Archive for November, 2009
Great Photo From Michigan State Game
My pick for the best photo to come out of yesterday’s Penn State win over Michigan State is this one, from Al Goldis of the AP. It shows Graham Zug diving into the end zone for a touchdown as two Michigan State defenders (Greg Jones and Danny Fortener) can only watch.
And then you notice that the photographer also got Daryll Clark in the frame—over on the left, celebrating the score.
Nice shot.
Tina Hay, editor
Wally Triplett in the Detroit Free Press
Today’s Detroit Free Press has a short Q&A with Wally Triplett ’49, who is the central character in our Sept-Oct cover story, “Men Among Lions.” In the Free Press piece, Triplett talks about being one of only a handful of blacks on the Penn State campus in the mid-1940s, about playing football without face masks, and about spending his post-NFL years living in Detroit.
He also expresses concern about today’s Penn State-Michigan State game: “I think we should win,” he says. “But I’m worried because we’ve played so poorly.”
Not to worry, Wally.
Tina Hay, editor
More on J.P. Jamous
If you missed the story about Jean-Pierre “J.P.” Jamous ’07 Behrend that was featured on NPR earlier this week, here’s a great way to catch up: this profile in the Erie Times-News. Jamous’ story—he grew up in Lebanon, was blinded in that country’s civil war at age 14 and now runs his own computer company—is an inspiring one.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Kerry Collins Continues Country Music Rise
Kerry Collins, as pictured in Nashville Scene.
Is it possible that one day, Kerry Collins will be known not as a quarterback, but as a songwriter? He’s been trying to follow the path of fellow Penn Stater Mike Reid for a while now, and he took another step recently when a song he co-wrote was performed at the Bluebird Cafe, a famous country music venue in Nashville.
“Running out of Reasons” was performed by his co-writer, Lisa Hentrich, the wife of his Tennessee Titans teammate, punter Craig Hentrich. You can read all about it in this story from Nashville Scene, and you can hear the song on Lisa Hentrich’s MySpace page.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Katie Futcher Goes for the LPGA Tour Championship
Katie Futcher isn’t waiting around in her quest to win an LPGA championship — not that she had a choice. The luck of the draw put Futcher ’03 in the very first pairing — meaning 7 a.m. — on the first day of the LPGA Tour Championship, which teed off this morning at the Houstonian Golf & Country Club in Richmond, Tex. She finished her opening round with a 1-over-par 73, a score she’ll try to improve in Friday’s second round.
Whatever the outcome, it must be cool for Futcher to be playing practically in her own backyard: She grew up in The Woodlands, which is only an hour from Richmond. (The Houston Chronicle featured Futcher earlier this week in a story on the area’s golf talent.) After a stellar career at Penn State, she returned to the area and joined the pro tour in 2006. Her best career finish was a tie for seventh in a tournament during her rookie season. No doubt she’d love to improve on that stat over the next few days — in front of her hometown fans.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Ty Burrell Talks About ‘Modern Family’
ABC photo
If you haven’t already checked out ABC’s new hit comedy Modern Family, you might want to: In addition to the fact that many critics are calling it one of the best new shows on TV this fall, it stars a Penn Stater. Ty Burrell ’97g, who got his MFA in acting from Penn State, plays the role of Phil Dunphy, the dorky but lovable dad.
A week or so ago we sent one of our favorite freelancers, Vicki Glembocki ’93, ’02g, out to L.A. to spend a little time with Burrell for an article for The Penn Stater. She turned the piece in yesterday and it’s a lot of fun—you’ll be able to read it in our January-February issue. In the meantime, there’s a Q&A with Burrell today on Fancast.com that’s also an enjoyable read. And here’s a blog post on DailyHerald.com (a suburban Chicago paper) from about a month ago that just raves about Burrell and wants to give him an Emmy right now.
Modern Family airs Wednesday nights at 9:00 Eastern. Tonight’s episode features a guest appearance by Edward Norton.
Tina Hay, editor
Remembering Ed Czekaj
Ed Czekaj ’48, a Penn Stater who played on the great Nittany Lion football teams of the mid-late ’40s and directed the University’s growing athletic department through the 1970s, died Monday in State College. He was 87.
Czekaj (pronounced “Check-eye”) was an end and placekicker on Penn State’s unbeaten 1947 team (a group whose story we tell in our Nov/Dec issue); his football career was bracketed by military service in World War II and Korea. He returned to Penn State in 1953, earned a master’s degree in physical education, and served in a variety of roles in the athletic department until 1969, when he became athletic director. During 12 years in the post, he oversaw tremendous growth in women’s athletics and four expansions of Beaver Stadium.
