The first head football coach in Purdue history was a man named Albert Berg, who coached the team to an 0-1 record in the inaugural 1887 season. He was paid $1, which is about $25 in today’s money to do so. The result was not good for Purdue, as they lost to Butler 48-6.
Still Albert Berg was an incredibly talented and unique man who overcame the obstacle of deafness. Yes, he was able to become Purdue’s first ever football coach despite being deaf.
We’ll tell you all about him, and more about the Boilermakers’ beginnings in the tenth installment of “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” our strange sports history podcast on Hammer & Rails, SB Nation’s Purdue site, over at this link.
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Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.