Editing Purdue Boilermakers (section)

== Origin of "Boilermakers" nickname ==
In 1889, the Purdue football team played [[Wabash College]] in [[Crawfordsville, Indiana]], and won the game 18-4. Students from the college and citizens of Crawfordsville began calling the Purdue players "a great big burly gang of corn-huskers", "[[wikt:granger|grangers]]", "pumpkin-shuckers", "railsplitters", "blacksmiths," "cornfield sailors", and "foundry hands". The Purdue students experienced hands-on education at the university, including the maintenance of a fully operational steam locomotive.<ref name="bmakers">{{cite web|url=https://www.boilermakers.org/resources/what_is_a_boilermaker/purdue_boilermakers|title=Why are Purdue students and alumni called Boilermakers?|date=29 May 2007 |access-date=October 8, 2017|publisher=The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=What is a Boilermaker?|url=https://purduesports.com/sports/2018/5/17/trads-what-is-boilermaker-html.aspx|website=PurdueSports.com|date=May 17, 2018|access-date=October 27, 2019}}</ref>

Purdue defeated Wabash College again in 1891, 44–0. An account of the game in the Crawfordsville Daily Argus News of October 26, 1891, was headlined, "Slaughter of Innocents: Wabash Snowed Completely Under by the Burly Boiler Makers from Purdue". Purdue became known as the [[Boilermaker]]s the next year.<ref name="bmakers" />

Several of the local schools added to the boilermaker tradition by suggesting that Purdue was going up the Wabash River and hiring workers from the nearby [[Monon Railroad|Monon railroad]] yards to play football. Purdue's official mascot is a locomotive, the [[Boilermaker Special]]. The Monon Railroad had its main locomotive shops in Lafayette, not far from campus.

Purdue's athletic teams wear a combination of old-gold, black, and white, colors that have identified Purdue since 1887.