Examining the ‘What Ifs’ Throughout Purdue Basketball History

Books, movies and TV shows have been devoted to stories about changing the course of history, from preventing Abraham Lincoln’s assassination to would John F. Kennedy have pulled the United States out of Vietnam had he lived?

While not on the scale of either of those scenarios, I’ve always wondered what if the right decisions had been made to place Purdue’s athletic fortunes on the trajectory of being a nationally recognized university.

Today begins a series on the moments that altered the course of Boilermaker basketball history.

Purdue passes on 1940 NCAA tournament

Purdue athletics historically has had many “What If?” stories. This might be the biggest.

The Boilermakers claimed their sixth outright Big Ten Conference title and the 11^th overall under Ward “Piggy” Lambert on the final day of the 1939-40 college basketball regular season. Purdue rallied from a 29-19 deficit with nine minutes to go at Illinois to pull out a 34-31 victory.

The victory denied Indiana a share of the Big Ten title. But thanks to the first of many high moral ground stances that have crippled Purdue athletics for decades, the Hoosiers accepted the Big Ten’s berth in the second NCAA Tournament.

Lafayette Journal and Courier sports editor Gordon Graham explained to fans in a column on March 7, 1940, why Purdue (16-4, 10-2 Big Ten) chose to reject the NCAA bid.

“Some Purdue fans are asking why the Boilermakers, champs of the Big Ten, are not representing the Midwest. The answer is that coach Lambert, athletic director (Noble) Kizer, President (Edward) Elliott and faculty members felt that a 20-game schedule was enough.

“This has been Purdue policy in the past, and the NCAA asked Boilermaker officials about their stand before selecting Indiana. Lambert and Kizer even went so far as to recommend Indiana as the choice, if (Branch) McCracken and the powers that be at Bloomington felt they wanted to enter the competition. … Indiana knows that Purdue was asked officially.”

This “we’re morally superior” stance opened the door for McCracken to build a dynasty at Indiana. The Hoosiers walloped Springfield and Duquesne at what is now Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University to reach the national title game against Kansas.

The Jayhawks were no match for the Hoosiers despite a semi-home court advantage in Kansas City. Indiana cruised to its first national title 60-42 to finish 20-3 overall. Those three extra games seemed to inflict no permanent health or academic harm on McCracken’s players.

Indiana would go on to win the 1953 NCAA title under McCracken, then three more under Bob Knight.

Purdue is still seeking its first NCAA title. The Boilermakers went 29 years without a Big Ten title until 1969 with Rick Mount and Billy Keller leading the way to a national title game loss to UCLA.

The 1940 Boilermakers were Lambert’s last good team. Purdue finished no higher than fourth in the Big Ten during Lambert’s final six years at the helm. Three losing seasons and health problems led to his retirement during the 1945-46 season.

Typical for Purdue, instead of conducting a national search for Lambert’s replacement, athletic director Red Mackey and new president Frederick Hovde chose Lambert’s assistant and former Boilermaker player Mel Taube to take the reins.

That decision leads us to our next turning point in Purdue basketball history.

John Wooden turns down Purdue offer

It became painfully obvious to Mackey and Hovde by 1949 that Taube was a mistake. With a 21-33 Big Ten record and 45-46 overall, Taube was no Piggy Lambert.

Three thousand miles away, Lambert’s best player at Purdue was coming off 22-7 and 24-7 records in his first two seasons at UCLA. John Wooden had been a collegiate head coach just four seasons after returning from duty in World War II. At Indiana State, Wooden was 44-15 in two seasons, including an NAIA national runner-up squad in 1948.

Wooden, though, wasn’t happy at UCLA. He wrote about this in his 1972 autobiography “They Call Me Coach.”

“Despite the fact that the first two seasons had been fairly successful, I was not totally enthralled with UCLA. And it was about this time that various representatives from Purdue were talking to me about going back to West Lafayette. They made a tremendous offer, a lot better financially than the $6,000 I got to come to UCLA.”

In 2026 dollars, Wooden’s salary was $80,000. Apparently, Purdue wasn’t always thrifty with a dollar.

“In addition, I was to have a perpetual five-year contract with built-in increases I could renegotiate annually,” Wooden wrote. “There were also a number of other amenities, including a family membership in country clubs, a new car every year, a very nice home on campus with nominal rent, a large insurance policy and several other so-called fringe benefits.

“I agreed to accept the Purdue offer if I could gracefully get out of the final year of my three-year contract at UCLA.”

Wooden wrote that he expected no opposition from athletic director Wilbur Johns and Bill Ackerman, the director of Associated Students.

“They surprised me,” Wooden wrote. “They pointed out I was the one who had insisted on a three-year contract and felt that I should honor it. They made me feel like a heel for even considering leaving. I was irritated to say the least.”

Wooden refused Johns’ offer of a raise and a contract extension but agreed to fulfil the final year of his contract.

“I was peeved and a bit stubborn,” Wooden wrote. UCLA officials were sure Wooden would leave when he was contractually free.

But his wife, Nell, and his children had fallen in love with California and did not want to go back to Indiana. So Wooden stayed and won 10 national championships from 1964 to 1975, when he retired at age 65.

What did Purdue do? You guessed it: Mackey hired another Purdue alumnus.

Ray Eddy was a teammate of Wooden’s on the 1932 national championship team. Eddy had just led Madison High School to the Indiana state championship in 1950.

“He’s a winner,” Journal and Courier sports editor Gordon Graham declared in a front page story announcing Eddy’s hire.

No, he wasn’t.

Eddy resigned following the 1964-65 season, having gone 12-12 with a roster that included Big Ten scoring champion Dave Schellhase. Amazingly, Eddy was given 15 years to return the Boilermakers to the glory days of Lambert. Even more amazingly, Purdue kept him employed for 13 more years as an associate athletic director.

Eddy had just seven winning seasons and was 30 games under .500 in Big Ten play. In three of those, Purdue claimed a share of second place in the Big Ten while Indiana and Ohio State established their basketball dominance.

Shortly after Wooden led UCLA to its second consecutive national championship, Mackey finally found the right man to lead Purdue back to the top of the Big Ten. Former NBA guard George King had led West Virginia to three Southern Conference championships and three NCAA tournament berths. He was 36 at the time and had a reputation of being an excellent recruiter.

Which leads us to next week’s installment: How George King and assistant coach Bob King swayed Rick Mount from choosing Miami, Fla.

Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.