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unusual facts about Penn State



2008 Michigan State Spartans football team

The Spartans had a bye week before traveling to University Park, Pennsylvania to play their final game of the season against Penn State.

2009 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

The biggest coup for the University of Delaware in the off-season was the addition of quarterback Pat Devlin, a transfer from Penn State and former high school All-American out of Downingtown East High School.

2010–13 NCAA conference realignment

CHA lost Niagara (which dropped the sport completely) and added Penn State, Lindenwood and RIT.

Brian Cuban

Brian Cuban has been a repeatedly interviewed and quoted source for opinions about the Penn State sex abuse scandal, Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, and Penn State.

Cinnaminson High School

Andre Collins (born 1968), current Director of Retired Players with the National Football League Players' Association, All-American football star at Penn State, and 10-year NFL linebacker, former resident.

Craig Cirbus

After graduating, he became an assistant coach at Cheektowaga Central High School before serving as an assistant coach under Joe Paterno at Penn State.

D. J. Hayden

The season ended in the 2012 TicketCity Bowl with a win against #23 ranked Penn State.

École centrale de Marseille

Being a part of the TIME (Top Industrial Managers for Europe) network, the school has exchange program with many universities accross the world, among them TU Munchen (Germany), Cranfield University (UK), Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), Penn State (USA), University of Sao Paolo (Brasil), University of Waterloo (Canada) or Keio University (Japan).

Gabe Norwood

In high school, he and his brother (Jordan Norwood, a former football player at Penn State where his father coached until 2007) were part of the state championship team at State College Area High School in State College, Pennsylvania.

Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel

The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel is the U.S. Navy's principal experimental hydrodynamic research facility operated by the Penn State Applied Research Laboratory.

Giles Pellerin

A resident of the Pasadena area for his entire life, he attended his first USC football game while still a student at Huntington Park High School, going to the 1923 Rose Bowl Game in which USC defeated Penn State.

Johnny Bach

He spent 18 years there, taking seven Ram teams to post-season tourneys, before starting a long and successful coaching career at Penn State, where he joined three former Brown friends: Rip Engle, Joe Paterno, and Joe McMullen.

KQV

In addition to its news content and public affairs programs such as Pittsburgh Profiles and Pittsburgh Global Press Conference, the station is home to a number of live sporting events, including NFL football, Penn State football, and WPIAL football and basketball, as well as the Triple Crown and Masters updates.

Matt Bernstein

Bernstein is Jewish, and decided to fast right to honor Yom Kippur, prior to taking on Penn State.

National Signing Day

He took out a picture of himself with Penn State head coach Joe Paterno during the press conference and announced his decision to sign with Penn State.

Odette Piñeiro Caballero

In 1988, she married Jesús Edgardo Colón, the current mayor of Orocovis, Puerto Rico, with whom she has two sons, both college students, one at Penn State and the other in Puerto Rico.

Penn State–Pittsburgh football rivalry

Pitt's coach Johnny Majors moved Tony Dorsett to fullback for the second half, and the Panthers went on to defeat Penn State, 24–7, finishing the regular season 11–0, on their way to a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia and their first National Championship in 39 years.

Once considered one of the most important college football rivalries north of the Mason–Dixon line, this intrastate rivalry was deemed the biggest annual game for both schools for a large part of their histories.

The last scheduled game in the series was played at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA, on September 16, 2000 when Pitt shutout Penn State 12–0.

Penn State–Syracuse football rivalry

In 1987, Coach Dick MacPherson finally led Syracuse to a resounding 48–21 victory over the Nittany Lions in the Dome.

Syracuse won again the following year in Happy Valley but lost the last two games before the series was suspended in 1991.

Penn State–West Virginia football rivalry

Penn State had consecutive victories over some of West Virginia's greatest quarterbacks, including Oliver Luck and Penn State-transfer Jeff Hostetler.

Pitman, New Jersey

Played collegiately for two seasons at Penn State with brother Joe, then transferred and spent last two seasons with the UCLA Bruins.

