Spirited Stratton having a ball; Unpredictable tight end from York a perfect fit for Purdue.(Chicago Tribune)

PASADENA, Calif._The legend of Tim Stratton reached new heights the day he chest-slapped Purdue coach Joe Tiller at a team meeting earlier in the season.

"Coach Tiller likes to poke fun at me and from time to time, I've had to attend study table to maintain my grades," said Stratton, the 6-foot-4-inch, 252-pound winner of the John Mackey Award, emblematic of the nation's top tight end. "One day he called me `Captain Study Table.' That's when I instinctively gave him one of those (World Wrestling Federation) shots.

"There were a lot of wide eyes in the room, and nobody could believe what they had just seen. Lucky for me, coach just kind of laughed it off."

That Stratton plays with the same impetuous spontaneity will keep nearly 100,000 Rose Bowl spectators and a national television audience glued to his every move Monday afternoon when the Big Ten champion Boilermakers confront …