBI's history, would still be en vogue today? When Purdue built the $9.3 million Mollenkopf Athletic Facility (The Barn that Fred Akers Built as it has been called) I remember thinking what could possibly be next? Thirty years later, Purdue has a $70-ish million Football Performance Complex and is deep in the planning stages of a Ross-Ade Stadium renovation that is, at least initially, earmarked for a $120 million.

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