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GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 80 BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com Lilly Fecho doesn't even want to wait anymore. She knows any time she's with Ash- ley Burkhardt around campus, even just walking out of Mollenkopf after softball practice, it'll take too much time. Rarely can Burkhardt go anywhere around Purdue without being noticed, being stopped, chatted up. Lilly just gives her "the look" and keeps walk- ing. It's Burkhardt's fault, really. Since her arrival on campus four years ago, she worked to get ingrained with oth- er athletes, using time spent at study tables to strike up conversations, form relationships. As she got older, she widened the net, landing key positions on Purdue's Boiler Athletic Council and even branching out to help form legislation that changed the Big Ten's policy for allowing student-athletes ad- mittance to athletic events. She does it for one reason, really: She loves Purdue. Like really. Burkhardt, a Fort Wayne native, nearly blushes when she talks about her first visit to campus, her team- mates, the athletic department. She pauses, smiles slyly and keeps going, saying how she falls more in love with the school every day because of the relationships she continues to foster and the support systems supplied to the athletes. So if anyone is, she seems worthy of the nickname. "We call her the mayor of West La- fayette because she is at every sport- ing event she can possibly be at. She tweets everything known to man. She knows about everything in ath- letics. She is all Purdue," Coach Kim Schuette said. "You talk about loyalty, and that's a really powerful word to me, she's one of the most loyal people I know regarding Purdue. She thinks Purdue is the kingdom. West Lafay- ette, the people here, she's a huge am- bassador of the program." And it's not just the softball coach saying so. Darrell Hazell met Burkhardt soon after he was hired and wound up throwing her soft toss in Mollenkopf and has invited her to football events. Dave Shondell has frequent con- versations with Burkhardt when their paths cross in the weight room, sees her frequently at his team's volleyball matches and continually is struck by her support of the entire department, saying as a coach with a vision of what a productive athletic program looks like, "Ashley is front and center in that Tom Campbell Ashley Burkhardt has become one of the most well-known athletes on Purdue's cam- pus, and it's not strictly because she's one of the Big Ten's best softball players. 'Mayor' Plays Major Role Burkhardt leaving mark