Lamar Lundy, a Richmond native, was a two-sport athlete at Purdue and the first African-American student to receive a football scholarship in 1953 at the university. Among his many notable accomplishments, he led Boilermaker Football in receiving during his senior season and earned recognition as an All-Big Ten student-athlete. As a basketball player, Lundy accumulated 678 points and 533 rebounds – earning the spots of 73rd in all-time scoring and 29th in all-time rebounding for the program. During his senior basketball and football seasons, he was honored as MVP. A gifted and versatile athlete, Lundy went on to be drafted by both the National Football League and National Basketball Association – ultimately choosing football as his career post-college. He went on to play 13 seasons in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams and is one of only two athletes to be enshrined in both the Indiana Basketball and Indiana Football Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995.
The Lundy League was created in 2023 by the John Purdue Club to honor the impact and legacy of Lamar Lundy during his time at Purdue and beyond. This capital gift society aims to recognize donors who support Purdue Athletics above and beyond their annual membership with a capital project gift of $250,000 or more. The above and beyond mentality serves to recognize the impact of Lamar Lundy and his contributions as a Boilermaker.
Note: Payable over a five-year period. Benefits will be provided for five years and will be reviewed annually with dissemination of credentials in August of each calendar year. Subject to change.
All benefits at the $250,000 level, plus:
*Game tickets to both football and basketball will be required for entry.
Patsy earned a bachelor’s degree in food and nutrition in business from Purdue in 1969, in addition to an MBA in food marketing from Michigan State University in 1970. She retired from Kraft Foods in 2006 after 36 years in corporate food marketing and marketing communications management.
A community volunteer, Patsy serves on the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana Advisory Board and the Purdue College of Health and Human Sciences Dean’s Leadership Council, in addition to the President’s Council Advisory Board. She is a former member of the Health and Human Sciences Alumni Board. Patsy held several offices from 2006 through 2013, including president and treasurer. She serves her community’s Discover Indianapolis Club in Fishers, holding several leadership roles for over 10 years.
Patsy has received several honors, including the Purdue University Nutrition Science Department Hall of Fame recipient in 2009 and the Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016. She also received the college’s Gold and Black Award in 2016, an honor reserved for donors who have moved the college forward by committing exceptional financial resources.
In addition to endowing two scholarships, the Patsy J. Mellott Scholarship and Patsy J. Mellott HHS Scholarship, she established the Patsy J. Mellott Teaching Innovation Award in the College of Health and Human Sciences in 2013. In 2015, she endowed the Patsy J. Mellott Women’s Tennis Coach Performance Award. She is a lead donor in the Christine M. Ladisch Faculty Leadership Award and the Purdue Women’s Network Virginia C. Meredith Scholarship for the College of Health and Human Sciences.
