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66 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 24, ISSUE 6 f BY ALAN KARPICK AKarpick@GoldandBlack.com D ave Butz is a bigger-than-life figure, both literally and figuratively. After earning All-America honors at Purdue in 1972, he played 16 years in the NFL and rarely missed a game. He stood 6-foot-7 in an era when that was an abnormal height. His size 7E width football cleats just might be the widest in history, so much so that his feet almost look square. His robust persona is fueled by the fact that Butz is an avid outdoorsman who is proud of his NRA heritage and his love for shooting and hunting. After all, he is literally as big as the all outdoors. At 64, not much surprises Butz, following a long carreer in the trenches of a sport he loves. Yet, when he found out he had earned a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame, it caught him a little off guard. "What can I say, it is a tremendous honor," Butz said in late June from his home in Bel- leville, Ill. "I was pleasantly sur- prised, to say the least. When I saw that in the last 140 years, only 0.0002 (percent) make it, that's such an honor to be in such an exclusive group." Butz's connec- tion to Purdue came from his early boyhood days, long before he signed on to play for the Boilermakers in the spring of 1969. He had family members with Purdue ties, including a famous uncle, Earl Butz, who served as Secretary of Agriculture in the Nixon Ad- ministration. Like his nephew, the senior Butz had a swagger to him that made him controversial to some on the national stage. But that mattered little to Dave Butz. "My Uncle Earl was amazing," Butz recalled. "I remembered going to their house in West Lafayette and having a great time. We used to eat them out of house and home, so to speak. (Teammates) Otis (Armstrong) and Darryl (Stingley) never left that house without a smile on their face. "But what made my uncle remarkable to me is that he never forgot a name. He literally never for- got anything. If he hadn't seen someone for 20 years, he would still remember his name. If you needed to know how many bushels of grain the United States sold to Russia, he could tell you exactly the amount. "And he could take a joke. One time when I was in school, he was announced as Dave Butz's uncle and he just laughed about that." P R E S E N T S L A F A Y E T T E L E G E N D : D A V E B U T Z 'A Gentle Giant' Butz remains a dominating figure on and off the field Now living in Belleville, Ill., Dave Butz is the most recent former Boilermaker to be named to the College Football Hall of Fame. PURDUE'S FABULOUS 15 Dave Butz became the 15th member of Purdue's football program to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player or coach. Here's the list: Name, Position At Purdue Inducted Dave Butz, DT 1970-72 2014 Otis Armstrong, RB 1970-72 2012 Mark Herrmann, QB 1977-80 2010 Mike Phipps, QB 1967-69 2006 Leroy Keyes, RB 1966-68 1990 Chalmers "Bump" Elliott, HB 1943-44 1989 Bob Griese, QB 1964-66 1984 Cecil Isbell, HB/QB 1935-37 1967 Alex Agase, OL 1943 1963 Elmer Oliphant, HB 1911-13 1955 Coach At Purdue Inducted William "Lone Star" Dietz 1921 2012 Jim Young 1987-81 1999 Jack Mollenkopf 1956-69 1988 Jim Phelan 1922-29 1973 Andy Smith 1913-15 1951