Tyler Trent legacy lives on forever at Purdue with memorial gate, scholarship

Tyler Trent’s name will be permanently attached to the football program at Purdue.

Purdue renamed the student gate outside Ross-Ade Stadium will now be known as the Tyler Trent Student Gate. The ceremony took place Wednesday to memorialize the Purdue graduate and superfan, who passed away on Jan. 1 after a courageous battle with cancer.

“Tyler showed the character and resiliency to which we all should aspire,” Purdue President Mitch Daniels said. “His message of hope and positivity resonated far beyond our campus; it truly touched the entire nation. His story is now a big part of the Purdue history, and this gate and scholarship will serve to preserve it forever.”

The gate will be completed before the fall football season and will have gold lettering and Trent’s signature “T2″ mark. To the left of the gate, his image with a plaque that reads “Forever Our Captain” will be emblazoned on the Ross-Ade brick facade.

Trent became a national story after ESPN’s feature story on College GameDay about his fight with cancer, his love for Purdue and his connection with the football program. It reached a peak during Purdue’s big win against Ohio State, with Tyler in attendance.

The scenes from the locker room that night with the team crediting him for giving them the emotional support needed to pull off a win that few believed was possible. But it was the love shown by the Purdue football team, everyone else at Purdue and the legion of new fans of his who learned about his story.

Later, Trent was honored during ESPN’s end of the year college football awards when he received the Disney Spirit Award and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, or from those watching on their TV.

Daniels announced the first recipient of the Tyler Trent Courage and Resilience Award, a memorial scholarship in Trent’s name is going to Sean P. English. He was headed to Purdue on a track scholarship before he lost his foot and later his leg after he was struck by a car tending to an overturned vehicle.

“I’m stunned and honored to receive an award that bears Tyler’s name,” English said. “Without this support and that of Purdue University over the past year, I would never have been able to achieve my dream of attending college, let alone an institution such as Purdue.”

You can support the Tyler Trent Courage and Resilience Award or the Tyler Trent Cancer Research Endowment at Purdue here.