Old Oaken Bucket

Indiana vs. Purdue

A great legacy of the Chicago Chapter of the IU Alumni Association is its role in the establishment of the Old Oaken Bucket as the symbol of football supremacy between IU and Purdue. The bucket has become one of the nation's most famed trophies.

Both institutions had been meeting on the football field since 1891 when the Indiana and Purdue Alumni Chapters of Chicago held a joint meeting in 1925 to "discuss the possibility of undertaking worthy joint enterprises in behalf of the two schools." The creation of a traditional football trophy to go to the winner of the annual clash was proposed. Dr. Clarence Jones of IU and Russell Gray of Purdue were appointed to recommend a suitable trophy.

At a later meeting, they recommended "an old oaken bucket as the most typical Hoosier form of trophy, that the bucket should be taken from some well in Indiana, and that a chain to be made of bronze 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."

Fritz Ernst of Purdue and Indiana's Wiley J. Huddle were given the task of finding the bucket. They located it on the old Bruner Farm between Kent and Hanover in southern Indiana. The region had been settled by the Bruner family in the 1840s, making today's bucket well over a century old.

Excellent repair work put the bucket, moss and mold-covered with some staves showing signs of decay, into good shape for its initial appearance, which ended in a 0-0 tie.