Announcing Hammer & Rails Purdue ICONS

I had an epiphany in the shower this morning. Since the offseason slows down with nothing to write, I was trying to come up with dies for content. Then it hit me. The Big Ten Network has done an excellent job with their ICONS series, profiling the greatest athletes in conference history. Why not do it with Purdue?

This is a great idea for content to go with the usual Boilermakings news and countdown to Purdue football. I think I will even contact my co-writers here, as well as the Boiled Sports, Boiling Points, and Jumbo Heroes sites to see if they want to assist in ranking the list.

Like the ICONS series, I am aiming to recognize all sports, not just football and men's basketball. Through the course of a boring meeting today I came up with about 30 candidates across Purdue's history. I am sure I am forgetting a few, so if there are others you wish to add please feel free to put them in the comments or e-mail them. My goal is to countdown the top 25 athletes in Purdue history and see who the blogging community and probably you readers think is number one.

Here is the list I came up with:

Drew Brees - Football

Bob Griese - Football

Leroy Keyes - Football

Otis Armstrong - Football

Kyle Orton - Football

Mike Phipps - Football

Len Dawson - Football

Mark Herrmann - Football

Mike Alstott - Football

Kory Sheets - Football

David Boudia - Men's Diving

Maria Hernandez - Women's Golf (Individual national Champion)

Kara Patterson - Women's Track and Field (2008 and possible 2012 Olympian)

Ukari Figgs - Women's Basketball

Stephanie White - Women's Basketball

Katie Douglas - Women's Basketball

John Wooden - Men's Basketball

Rick Mount - Men's Basketball

JaJuan Johnson - Men's Basketball

E`Twaun Moore - Men's Basketball

Glenn Robinson - Men's Basketball

Archi Cianfrocco - Baseball

Keena Turner - Football

Ryan Kerrigan - Football

Brian Cardinal - Men's Basketball

Chris Kramer - Men's Basketball

Rod Woodson - Football

Terry Dischinger - Men's Basketball

Joe Barry Carroll - Men's Basketball

Cuonzo Martin - Men's Basketball

Travis Dorsch - Football

Ward "Piggy" Lambert - Coach