Kenny Thompson
Roller-Coaster Season for Purdue’s Boilermakers Continues Into NCAA
The roller-coaster ride taken by the Purdue men’s basketball team since the dawn of 2026 is once again on an upward trajectory. Becoming the first No. 7 seed to win the Big Ten Tournament has renewed some faith in the eighth-ranked Boilermakers, who were viewed as a preseason national championship contender. Beating the Michigan all-star…
Read MoreBehind the Mic With Purdue Announcers Rob Blackman, Bobby Riddell
Every play-by-play announcer dreams of a signature call. Think Al Michaels and the 1980 Olympic hockey semifinal between the U.S. and Soviet Union. “Do You Believe in Miracles? Yes!” To this point in Rob Blackman’s career with the Purdue Global Radio Network, his came on Easter Sunday in 2024 in Detroit during the final seconds…
Read MoreRemembering the Too-Short Life of Purdue Great Rondale Moore
These are the toughest columns to write. My friend and longtime Journal and Courier colleague Jeff Washburn used to write heartfelt tributes for high school athletes who died too young and for Purdue greats who he admired. I always admired his skill of persuading grieving family members to talk about their children or their husbands/fathers.…
Read More50+ Years Later, The Rocket Still Tops List of Boiler Shooting Guards
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone aware of Indiana’s tradition of producing great high school basketball shooters that 70 percent of Purdue’s Top 10 shooting guards from the 1960s to the present are products of Hoosier Hysteria. From Lebanon to East Chicago to Anderson and points in between, these Boilermakers piled up points…
Read MoreNo Controversy Here; Drew Breezes Into NFL Hall of Fame
As expected, Purdue legend Drew Brees was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Fittingly, his enshrinement ceremony will be held at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, in August. Benson was owner of the New Orleans Saints when the combination of Brees and head…
Read MoreKen Thompson Takes Point With Best of Boilermaker Hoopsters
Today begins a five-week series where I rank the best point guards, shooting guards, small forwards, power forwards and centers in Purdue men’s basketball history. I don’t want to pretend that I’m an expert on Boilermaker basketball before 1970, when I first saw Rick Mount play in Mackey Arena thanks to WLFI. But since I…
Read MoreFrom Honor Rolls to Rushmore . . . Purdue’s Best Back to the ‘80s
Purdue’s 69-64 victory at USC last Saturday marked the 1,000th win during the Gene Keady-Matt Painter era, which dates to the 1980-81 season. Unlike the popular perception outside Tippecanoe County that Keady and Painter won with lesser regarded talent, that isn’t always true. One of Keady’s first recruits was a McDonald’s All-American, 6-10 center Russell…
Read MoreTime for Boilermakers to Look at Change in Athletic Leadership
Hours before undefeated Indiana laid waste to Oregon in the College Football Playoff semifinals on Jan. 9, Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski proved he doesn’t have a finger on the pulse of the Boilermaker fan base. During a rare meeting with reporters from outlets including the Indianapolis Star, Lafayette Journal & Courier and GoldandBlack.com, Bobinski…
Read MoreFrom Braden Smith to Rick Mount, Time to Retire Numbers
With the Big Ten Conference’s career assists record in his possession and Bobby Hurley’s NCAA standard seemingly reachable with a minimum of 19 games to play in his career, it’s time to recognize Braden Smith as one of the greatest to wear a Purdue basketball uniform. Many Boilermaker fans already regard Smith as the best…
Read MoreFrustrations Grow; What Does Purdue Football Need?
If you are a Purdue fan, watching “60 Minutes” last Sunday night on CBS just added to the growing frustration that the folks inside Hovde Hall and Mackey Arena in West Lafayette slept while Indiana and its monied boosters (Mark Cuban, the Simons, the Irsay twins, etc.) put together a 13-0 season and its first…
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