Goodbye JoePa!!

Like many thousands of Penn Staters, it was a surprisingly emotional week watching and reading all the press coverage of Joe Paterno's final days and funeral.  The pictures of him with his family touched me the most.  And, like many other thousands of Penn Staters, I never actually got to meet JoePa or speak to him, but I still feel his loss. There have been so many words written about him this week, I can't possibly add anything that hasn't been said.  But, even without knowing him, somehow he was the heart of my Penn State experience.  And, I am so grateful for all the wonderful memories.

I would like to share a photo I took standing on the field of Beaver Stadium on November 18, 1995.  It was the Michigan vs. Penn State game (the "Snow Bowl").  I took this picture with a film camera without a zoom lens, so I was very lucky to be this close.  Here is JoePa talking to the captains just before leading the team out of the tunnel onto Beaver Field.  For those Penn Staters out there, it's the tunnel under the student endzone.  

Scott went into the attic and pulled out an old program to identify the players in the photo with JoePa.
From left to right:  #22 Brian Milne, JoePa, #31 Freddie Scott, #27 Justin Williams, #38 Jon Wittman, and #89 Eric Clair.  (Does anybody recognize the player standing behind Freddie Scott?)

Now in full disclosure, I wasn't really supposed to be standing on the field before the game. Although I had already graduated, I returned to PSU for this game to stand on the field at halftime with the rest of the Varsity fencing team since we had won the National Championship in 1995.  I had been mailed a field pass for halftime, but I didn't really know where the rest of the fencers were.  Soooo.....I decided I should really take a look around the field before the game to see if they were.............meeting on the field........(I still can't believe field personnel believed that excuse).  I'll never forget how loud the cheers sound when standing on the field.  Deafening!

Since I obviously didn't find the fencing team before the game, my coach didn't know that I had made it to the game (I was driving up from North Carolina), and my coach didn't give my name to the announcer for halftime.  Thus, I was the only fencer whose name wasn't announced at halftime.  I'm sure I looked like a schmuck standing there.....but it was so worth it to be on the field to watch the team tear out of the tunnel before the game.

And the game!! What a game!!!  You can read about it HERE -- it's ranked as #9 on the all time best games at Beaver Stadium.  Thanks for all the memories, JoePa!

And for nostalgia's sake:  There's me, on the field, not getting announced! 

(I'm in the middle of the picture, turned around without a hat)