No. 5 Purdue receiver: Bernie Flowers
By CLIFF BRUNT
ISL Editor
The man known as All-American Bernie Flowers passed away last year, but he left a legacy as one of Purdue’s all-time greats.
Flowers earned consensus All-America honors as a senior end in 1952 after setting school records with 43 receptions for 603 yards and seven touchdowns. The Boilermakers were Big Ten Conference co-champions that year.
Flowers’ breakout performance came Oct. 25, 1952, in Purdue’s first-ever nationally televised game, when he had six catches for 87 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-12 victory at Illinois. The three touchdowns are tied for the second-best total in school history.
He finished his career with 82 catches for 1,015 yards and eight touchdowns, huge numbers for that era. He was inducted into the Purdue Hall of Fame in 2003.
“Bernie was before my time as a player, but I got to know him later in life,” Purdue play-by-play man Tim Newton said. “As fine a man and Boilermaker who ever lived. With the possible exception of my broadcast partner, Pete Quinn, there was no person more dedicated to Purdue and the football program than Bernie Flowers.”
To this generation, he’s probably best known through a sandwich. The “Bernie Flowers All-Pro,” a hamburger named after him at Triple XXX Restaurant, includes Spanish onion, lettuce and mayo.
Below is a clip from WLFI-TV.
