WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Carmen Gallardo Guevara of Purdue women’s tennis and Matt Ramos of Purdue wrestling were named co-recipients of the 2025 Varsity Walk Award, an annual honor presented by the Purdue Reamer Club.
Each spring since 1956, the award has been given to the most outstanding senior who has participated as a varsity athlete and brought national recognition to Purdue.
Gallardo Guevara is the first women’s tennis player in school history to receive the Varsity Walk Award, and the first tennis player since John Bartlett, who received the inaugural honor in 1956. Ramos is the fourth wrestler to win the award following Alan Housner (1976), Charles Jones (1992) and Ben Wissel (2006).
Gallardo Guevara closed out her collegiate career as one of the most accomplished women’s tennis players in Purdue history, amassing 80 career singles wins which ranks as No. 7 all-time, and 59 doubles wins, which ranks as 15th. The two-time First Team All-Big Ten and two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection wrapped up her senior season with a 6-3 Big Ten and 11-4 overall record in the spring.
Playing at the No. 1 position all year, Gallardo Guevara finished the spring with an 11-4 (6-3 Big Ten) record and 20-10 overall mark for the 2024-25 academic year. Meanwhile, over the last eight matches of the season, she went 5-1 in singles action.
During the fall, the Madrid, Spain, native was runner-up at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional and competed in the NCAA singles tournament, falling in the Round of 64. She was the first Boilermaker to reach the NCAA Singles Championship since 2019 and was the sixth overall appearance by a Boilermaker in the tournament.
Ramos finished his collegiate wrestling career with one of the most dominant seasons ever produced by a Boilermaker. Competing at 125 pounds, he went 31-3 (.912) for the fourth-best single-season winning percentage in school history.
Ramos spent 15 straight weeks as the consensus top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 125 pounds, the longest a Boilermaker had been ranked No. 1 since at least 2003. He did not surrender a single takedown the entire regular season, compiling 66 himself, and held the best record in the country among all weight classes entering the postseason (23-0).
Along with becoming the fifth Purdue wrestler to win the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational title, Ramos’ season was highlighted by winning bronze at the Big Ten Championships and placing fourth in the NCAA tournament to become Purdue’s first two-time All-American since Wissel in 2006.
In June, head coach Tony Ersland hired Ramos as a full-time assistant coach, keeping one of Purdue’s all-time greatest wrestlers in a long-term role with the program. Ramos owns the third-best career winning percentage in program history (.816) and is tied for the fifth-most wins (115).
Bob Verplank, a 1957 Purdue graduate, created the idea of Varsity Walk. It was the project of the Purdue Reamer Club’s spring pledge class of 1956. The walk was formerly located in the Purdue Mall with the Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering buildings to the south and the Physics and Chem-Met buildings to the north.
An awards tower listing all the recipients now stands at the northwest corner of the Materials and Electrical Engineering buildings on campus. Gallardo Guevara and Ramos will join the elite list that includes the likes of former Boilermaker greats David Boudia, Drew Brees, Katie Douglas, Zach Edey, Katie Gearlds, Bob Griese, Rick Mount and Stephanie White.
The Purdue Reamer Club, established in 1923, is a student-run organization dedicated to observing the traditions of Purdue, supporting major and Olympic sports, and developing school spirit.
VARSITY WALK AWARD WINNERS
| YEAR | ATHLETE | SPORT |
| 1956 | John Bartlett | Tennis |
| 1957 | Lamar Lundy | Football |
| 1958 | Mary Croake | Swimming |
| 1959 | Paul Coward | Soccer |
| 1960 | John Konsek | Golf |
| 1961 | Bernie Allen | Football |
| 1962 | Terry Dischinger | Basketball |
| 1963 | Roy Walker | Football |
| 1964 | Nate Adams | Track & Field |
| 1965 | Terry Winter | Golf |
| 1966 | Dave Schellhase | Basketball |
| 1967 | Bob Griese | Football |
| 1968 | Jim Beirne | Football |
| 1969 | Leroy Keyes | Football |
| 1970 | Rick Mount | Basketball |
| Mike Phipps | Football | |
| 1971 | Terry Wedgewood | Baseball |
| 1972 | Bob Ford | Basketball |
| 1973 | Otis Armstrong | Football |
| 1974 | Frank Kendrick | Basketball |
| 1975 | Larry Burton | Football, Track & Field |
| 1976 | Alan Housner | Wrestling |
| Ken Novak | Football | |
| 1977 | Bruce Parkinson | Basketball |
| 1978 | Noel Rubel | Track & Field |
| 1979 | Jerry Sichting | Basketball |
| 1980 | Joe Barry Carroll | Basketball |
| 1981 | Mark Herrmann | Football |
| 1982 | Keith Edmonson | Basketball |
| 1983 | Jane Neff | Volleyball |
| 1984 | Jim Rowinski | Basketball |
| 1985 | James Bullock | Basketball |
| 1986 | Marianne Smith | Volleyball |
| 1987 | Rod Woodson | Football, Track & Field |
| 1988 | Troy Lewis | Basketball |
| Todd Mitchell | Basketball | |
| Everette Stephens | Basketball | |
| 1989 | Anne Kvachkoff | Basketball |
| 1990 | Stephen Scheffler | Basketball |
| 1991 | Joy Holmes | Basketball |
| 1992 | Charles Jones | Wrestling |
| MaChelle Joseph | Basketball | |
| 1993 | Jeff Zgonina | Football |
| 1994 | Kim Fritsch | Swimming |
| 1995 | Cuonzo Martin | Basketball |
| 1996 | Mike Alstott | Football |
| 1997 | Corissa Yasen | Basketball, Track & Field |
| 1998 | Brian Alford | Football |
| 1999 | Ukari Figgs | Basketball |
| Stephanie White | Basketball | |
| 2000 | Brian Cardinal | Basketball |
| 2001 | Drew Brees | Football |
| Katie Douglas | Basketball | |
| 2002 | Kelly Komara | Basketball |
| 2003 | Shaun Guice | Track & Field |
| 2004 | Stuart Schweigert | Football |
| 2005 | Kyle Orton | Football |
| 2006 | Ben Wissel | Wrestling |
| 2007 | Katie Gearlds | Basketball |
| 2008 | Shauna Stapleton | Soccer |
| 2009 | Kara Patterson | Track & Field |
| 2010 | Chris Kramer | Basketball |
| 2011 | JaJuan Johnson | Basketball |
| Ryan Kerrigan | Football | |
| 2012 | David Boudia | Diving |
| Robbie Hummel | Basketball | |
| 2013 | Ariel Turner | Volleyball |
| 2014 | Courtney Moses | Basketball |
| 2015 | Raheem Mostert | Football, Track & Field |
| 2016 | A.J. Hammons | Basketball |
| 2017 | Ashley Morrissette | Basketball |
| 2018 | Anthony Mahoungou | Football |
| 2019 | Steele Johnson | Diving |
| 2020 | Tommy Luce | Basketball |
| 2021 | Jena Otec | Volleyball |
| 2022 | Trevion Williams | Basketball |
| 2023 | Cassidy Hardin | Basketball |
| 2024 | Zach Edey | Basketball |
| 2025 | Carmen Gallardo Guevara | Tennis |
| Matt Ramos | Wrestling |