Rickey Dixon

He played in the 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988 Orange Bowls, in two National Championship games, and was a key figure in Oklahoma's 1985 National Championship win over Penn State in the 1986 Orange Bowl.

Scott Tolzien

After Allan Evridge was benched following dismal performances against Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, Tolzien saw his first major action for Wisconsin against Iowa in Kinnick Stadium.

Sharrif Floyd

Floyd earned a starting spot and contributed two tackles, including one for loss, in the Gators' win over Penn State in the 2011 Outback Bowl.

Superleadership

Manz and Sims use the examples of Joe Paterno, head football coach for Penn State from 1966–2011, and Phil Jackson, head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, as examples of superleadership in sport.


see also

1975 Sugar Bowl

After Penn State's Chris Bahr missed a 62-yard field goal, Alabama scored on a 25-yard Danny Ridgeway field goal to take a 3–0 lead.

1982 Nebraska vs. Penn State football game

Penn State scored again in the second quarter, this time on a six-play, 71-yard drive that culminated in a Curt Warner touchdown run from the Nebraska 2.

1991 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Tournament

Freddie Barnes of Penn State was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

2008 Oregon State Beavers football team

Penn State linebackers Tyrell Sales and Navorro Bowman both recorded 10 tackles each, both career-highs and linebacker Josh Hull and safety Mark Rubin both made their first career interceptions.

Penn State's sophomore tailback Evan Royster ran for a career-high 141 yards on 17 carries and three touchdowns.

David E. Pergrin

In his role as senior class president, he presented the university with the Class of 1940 gift - the Nittany Lion Shrine, a 14-ton limestone monument symbolizing the Penn State tradition.

Eric Walker

Eric A. Walker (1910–1995), president of Penn State University, 1956–1970

Evan Pugh

An agricultural chemist, he was responsible for securing Penn State's designation in 1863 as a land-grant institution under the Morrill Land Grant Act.

Greg Buttle

He stood atop the Penn State career tackles list for over 30 years (until Paul Posluszny surpassed his mark of 343 versus Wisconsin on November 4, 2006).

Hillblazers

Hillblazers was supported by student leaders all across America from schools to colleges; 352 alone in New Hampshire to hundreds more at schools like University of California, Penn-State, Notre-Dame, to Kentucky Supporting Sen. Hillary Clinton's past and future campaigns from donating, funding to phone-banking and other youth Democratic activities.

Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai

The popularity of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai is not limited to Japan, in the Episode "Freshman Fear" of the A&E docu-drama reality television series Paranormal State, members of Penn State Paranormal Research Society play the Ancient Japanese Game of One Hundred Candles during their investigation of a supposed haunting in a student dormitory.

Jay Paterno

He has spoken at several young voters rallies including one in one sponsored by PSU Votes, a nonpartisan political initiative where both he and Penn State women's basketball coach Coquese Washington spoke.

Jeff Prescott

Jeff Prescott (born 1969, Olean, New York) is an American amateur wrestler, who won two NCAA division 1 championships at Penn State University and was the first Penn State Most Outstanding Wrestler (MOW) of the NCAA tournament.

Jim Stamatis

His outstanding play with Penn State brought him to the attention of the national team and he was called up to the U-23 national team at the Pan American games and for preparations for the 1980 Summer Olympics.

John Lawther

After leaving coaching, Latham became a professor and athletic administrator at Penn State and became a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.

John P. Surma

As the vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania State University, Surma informed longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno late at night, and over the telephone, that he had been terminated without a hearing amid the media firestorm in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.

John Thelwall

Claeys, Gregory (ed.), The Politics of English Jacobinism Writings of John Thelwall, Penn State Press, 2001 ISBN 0-271-01347-8

Keith Gilyard

Also notable among Gilyard's professional accomplishments are his receipt of the American Book Award (1992) for his monograph Voices of the Self: A Study of Language Competence, his distinction as Distinguished Professor at Penn State (2005), the Penn State Class of 1933 Medal of Distinction in the humanities (2005), and an Arts nf Humanities Medal (2006).

