FRED HOVDE (1908-1983)
College Football All-Star, Rhodes Scholar, Rocket Expert, & College President

A Devils Lake native led the Big Ten in scoring in football, was a Rhodes Scholar, headed up the top-secret rocket program during World War II, and served as president of Purdue University from 1946 to 1971. Fred Hovde was a remarkable person with the ability, intelligence, ambition, and personality that enabled him to be a success in many wide-ranging endeavors. When Hovde was profiled in Time magazine on September 3, 1945, he was described as, “A good-natured, beer-drinking, chainsmoking, bridge-playing educator.” Hovde was a person of average appearance whose achievements were far from average.