The Penn Stater Magazine

Malcolm Moran Remembers Meeting The Bear

September 6, 2010 at 9:25 pm Ryan Jones Leave a comment

Anyone else getting excited about Saturday?

I’m among the fortunate few thousand Penn Staters heading down this weekend to Tuscaloosa, where, if you hadn’t heard, the Nittany Lions will face defending champion and No. 1-ranked Alabama on Saturday night. It’s the renewal of a great rivalry between two of college football’s most successful programs, each represented by an iconic coach: Paul “Bear” Bryant, who died 27 years ago, and of course, Joe Paterno, who broke Bryant’s record for career coaching wins in 2001. (That’s Bryant and Paterno before their teams’ classic battle in the 1979 Sugar Bowl.)

I’ve got a bunch of Alabama-Penn State posts coming in the next few days, and hope to come up with some good stuff while I’m down in Tuscaloosa, but a piece that ran in Sunday’s New York Times seemed like a fitting way to kick off our game-week coverage. Written by Malcolm Moran, the longtime respected sportswriter and now head of Penn State’s John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, it recalls a young reporter meeting the Bear for the first time more than three decades ago. It’s a quick read and well worth the time.

Ryan Jones, senior editor

Entry filed under: College of Communications, Joe Paterno, Penn State football. Tags: Bear Bryant, John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, Malcolm Moran, New York Times.