Kenneth Frazier

On November 11, 2011, as a member of the Penn State board of trustees, the board selected Frazier as chairman of a commission empaneled to investigate a child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and allegations of a cover up by university officials.

Kenneth Weiss

Kenneth M. Weiss, Professor of Anthropology and Genetics at at Penn State University

Kenny Watson

He was part of the Penn State's infamous "running back by committee" during his senior season, sharing carries with future NFLers Larry Johnson, Omar Easy, and Eric McCoo.

Lenny Moore

It was the first time a former Penn State player has been invited to participate in the pre-game coin toss.

Let's Talk Penn State

Let's Talk Penn State was an afternoon drive sports radio program based out of WKPS in State College that featured O. Richard Bundy and Jon Nese.

Michigan State–Penn State football rivalry

The trophy, designed by former Michigan State coach George Perles, features pictures of Penn State's Old Main and Michigan State's Beaumont Tower.

Ohio State–Penn State football rivalry

The first ever match-up of the two held in State College, Pennsylvania was in 1976 where Ohio State beat Penn State 12–7.

Old Coaly

Penn State's new baseball stadium, Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, features a food concession called "Coaly's Corner".

Ollie Ogbu

At St. Joseph by the Sea High School Ogbu’s speed and strength on the football field caught the attention of then Penn State assistant coach Brian Norwood, who recruited him to come to Penn State.

Paul Posluszny

In 2005 Posluszny became the first junior captain for Penn State since Mike Reid and Steve Smear in 1968.

Penn State Ice Pavilion

The Penn State Ice Pavilion is an 1,350-seat ice arena on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University located in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States.

Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon

In 1982, Penn State Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti spoke to the dancers about losing his brother, Joey, to leukemia ten years earlier, and the event that year raised more than $95,000, and the following year, the sum of $131,000 was raised.

Penn State Nittany Lions baseball

The Penn State Nittany Lions baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.

Pennsylvania State University Libraries

In 1983, as Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was being honored for his first national championship, he gave a speech challenging the university's Board of Trustees to make Penn State number one in academics as well as athletics.

Peter Gould

Throughout his tenure at Penn State University, Gould received many awards including the Lauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud, the Retzius Gold Metal of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, as well as an honorary Doctor of Science from the Universitaire de Strasbourg.

Rashaan Salaam

He was a unanimous first-team All-American and became Colorado's first Heisman Trophy winner in December, besting running back Ki-Jana Carter and quarterback Kerry Collins of Penn State.

Richard Raiswell

Shell Games: Studies in Frauds, Scams and Deceit in Early Modern Culture, 1300-1650 with Mark Crane and Margaret Reeves (Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2004) and The Devil in Society in Premodern Europe (Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2012) with Peter Dendle (Penn State Mont Alto).

Rodney Erickson

Formerly executive vice president and provost (chief academic officer), he was named interim president of Penn State on November 9, 2011, after previous president Graham Spanier was forced to resign in the wake of the Penn State sex abuse scandal.

Ronald Coder

His son, Ron Coder later played football at Penn State and with the Seattle Seahawks.

Shane Conlan

Conlan capped his junior season at Penn State in the 1985 national championship game in the Orange Bowl against the University of Oklahoma.

Stacy Levy

Ms. Levy has completed numerous rainwater pieces including a watershed rain terrace for Penn State University's new Arboretum, and rain garden for Springside School with the Philadelphia Water Department and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

Stephfon Green

Against Michigan, he turned a screen pass into a career long 80 yard touchdown reception, helping Penn State defeat the Wolverines for the first time since 1996.

Timothy Curley

Curley drew criticism for his handling of allegations of anti-gay discrimination by Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland.

Todd Blackledge

Blackledge earned a Bachelor of Arts in speech communication from Penn State in 1983, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a 3.8 grade point average.

Tom Rafferty

Rafferty earned his Bachelor of Science in physical education from Penn State University in 1976, and later earned an MBA from the University of Dallas.