Arni's Birthday Zoom: Rob Henry

On3 imageby:Alan Karpick•01/26/23•

AlanKarpick

Former Purdue quarterback Rob Henry celebrates his 33 birthday with us (Jan. 26, 2023) from his home in Sarasota, Fla. Henry was at Purdue from 2009-13 and started games at the position in three seasons. He also spent time as a receiver and defensive back during his Boilermaker career. His 547 rushing yards in his redshirt freshman year were among the most productive by a Boilermaker quarterback ever. 

Henry hasn’t been back to campus as often as he would like, but is hoping to get back to Ross-Ade Stadium to help usher in the Ryan Walters’ Era in West Lafayette.

“From what I have seen, Coach (Ryan) Walters has done a good job assembling a staff,” Henry said. “(Offensive coordinator) Graham Harrell and (tight ends coach) Seth Doege are names that I know in the football world. We look forward to getting back there soon to see a game.”

Just nine years removed from his Boilermaker playing career, Henry credits Brock Spack and Danny Hope for not only introducing him to Purdue, but making the experience worthwhile.

“Both of those guys were great to me,” said Henry who grew up in a small town in Tennessee before finishing his high school playing career in Ocala, Fla. “The thing I learned most from Coach Hope was his ability to be real with people, he was authentic. I admired him for that, and that was one of my takeaways from my experience at Purdue.”

Henry admitted that replacing the injured Robert Marve as the starting quarterback in Henry’s redshirt-freshman year was challenging at the time. Still, the time management skills he developed early have served him well in his busy professional life.

“I got my got a lot of irons in the fire,” Henry said. “Our commercial real estate company has grown from a group of four to about 50 different brokerage advisors. The majority of what we do is, is land focused. And so land from an agricultural standpoint, and transitioning agricultural land, to development with all the people that are moving to Florida, it is growing.”

Become a member of GoldandBlack.com

Henry is also in business with his wife Kelly, who is from Columbia in South America. The duo has developed a staffing and business processing company with a goal of hiring 10,000 people by the end of the decade.

“With the demographics here in the United States shifting more and more towards an increased Hispanic population, the increased need for a bilingual workforce is an opportunity for us.”

Recent Arni’s Birthday Zoom interviews:

Mack Gadis, Jan. 20, 2023

John Volk, Dec. 31, 2022

Gerald Thomas, Dec. 25, 2022

Jerry Sichting, Nov. 29, 2022

Kyle Orton, Nov. 14, 2022

Note: We have been doing Arni’s Birthday Zoom interviews dating back to 2020. Many of those interviews can be found on Google. We are working on providing a complete directory of the many former men’s and women’s athletes who have participated.

You may also like