On October 26, 1891, a newspaper in Crawfordsville, Indiana called Purdue's football team the "Boiler Makers" when writing about their trouncing of Wabash College. Lafayette newspapers soon picked up the name, and in October 1892, The Purdue Exponent, Purdue's student newspaper, gave it the stamp of approval. In the early days of Purdue football, the team was called other names as well, including "haymakers", "railsplitters", "sluggers", and "cornfield sailors". This heritage is reflected in Purdue's official mascot: the Boilermaker Special (a truck-like vehicle that resembles a locomotive) and the athletic mascot Purdue Pete (a muscular hammer-wielding boilermaker). The school colors of old gold and black were selected by Purdue's first football team in 1887 to resemble the orange and black of Princeton's then-successful team. This made Purdue football the first sports team to ever use a black and gold color palette. The best known fight song is "Hail Purdue!".
on october 26 1891 a newspaper in crawfordsville indiana called purdue's football team the "boiler makers" when writing about their trouncing of wabash college lafayette newspapers soon picked up the name and in october 1892 the purdue exponent purdue's student newspaper gave it the stamp of approval in the early days of purdue football the team was called other names as well including "haymakers" "railsplitters" "sluggers" and "cornfield sailors" this heritage is reflected in purdue's official mascot the boilermaker special (a truck-like vehicle that resembles a locomotive) and the athletic mascot purdue pete (a muscular hammer-wielding boilermaker) the school colors of old gold and black were selected by purdue's first football team in 1887 to resemble the orange and black of princeton's then-successful team this made purdue football the first sports team to ever use a black and gold color palette the best known fight song is "hail purdue"