Czekaj is survived by his wife, Virginia Gallup Czekaj ’48, children Randall ’86 and Leanne, and two grandchildren.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Something for the Early Risers…
Depending on when you read this—sometime after I’m posting it on Tuesday afternoon, or not until after you get your daily email reminder on Wednesday morning—you might have a chance to catch Penn State alumnus Jean-Pierre “J.P.” Jamous ’07 Behrend on NPR. Jamous grew up in Lebanon and, at age 14, was a casualty of the country’s civil war. Blinded in an explosion, he came to the U.S.—alone—to have surgery on his eyes. The damage couldn’t be undone, but Jamous—who spoke no English—stayed in the States and eventually attended and graduated from Penn State Erie. He’s now an entrepreneur running his own computer business.
Last summer, Mary Connerty, an English instructor at Erie, interviewed Jamous for NPR’s StoryCorps project. Their interview is set to run at 6:08 a.m. Wednesday morning, and again at 8:06 a.m., on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” If you missed it, you should be able to find it soon on the StoryCorps Web site.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Robert Earl Keen and the $65,000 Guitar
Our story on Stan Jay ’65 from 1998.
I’m a bit of a fan of Robert Earl Keen, whose music I used to play when I hosted the WPSU Folk Show, so I was pleased to see the “Talk of the Town” article on him in this week’s New Yorker.
Better yet was discovering that the article turns out to be about a recent visit he paid to Mandolin Brothers, the legendary musical instrument store on Staten Island. Mandolin Brothers is owned by Stan Jay ’65, who majored in secondary education at Penn State and went on to sell guitars to everyone from Bob Dylan to Paul Simon to Peter Frampton. (We profiled Jay in the magazine way back in July-August 1998.)
Mandolin Brothers is an ideal store for someone like Robert Earl Keen—the New Yorker piece quotes him as saying, “A man can’t have too many guitars or too many shotguns.” Later in the article, Jay hands Keen a Martin 000-45 made in 1930, Keen plays it, Keen falls in love with it, and Jay quotes him the price: $65,000.
“Damn, I always go for the most expensive guitar in the place,” the story quotes Keen as saying, “and after that nothing else sounds as good.”
Tina Hay, editor
Cael Sanderson: Master Motivator
Clay Steadman moves in for a takedown.
Clay Steadman could have been nervous Sunday. As he jogged in place behind the Rec Hall bleachers, preparing for his 197-pound match against Bloomsburg, the Nittany Lions were losing to a team that gives only half as many scholarships as they do.
Which is the kind of thing that, in part, led to Penn State hiring wrestling icon Cael Sanderson as its new coach.
Steadman, however, steadied himself with two deep breaths, just as Sanderson—who often drills with him in the wrestling room—had advised. And then he repeated the mantra Sanderson had given him 30 minutes before, during the “halftime” break: You’re a pit bull on a PBJ.
Funny what works. Steadman, a redshirt sophomore who posted a 5-16 record last season, scored a takedown with 30 seconds left in the third period to win his bout, and the Nittany Lions went on to beat Bloomsburg 23-15 for Sanderson’s first victory at Penn State.
“It was going to be just a pit bull on peanut butter,” Steadman said. “But we started talking about it, and we decided it was better with jelly.”
Well, that’s a superior sandwich, to be sure. But who knew it worked as a motivational technique?
Sanderson, in his dealings with the media, can be dry. He measures his words carefully. But it’s clear that behind the scenes, Sanderson has a sense of humor—it was evident at his introductory press conference and his blog, and now as Steadman told of his pre-match preparation. “We thought about what kind of jelly it would be, too,” Steadman said, although they didn’t reach a consensus.
Like a lot of the Penn State wrestlers, Steadman was blown away when Sanderson was hired. As a young wrestler, Steadman had begged his mother to buy him Sanderson’s wrestling shoes (he keeps a pair in his Penn State locker), and he is constantly beseiged by text messages and e-mails from his high school wrestling buddies, wanting to know what it’s like wrestling someone who has legendary status in his sport. The wrestlers have a tough time explaining Sanderson’s status in wrestling. They tend to fall back on the “it’s like if Michael Jordan were coaching your basketball team” analogy.
“When Cael tells you what to do,” Steadman said, “we just soak it up like a sponge.”
Lori Shontz, senior editor
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