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"We finished in the final four of the competition, but since then, the Purvis sandwich has gone from being a top-five seller at the restaurants to at the top of the list, hands down," Ehresman said. But who was Purvis and why does he have a sandwich named after him? The notion that honest-to-goodness Purdue football fans don't know who Purvis is borders on Boilermaker blasphemy. But if you know of the Purvis legend, you might not know of the story of how the sandwich got its name. So here goes. Simply put, Purvis is on the short list as Purdue's greatest athlete in the first half of the 20th century. He was an Olympic caliber athlete in the javelin who won national titles in the event in 1933 and '34, once ranking as high as third in the world. One of the famed Touchdown Twins, along with running back mate Jim Carter, Purvis was a two-time All-American who held Purdue's all-time rushing record until Leroy Keyes and Perry Williams broke it 34 years later. Under coach Noble Kizer, the Boilermakers posted a sparking 18-4-1 mark from 1932-34. "My dad is recognized as one of the best that ever played," said son Mike, who cherished his idyllic childhood as an only child growing up near Purdue. "I have had more players from Dad's era tell me that." Purvis' career came to a premature close before the East-West Shrine game, played after the '34 season. A catastrophic knee injury suffered in practice leading up the game left him hobbled, and doctors said he risked not walking again if he sustained another injury. Gone were dreams of future football stardom and a likely medal in the 1936 Olympics. Still, the college football world thought enough of him to name him to the College All-Stars and give him a uniform for the annual event played at Soldier Field the following summer. It was a team that included a lineman from Michigan named Gerald Ford. "When Ford was president, he signed a ball for my dad and sent a note stating how my dad belonged more on the team than he did," Mike Purvis said. The younger Purvis is still miffed why his dad hasn't gotten a call from the College Football Hall of Fame. For now, however, the notoriety among the Boilermaker faithful with the famous sandwich keeps the legend GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com of his dad alive. Mike did get a glimpse of the athleticism his dad had though, and he hasn't forgotten it. "We had a couple kids soap our windows on Halloween when I was young," Mike Purvis said. "My dad took off after them and caught 'em both sprinting like no one I have ever seen to track them down. "He was an amazing athlete." Yet even in his last days, Purvis stayed true to peanut butter on his hamburger. "Few people knew this, but I delivered a version of the Duane Purvis All-American to him at home just about every day before he passed," said Jack Ehresman, who sold the restaurant to son Greg in 1999. "He was grateful for that, but I was grateful for having known such a great man." j Triple XXX Family Restaurants and Route 66 Diner Salute Duane Purvis Indiana's Oldest Drive-In On the Hill, But on the Level Since 1929 Triplexxxfamilyrestaurant.com Gold and Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 6 • 75