Historian to speak at Purdue about Notre Dame rivalry

September 8, 2014  


WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The 118-year old rivalry between the Purdue and Notre Dame football teams will be discussed Thursday (Sept. 11) at Purdue University.

Michael Oriard, professor emeritus of English at Oregon State University and former Notre Dame football player, will present "118 Years of Backyard Brawls: The Purdue-Notre Dame Rivalry" at 7:30 p.m. in Rawls Hall, Room 1086. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Purdue's Department of History.

Oriard began his football career as a walk-on at Notre Dame in 1966, and went on to become a starting center with Terry Hanratty and Joe Theismann as his quarterbacks. He played for Notre Dame in 1968 when his team was ranked No. 1 and Purdue was ranked No. 2. Purdue won the game 37-22.

He selected as an All American by Sporting News. He also played for Hank Stram's Kansas City Chiefs between 1970 and 1973. He finished his football career in Canada with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

At Oregon State University, Oriard was a distinguished professor of American literature and culture and an associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He earned his doctorate in English from Stanford University. He is the author of six books on sports as well as a football memoir, "The End of Autumn." 

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Stacy Holden, associate professor of history and event coordinator, sholden@purdue.edu 

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