1931–32 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team

The 1931–32 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team represented Purdue University during the 1931–32 NCAA men's basketball season in the United States. The head coach was Ward Lambert, coaching in his 15th season with the Boilermakers. The team finished the season with a 17–1 record^[1] and was retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[2][3]

1931–32 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball
Big Ten Conference Champions Helms Foundation National Champions Premo-Porretta National Champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	17–1 (11–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ward Lambert (15th season)
MVP	John Wooden
Captains	John Wooden Harry Kellar
Home arena	Memorial Gymnasium
Seasons ← 1930–31 1932–33 →

1931–32 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Purdue	11	–	1		.917			17	–	1		.944
Minnesota	9	–	3		.750			15	–	3		.833
Northwestern	9	–	3		.750			13	–	5		.722
Michigan	8	–	4		.667			11	–	6		.647
Illinois	7	–	5		.583			11	–	6		.647
Ohio State	5	–	7		.417			9	–	9		.500
Indiana	4	–	8		.333			8	–	10		.444
Wisconsin	3	–	9		.250			8	–	10		.444
Iowa	3	–	9		.250			5	–	12		.294
Chicago	1	–	11		.083			2	–	15		.118
Rankings from AP Poll

Future Basketball Hall of Famer as both a player and a coach, John Wooden, was a senior on this team. He was named the national player of the year after leading the successful Boilermakers with an impressive 12.1 points per game average (back when scoring was much lower than it is today, 12 points was a significant average).^[4][5]

The team also contained several future coaches; Eddy in the Indiana High School ranks before returning to Purdue; Fehring in the California collegiate ranks and Moore in the nascent pro ranks.

Lineup

Source^[6]

• Ray Eddy – Forward
• Harry Kellar – Forward
• Charles Stewart – Center
• William "Dutch" Fehring – Center
• John Wooden – Guard
• Ralph Parmerter – Guard
• Doxie Moore – ?
• Amerigo Giannini - Forward

A photograph in Purdue University's 1987 book, "Purdue Athletics--'A Century of Excellence,' " shows 16 men played for Purdue's national championship basketball team in the 1931-32 season.

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
12/12/1931*		at Washington University	W 52–23	1–0	Francis Gymnasium  St. Louis, Missouri
12/15/1931*		at Notre Dame	W 32–24	2–0	Notre Dame Fieldhouse  South Bend, Indiana
12/18/1931*		Pittsburgh	W 41–23	3–0	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
12/29/1931*		Montana State	W 51–21	4–0	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
12/31/1931*		Monmouth (IL)	W 51–26	5–0	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
1/4/1932		Indiana	W 49–30	6–0 (1–0)	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
1/9/1932		at Illinois	L 21–28	6–1 (1–1)	Huff Hall  Champaign, Illinois
1/11/1932		Wisconsin	W 38–22	7–1 (2–1)	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
2/3/1932*		Marquette	W 26–23	8–1	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
2/8/1932		at Ohio State	W 38–33	9–1 (3–1)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum  Columbus, Ohio
2/13/1932		at Chicago	W 40–27	10–1 (4–1)	Chicago
2/15/1932		Ohio State	W 43–26	11–1 (5–1)	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
2/20/1932		Northwestern	W 48–33	12–1 (6–1)	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
2/22/1932		at Indiana	W 42–29	13–1 (7–1)	The Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
2/27/1932		at Wisconsin	W 28–21	14–1 (8–1)	UW Fieldhouse  Madison, Wisconsin
2/29/1932		Illinois	W 34–19	15–1 (9–1)	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
3/5/1932		at Northwestern	W 31–17	16–1 (10–1)	Old Patten Gymnasium  Evanston, Illinois
3/7/1932		Chicago	W 53–18	17–1 (11–1)	Memorial Gymnasium  West Lafayette, Indiana
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Source^[6]

References

1. "Purdue Boilermakers season-by-season results". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
2. "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball – NCAA Division I Champions". Rauzulu's Street. 2004. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
3. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York: ESPN Books. p. 542. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
4. "The Journey – A Brief Professional and Personal History Timeline – 1910". CoachWooden.com – The Official Site of Coach John Wooden. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
5. (PDF). History. Purdue University. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 22, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
6. (PDF). Records. Purdue University. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2014.