|
|
|
|
Q: I’ve been asked to ask you about your recollections, if any, of some famous Purdue people. So, I don't know what, if you knew any of these people? or just knew of them? or, W: You name them, and I’ll have to… Q: Anyway. David Ross? W: Of the Ross-Ade Stadium? I just know about, that the stadium was, I learned about him at the time. But, following after that, no. Q: George Ade? W: George Ade. Same thing, practically. Q: OK. Edward Elliott? W: Oh, Edward Elliott was the president when I was there. One of my things, I’ve a picture of Dr. Elliott giving me the Big Ten academic award when I graduated. I cherished that. And his son later played basketball at Purdue. Quite well. Q: Fred Hovde? W. Fred Hovde, I really didn’t get to know very well. I believe he’s the one that was there when I received an honorary doctorate from them. I was back for that. Q: Amelia Earhart? W: Well, everybody’s heard of Amelia Earhart. They’re still looking for her out in the Pacific somewhere, I think, and maybe someday on an island out there, she’ll pop up. No. I do know just what I’ve read about Amelia. Q: Lillian Gilbreth? W: Doesn’t hit a memory right now. Q: Neil Armstrong? W: Oh, of course, Neil Armstrong. One of the astronauts. Was he the first? Q: He was the first on the moon. W: First. Yeah. Yeah. First on the moon. Yes. On the moon, a lot about that. I’m not going to tell you about that it. But, uh, I love poetry, and I dabble in it a little bit. And I wrote a little poem at one time. And I wrote a poem about John Glenn, who was the first one that circled the earth too. But I’m not going to tell you that. Q: How would you sum up your life in connection with Purdue? W: Well, the education that I acquired at Purdue has given me the background to come close to making the most of what abilities I have in the profession that I chose. The relationship I had with Dr. Creek, the head of the English Department when I started teaching, was very important to me. And of course, Mr. Lambert, one of the finest men I’ve ever encountered in my lifetime. And a few others there that made an impression. I think I mentioned, a little earlier, Martha Miller, the librarian. Well, she’ll always be remembered to me, a kindly, older person then, maybe three times my age at that time, but a very kind, giving person. And I remember Deke, at Deke’s. And well, there’s just a lot of others that have so many pleasant memories. The different ones, in the fraternities that I was close to. My teammates, the various teams, many of whom I’ve been close to all my life. Most of ’em are gone now, unfortunately, but I think, just pleasant memories of Purdue. All pleasant memories. No unpleasant memories of Purdue. Q: Do you think Purdue established a strong foundation for you to establish your career, then? W: Unquestionably. And I don’t think I’m unique. I think that should be true of most people in any profession. I think our astronauts are far more important than a teacher of sports. Certainly. I’d think they’d tell you the same thing. Q: I’m not sure what you know about present-day Purdue. But whatever you’ve heard or may know about it, what’s your opinion of how it’s changed over the years? And where it’s heading into the future? W: Well, Purdue’s always been progressive in the engineering field particularly and I see no reason why they’ll stop. They’ll keep getting fine, fine people that are established in the profession to be in the departments and so on. And they won’t stand still. They’ll continue. There will be changes, but there’s no progress without change, even though all change is a progress, there’s no progress without change, and I’m sure that Purdue, with their background, and what they’ve done, I think they’ll continue to do, making progress in the fields in which they work the most, I guess. Q: Wonder if you have any further words you might want to share with any alumni or students that might see parts of this. W: Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you look at it, most with whom I had association are gone. The one that I see the most now is, of course, Dutch Fehring, who’s still up at Stanford. Although he’s retired now, but I see him, and talk to his son and daughters. Edna’s gone, his wife, but we were close, and the time that it was there, although he was two years behind me. The two years we were there, we were close, and as I was with his older brother too, who was also there -- Ray. But most of the others that I knew, I’ve lost contact with. Most of the people now, are new to me. But there’s a Purdue Club out here that meets once in a while. I’ve only been a couple of times, for some reason or other, when I’ve been able to. But once a Boilermaker, always a Boilermaker. Q: Do you run across a fellow Purdue alumni out here very often? W: Not often. But every now and then I do. I do considerable speaking around the service clubs and various things. And invariably, there’ll be someone, but none of my age. They’re all younger. But I see some alums. There are a lot of Purdue people out here. A lot of Indiana people out here, and I think there’s a lot of Ohio, Illinois, and others, too. Q: (from another person): Coach, do you have any feelings on what it is about Indiana or the Midwest? Is there some characteristic of Midwestern Indiana folks that drives you? Or has driven you? Or drives other people, do you believe? W: Well, I think it’s not the fast pace of life overall, in the Midwest in which I grew up. It’s certainly not like out here. But I wonder if it isn’t, back there, different too than when I was back there. I don’t know. But I think, definitely, I’ve found this entirely more fast-paced in every particular thing. I love the Midwest. I’m proud that I am a Midwestener. To me, Midwesterners are more solid. There’s not as much hype as you find in a larger community, not just California, but any -- whether it be New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, or wherever it might be. It’s just different. But that’s true of each section of the country. They’re different in the South. They’re different in the East. They’re different in the West. But I like the way they are in the Midwest. Q: Any other comments, that you would want to add, that might be of interest to Purdue people? W: I just want to wish all the best in whatever pursuits they might be in. And always stay loyal to your alma mater. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
