Blog post by Rod Spaw

The last time the Indiana University football team had only one loss as it prepared to
meet Purdue for its final regular season game, the year was 1967. Helping to boost
spirits that week was a chimpanzee named “Jimmie,” whose owner dressed him in an
IU letter sweater and brought him to the Herald-Times offices for a photo shoot.
Readers were treated to Jimmie’s confident prediction of victory in a front page photo on
Nov. 24, a day before the big game. Here’s what was written beneath a photo of Jimmie
holding his nose by H-T photographer Larry Crewell: “No, no Jimmie. When we say PU
we mean Purdue … Oh, that’s still your reaction, huh? You say Indiana’s fabulous
football team won’t monkey with the Boilermakers Saturday, and all 53,000 fans will go
ape when the game’s over and IU heads for the Rose Bowl.” Jimmie’s forecast proved
to be on the nose as IU defeated Purdue 19-14 and the Hoosiers were named the Big
10’s representative in the New Year’s Day football classic.