Purdue Super-Fan Tyler Trent Gets a Charity Bobblehead in His Honor

By Brendan Menapace

Tyler Trent, the Purdue Boilermakers super-fan who endeared himself to the sports world during his battle with a rare form of cancer, sadly passed away this week at the age of 20. For anyone who followed college sports, Trent was probably a familiar figure. He was typically decked out in Purdue black and gold, and served as an honorary captain when the Boilermakers appeared in the Mortgage Music City Bowl.

To celebrate the young fan's life and commitment to the game and school he loved, bobblehead collector Wes Jameson contacted the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame to try to create a Tyler Trent bobblehead that would benefit the Jimmy V Foundation and the Tyler Trent Cancer Endowment at Purdue. Luckily for Jameson, they were very receptive to the idea.

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Trent received one of the bobbleheads when they were first produced.

"He was really floored when he saw it, and couldn't imagine or believe that first and foremost somebody would want to buy a bobblehead of him, and secondly that someone would think there would be a value in having it," Tony Trent, Tyler's father, told Fox 59.

The item, depicting Trent in a Purdue jacket over a T-shirt that says "Cancer Sucks," is currently available for pre-sale through the Bobblehead Hall of Fame for $30, with $5 from each purchase being split between the two charities.

"Whether you're Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Purdue, everyone just kind of wrapped around this kid," Jameson told Fox 59.

Between the bobblehead sales and sales of his autobiography, "The Upset," Trent hoped to raise $1 million for pediatric cancer research.

"He was in the room with the nation's most elite college athletes," Tony Trent said. "Both of the Oklahoma coaches have gone out of their way to tell Tyler they love his story. As a father, there is nothing that pleases my heart more than to know that his life made such a big difference in people's lives."