Old Oaken Bucket
Encyclopedia
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| Teams | Indiana Hoosiers Indiana Hoosiers football The Indiana Hoosiers football program represents Indiana University Bloomington in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football and in the Big Ten Conference.-Bowl games:... Purdue Boilermakers Purdue Boilermakers football The Purdue Boilermakers football team is the intercollegiate football program of the Purdue University Boilermakers. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I Bowl Subdivision, and the team competes in the Big Ten Conference. The Boilermakers have an all-time record of... |
| Originated | 1925 |
| Trophy Series | Purdue leads, 57–27–3 |
| All-Time Series | Purdue leads, 71–37–6 |
The Old Oaken Bucket is the name of the trophy
Trophy
A trophy is a reward for a specific achievement, and serves as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics...
that is annually awarded to the winner of the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
game between Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
and Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
. It is one of the oldest football trophies in the nation. It is symbolic of collegiate football supremacy between the two largest public universities
Public university
A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...
in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
which play it at the highest level, NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I. The trophy was first awarded in 1925 and is one of the most famous football trophies.
Purdue leads the overall series (including games prior to 1925) 71 to 37 with six ties. The Boilermakers have won twelve of the last fifteen contests. Indiana won the 2010 contest 34–31 in overtime - their first win in West Lafayette since 1996.
Series facts
| Statistic | Purdue | Indiana |
|---|---|---|
| Games played | 113 | |
| Wins | 71 | 37 |
| Home wins | 37 | 18 |
| Road wins | 34 | 19 |
| Neutral site wins | 1 | 0 |
| Total points scored in the series | 2496 | 1557 |
| Most points scored in a game by one team | 64 (1892) | 52 (1988) |
| Most points scored in a game by both teams | 87 (2004 – PU 63, IU 24) | |
| Fewest points scored in a game by both teams | 0 (1925 – PU 0, IU 0) | |
| Fewest points scored in a game by one team in a win | 1 (1893, 1894) | 3 (1921, 1923, 1940) |
| Most points scored in a game by one team in a loss | 31 (1971) | 35 (1968) |
| Largest margin of victory | 52 (2008) | 45 (1988) |
| Smallest margin of victory | 1 (1893, 1894, 1939, 1980, 1983, 1989) | 1 (1930) |
| Longest winning streak | 10 (1948 to 1957) | 4 (1944 to 1947) |
History of the Trophy
The concept of a trophy for football games played annually between Purdue University and Indiana University was first proposed during a joint meeting of the Chicago chapters of the Indiana and Purdue alumni organizations in 1925:- "discuss the possibility of undertaking worthy joint enterprises in behalf of the two schools."
During that meeting Indiana alumnus Dr. Clarence Jones and Purdue alumnus Russel Gray were appointed to propose a suitable trophy. At a subsequent meeting in Chicago Jones and Gray recommended some oaken bucket be that trophy and the chapters drafted the resolution that:
- "an old oakOakAn oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
en bucket as the most typical Hoosier form of trophy, that the bucket should be taken from some wellWater wellA water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
in Indiana, and that a chain to be made of bronzeBronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
block "I" and "P" letters should be provided for the bucket. The school winning the traditional football game each year should have possession of the "Old Oaken Bucket" until the next game and should attach the block letter representing the winning school to the bail with the score engraved on the latter link."
Purdue alumnus Fritz Earnst and Indiana alumnus Wiley J. Huddle were appointed to find a suitable oak bucket. They found such a bucket at the then Bruner family farm between Kent and Hanover
Hanover, Indiana
Hanover is a town in Hanover Township, Jefferson County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,546 at the 2010 census. Hanover is the home of Hanover College, a small Presbyterian liberal arts college. Hanover is also the home of Southwestern High School...
in southern Indiana.http://alumni.indiana.edu/clubs/chicago/oakenbucket.html Although the bucket might have been used at an open well on the Bruner family farm that had been settled during the 1840s, the Bruner family lore indicates that the bucket might have been used under General John Hunt Morgan
John Hunt Morgan
John Hunt Morgan was a Confederate general and cavalry officer in the American Civil War.Morgan is best known for Morgan's Raid when, in 1863, he and his men rode over 1,000 miles covering a region from Tennessee, up through Kentucky, into Indiana and on to southern Ohio...
's command during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and might have arrived at the farm after one of the Bruner men returned following completion of their military service
Military service
Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...
.
In accordance with the Chicago alumni organization's resolution, the winner of the bucket gets a "P" or "I" link added to the chain of the bucket with the score, date and the city where the game was played engraved on the link. In case of a tie, an "I–P" link was added. The inaugural Old Oaken Bucket Game ended in a 0–0 deadlock on November 21, 1925, in Bloomington resulting in the very first and most visible link, an "I–P" link, being added to the handle of the bucket.
The poem "The Old Oaken Bucket"
The name of the trophy refers to a sentimental poem written in 1817 by an unsuccessful printer and publisher, Samuel WoodworthSamuel Woodworth
Samuel Woodworth was an American author, literary journalist, playwright, librettist, and poet.-History:...
(1784–1842) which begins:
- "How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,
- When fond recollection presents them to view!
- The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,
- And every loved spot which my infancy knew!
- ...And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well—
- The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
- The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.
Although Samuel Woodworth was not from Indiana, the poem exemplifies the sentiment felt by the people of Indiana towards their home state. The poem was set to music in 1826 by G. F. Kiallmark (1804–1887)http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=436 and memorized or sung by generations of American schoolchildren; it made the poet's unpretentious childhood home in Scituate, Massachusetts
Scituate, Massachusetts
Scituate is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 18,133 at the 2010 census....
the goal of sentimental tourists in the late 19th century.
Game results
Winning team is shown in bold font. Years of a Purdue win are in gold. Years of an Indiana win are in red. Years of a tie are in white.Note: The 1903 contest, scheduled to be played on October 31 at Washington Park in Indianapolis, Indiana, was canceled after one of the trains carrying the Purdue football team struck a coal train near 18th Street on the north side of Indianapolis. In all, 17 Purdue football players, coaches, alumni, and team supporters were killed in the Purdue Wreck
Purdue Wreck
The Purdue Wreck was a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, Indiana, on October 31, 1903, that killed 17 people, including 14 players on the Purdue University football team.Two special trains operated by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St...
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