Boilermaker Special's History
For Purdue's first 70 years of existence, the school did not have an official mascot. However, when Purdue sophomore Israel Selkowitz wrote a letter to Purdue's campus newspaper, The Exponent, she proposed that the school adopt an official mascot. Selkowitz proposed a "mechanical man" that would reflect the rich engineering heritage at Purdue. This generated much debate around campus and soon the idea to build a locomotive automobile chassis came about. The name "Boilermaker Special" arose from common day railroad terminology. When a train operates outside of its normal schedule is it dubbed "special." Thus, making the Boilermaker Special ideal to present the football team and fans onto the field. This gave rise to today’s official mascot, the Boilermaker Special.
Since its debut in 1940, the Boilermaker Special has been replaced four times in 1953, 1960, 1993 and, most recently, in 2011. It has also been renovated and changed design over seven times. The Boilermaker Special is constantly seeing renovations and improvements to keep up to the standards and quality of Purdue.
Since its debut in 1940, the Boilermaker Special has been replaced four times in 1953, 1960, 1993 and, most recently, in 2011. It has also been renovated and changed design over seven times. The Boilermaker Special is constantly seeing renovations and improvements to keep up to the standards and quality of Purdue.