Oaken Bucket Goes Home

The Old Oaken Bucket… that treasured Hoosier trophy…will take up residence where it belongs, close to its historic home in Southern Indiana. That’s thanks to IU’s 27-24 win over Purdue on Saturday.

We didn’t celebrate much since we had a nearly devastated Purdue student in our house. But, this IU home is supremely pleased at the outcome. [I suspect he left early, by that I mean before the game ended, so we wouldn’t see him cry. Read a sad account of the loss by the Purdue Exponent, where my grandfather was sports editor in the ’30s.]

So what’s the Farmgirl interest in all this, besides the fact that VFG’s forebearers graduated from IU and Purdue?

According to well-documented history, the Old Oaken Bucket was found, in need of some TLC, on the old Bruner farm near Hanover, Ind. Less certain is whether the bucket was used during the Civil War to haul water.

In 1925, it became the most-well known trophy in college football history when Boilermaker & Hoosier alumns decided to pass it back and forth between winner of their annual gridiron clash. Despite Saturday’s win by IU, Purdue leads overall: 56-26 w/three ties, including the first game, which ended 0-0.