At Hammer & Rails, we love ourselves some walk-ons. These are the kids with the heart of a Boilermaker that have larger balls than Rudy and play for just a small amount of on field/court glory. The ultimate example is Bobby Buckets, who somehow started as a walk-on early in his career and was the fan favorite his senior year as a 3-point specialist with the Baby Boilers.
Kurt Lichtenberg is a similar player. he walked on to the football team back in in 2007 and will walk on Senior Day this year with the likes of all the other seniors.
Kurt Lichtenberg - Sr.
Hometown: Warrenville, IL (Wheaton-Warrenville HS)
Wide Receiver
6'1", 185 pounds
2010 Projection: Deep bench at Wide Receiver, Special Teams Contributor
It remains to be seen if Lichtenberg will ever see the field short of special teams at Purdue. I thought he might see the field last season in the expected blowout against Western Illinois. That game turned into the disaster of Keith Smith's career Instead,he is the more famous high school teammate of Dan Dierking.
While he has not played since joining the team as a walk-on in 2007, he received the Verle H. Campbell Scout Team Award in 2009.. (Ed. note: I was mistaken in saying that Lichtenberg did not play. He played in every game on special team except for IU, when he missed it due to a concussion. I apologize for this mistake.) Much like Kyle Adams, this Law and Society has been a solid off the field by building houses in Haiti for Habitat for Humanity through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
In high school he helped Wheaton Warrenville to an undefeated season and Illinois State championship in 2006 with Dan Dierking. Lichtenberg had a touchdown in the state championship game to help Wheaton Warrenville win that title.