Purdue football legend 'Touchdown Tony' is on the big screen in 'Mosquito Bowl'
· Yahoo Sports
For decades, the story of Touchdown Tony sat idle in Purdue University's archives – until Cory Palm got to digging.
Tony Butkovich jumps out in the Purdue football history thanks to his single-season record of 16 rushing touchdowns in seven games, which he holds along with Kory Sheets. But the Boilermakers fullback belongs in American history for another reason: Butkovich was part of Purdue's V-12 Navy College Training Program, which helped answer the United States' skyrocketing demand for college-educated officer candidates in the military as World War II waged on. He was eventually deployed for the Allied invasion of Japan as a Marine and died in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.
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"He made the choice to put his life on hold," Palm, Purdue's director of broadcast services, said. "That selfless nature was pretty amazing."
Palm, now Purdue's director of broadcast services, stumbled upon Butkovich's story while pursuing his master's degree in public relations and sports management at the university in 2004. Palm began researching and writing about Butkovich as a graduate project, and in 2023, Palm published a book on Butkovich and the last undefeated season the Boilermakers managed to pull off: "Perfect Warriors: Touchdown Tony Butkovich and the 1943 Purdue Football Team."
Now, Touchdown Tony is on the big screen. Butkovich is one of four players featured in "Mosquito Bowl," the new feature film chronicling the Christmas Eve football scrimmage between two Marine regiments stationed at Guadalcanal Island that hit AMC theaters Oct. 30.
Butkovich's elite 1943 season was his lone campaign as a Boilermaker. He and 32 other players transferred to the university to enroll in the V-12 training program – which, according to a writeup from Purdue's David Ching, added considerable star power to a team that had gone 1-8 the prior season. Palm pored over game footage, letters and other personal artifacts of Butkovich's to fill in the blanks in his story, finding that Touchdown Tony was a gregarious, kind-hearted individual off the field but a machine on the gridiron.
"He was a brute force on the field," Palm said. "The more I learned about him and the more I learned about that team, I found that it was just a really special time at Purdue."
Butkovich's record-breaking game would be his last as a college athlete: The day after logging 16 touchdowns on the season and lifting the team to 7-0 with a win over Wisconsin Oct. 30, 1943, he and eight other V-12 trainees departed for South Carolina's Parris Island to prepare for battle in the Pacific theater. Almost two years later, he was serving as a Marine in the 6th Division on the Pacific Island of Guadalcanal as the Allies closed in on Japan.
Several Marines on Guadalcanal were, like Butkovich, shipped out in the middle of their college football careers. To boost morale, members of the division's 4th and 29th regiments suited up for a scrimmage on Christmas Eve 1944. The contest featured 65 former college football players between the two divisions and ended in a scoreless tie. It would be the last football game for many of the players: Fifteen of the game's 65 participants, including Butkovich, died in the Battle of Okinawa the following April.
The "Mosquito Bowl" movie is based on a 2022 novel of the same name by Buzz Bissinger. Peter Berg, the film's writer and director, reached out to Palm during his own research, and the two had extensive conversations about Butkovich. Palm called the final cut "fantastic" and hopes the story of the Mosquito Bowl reminds viewers of the "level and sacrifice and love for country" that the participants had, he said.
On the screen and in the history books, Touchdown Tony remains emblematic of Purdue, Palm said. Butkovich's accomplishments on the field and his legacy off it place him among Boilermaker greats.
"What he represented is what we hope Purdue represents in the world," Palm said, "A chance for men and women of all different backgrounds to come together and work together to achieve something great."
"Mosquito Bowl" stars Ray Nicholson as Butkovich and Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård and Todd Francis as John McLaughry, Bob Baumann and David Schreiner – three other former college football players and Marines who were deployed along with Butkovich. Former Indianapolis Colts punter and prominent sports personality Pat McAfee also features in the film as a drill instructor. "Mosquito Bowl" premiered in select theaters Oct. 30 and will be available to stream on Netflix Nov. 25.
Contact IndyStar Pop Culture Reporter Heather Bushman at [email protected]. Follow her on X @hmb_1013.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue football legend 'Touchdown Tony' is on the big screen in 'Mosquito Bowl'