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l a f a y e t t e s a v i n g s p r e s e n t s l a f a y e t t e l e g e n d : j o h n a n t h r o p Coming Full Circle Every Day History repeating itself for Anthrop BY ALAN KARPICK AKarpick@GoldandBlack.com AnOn the surface, Johnfour throp has lived a pretty simple life. He���s raised kids with one woman, Jana, whom he has been married to going on four decades. He has pretty much taken things as they come. That was the case in sports as well. An Ag Econ graduate from Purdue (December, 1980), he never had the benefit of a scholarship but did something that few athletes could do today: he competed on two varsity sports teams in the Big Ten. When it was baseball season, he played baseball. When it was basketball, it was basketball. Simple enough. But his life experience has been far from mundane or simplistic. He has played in a Final Four, something no Boilermaker basketball player since 1980 can claim. Three of his four children, to date, have gone on to college and competed at the varsity level, each showing the grit and determination of their father, and mother, too. The youngest, Jackson, a freshman at Central Catholic, is already seeing significant time on the Knights��� varsity for basketball. Anthrop���s boys have done it the hard way, having to navigate through the waters when most of the ���experts��� said they weren���t big enough or quite good enough to be on a college team. Even son Danny, a freshman on the football team, had to be patient waiting for his lone BCS-level offer from Purdue to come. ���I have been blessed with the life I have enjoyed,��� said John Anthrop, who Purdue John Anthrop was part of a Big Ten Championship team and a Final Four participant during his playing days at Purdue from 1977-80. has somewhat predictably worked for the same organization, the USDA, since graduation. ���I learned the value of work from my parents, but I have been lucky to have a lot of people help me along the way.��� If you know Anthrop, you know he is not a big talker, especially about himself. His love for agriculture has instilled that quiet work ethic. But so has his love for competition and sport. Being a hometown guy, he always dreamed of getting the opportunity to play for Purdue. During his senior year at CC High School, former Boilermaker assistant George Faerber spoke at Anthrop���s basketball banquet. Faerber encouraged Anthrop to walk-on at Purdue. When Coach Fred Schaus watched him at tryouts, Anthrop earned a spot on the team. In baseball, Anthrop was maybe a little further along in terms of the ability to make immediate impact. He earned a spot on Coach Joe Sexson���s team as a freshman as an infielder. ���I got more playing time, so to speak, in baseball, than in basketball,��� An- Commitment As a kid, David Boudia stood three stories above the water. Scared. Ten years later, he won the gold. Lafayette Savings Bank champions commitment. www.LSBANK.com / 742-1064 GoldanDBlack express ��� volume 23, express 22��� ������ 12