After 32 seasons, it's last call for Purdue football radio analyst Pete Quinn

Tim Newton was scanning the field, looking, searching, seeking. Where was Pete Quinn?

Lost somewhere in a sea of fans that had spilled from the stands onto the Ross-Ade Stadium turf to celebrate Purdue’s Rose Bowl-clinching win over Indiana in 2000 was Quinn, who was supposed to be doing a postgame radio interview with Joe Tiller.

“I couldn’t see him anywhere,” recalled Newton, perched in the press box as part of the Purdue football radio team.

While Newton couldn’t see Quinn, he could hear him doing his radio interview with Tiller.

“It was a crazy scene,” said Newton, who is now the Boilermaker play-by-play man. “Somehow, Pete got the job done. He always does.”

Pete Quinn has gotten the job done for 31 seasons calling Purdue games. And, he’ll do it for a 32nd and final season this fall.

“Pete loves Purdue,” said Kelly Kitchel, the Boilermaker football radio sideline reporter. “He’s Purdue Pete.”

Quinn has been part of the fabric of Boilermaker football since arriving in West Lafayette as a member of Alex Agase’s final recruiting class in 1976. Quinn was an undersized-try-hard center from Scecina High in Indianapolis who wasn’t going to be outworked.

By the time he was a senior in 1980, Quinn had become a cornerstone of one of the top offensive lines in Purdue annals, helping head coach Jim Young win three bowls (1978-80) during one of the most storied eras of Boilermaker football.

Quinn was a captain of the 1979 and 1980 teams. The 1979 squad is the lone team to win 10 games in a season. In 1987, Quinn was voted to Purdue’s All-Century Team. He was a devastating blocker who also set a blue-collar tone at the end of quarters if the offense was on the field. That’s when No. 63 would sprint to the other end of the gridiron. Ross-Ade Stadium roared its approval.

“I love Purdue,” said Quinn, who snapped the ball to All-American quarterback Mark Herrmann. “I got a chance to play with some great people and be part of some special teams.”

Quinn further ingrained himself into the program when he began his ride as a radio analyst in 1992, back when Mike Alstott was a promising freshman fullback and Jeff Zgonina was a dominating fifth-senior defensive tackle.

Along the way, Quinn has seen a lot unfold before his eyes as he called games for Purdue teams led by five different head coaches: Jim Colletto, Joe Tiller, Danny Hope, Darrell Hazell and Jeff Brohm. Among the highlights Quinn has witnessed:

• 19 Old Oaken Bucket victories
• 16 bowls
• Big Ten championship
• Big Ten championship game

“I enjoyed building a strong friendship with Joe Tiller,” said Quinn. “I enjoyed his era. Loved covering Drew Brees. But the biggest highlight was when I brought my then 14-year-old son to the booth to meet Neil Armstrong.”

One more season of memories awaits Quinn this fall, when Ryan Walters will become the sixth head coach he will have called games for.

“I’m excited to see what he can do,” said Quinn.

Quinn slid into the analyst seat once filled by former Purdue quarterback and athletic administrator Dale Samuels. While watching games high above the field, Quinn has worked with play-by-play men Larry Clisby and Joe McConnell, in addition to Newton.

“All three great guys,” said Quinn, who also has shared air time with Mike Wild, Rob Blackman, Brett Schetzsle, R.G. Skadberg and Kitchel.

Why step away?

“It’s time,” said Quinn. “It’s 32 years. I turned 65 in January. It just doesn’t feel the same with the transfer portal, the NIL. It just doesn’t have the same feel it did. I think eventually they’ll get that stuff figured out. Right now, it’s a mess.

“Susan (wife) and I bought a place in Naples (Fla.) back in 2020. And we’re gonna spend a little bit more time there in September and October and November.”

His free Saturdays also will permit Quinn to spend more time with his three children, all of whom are Purdue grads: Peter, Kristen and Hannah. And there’s a growing brood of grandchildren, too.

“We’ve got three grandkids now with the fourth on the way,” said Quinn, a member of the Indiana Football Hall of Fame. “Life is changing and it’s time to move on and do other things.”

One of the things that Pete and Susan will do is continue to play a lot of golf. Susan, a die-hard Purdue fan as well, has been a terrific player for years and has brought along Pete’s game. But that pales in comparison to the overall support she’s given him all these years.

“I’ve been very fortunate with my family and it starts with Susan,” Quinn said.

Quinn will still be running the Boilermaker Business Exchange. And he has no plans to step away from his successful career in commercial real estate.

“I’ll still be the biggest Purdue fan out there,” he said. “I just won’t be in the booth every week.”