The Penn Stater Magazine

Best Penn State Games? Best Creamery Flavor? This Book Has You Covered

September 2, 2011 at 11:31 am Lori Shontz Leave a comment

When David and Matt Pencek began attending Penn State football games, they didn’t care who was playing. As long as there were guys in blue and white with no names on their jerseys, yummy food at the tailgate, and music from the Blue Band, they were cool. That said, David was 6, and Matt only a few years older.

Said David, “We saw the Colgates, the Akrons …”

They’re still a little bitter that they were left with their grandparents for the classic 1982 Nebraska game, but they didn’t allow that slight to sour them on Penn State football—or the university. And now David ’94 and Matt ’91 have teamed to write The Great Book of Penn State Sports Lists, which they call “the book that will settle all those debates about Penn State sports … or is it the book that will spark new debates?”

David Pencek, editor of Town&Gown magazine, talked about the book Thursday night at Schlow Memorial Library as part of its Great Autumn Authors series. His brother, who lives out of town, was there in spirit—the book was a collaborative effort.

“We never did the same list,” David said. “We did have some ‘little debates,’ but whoever did the research had the final say. Otherwise, we would have been there all day. It was actually a pretty smooth process, maybe because we don’t live near each other and had a lot of phone calls and emails.”

The Pencek brothers came up with some pretty creative stuff, football-related and beyond: Momentous Football Decisions, Top Movies that Reference Penn State (No. 1 won’t be a surprise to true fans), Most Inspirational Athletes, interesting classes, and best flavors of Creamery ice cream, a list that’s provoking debate in some quarters. (Both of my favorites, Bittersweet Mint and Butter Pecan, made the list, so I’m OK with it.)

They found some fun contributors, too: Matt Millen ’80, who famously spent much of his career in Joe Paterno’s doghouse, contributed “What Joe’s Still Wrong About” and “What Joe’s Right About.” (Guess which list is longer …) Neil Rudel ’78 of the Altoona Mirror weighed in with “Favorite JoePa Press Conference Moments,” and all-time Lady Lion scoring leader Kelly Mazzante ’04 listed her top off-court memories. Former linebacker Chet Parlavecchio ’86, who famously questioned top-ranked Pitt’s schedule before the 1981 game, gives his top Pitt–Penn State memories.

Promoting the book has put Pencek in an unfamiliar place: answering questions rather than asking them, and giving talks. “I think the last speech I gave was when I was best man at my brother’s wedding,” he said.

He’s got some fun stories, though, and he admits that he now understands a little bit better why his aunt and uncle didn’t take him to the big games. Pencek’s son, now 2 years old, attended two games last season: Youngstown State and Kent State. Smiling, Pencek added, “And he fell asleep in the first half.”

Lori Shontz, senior editor

Entry filed under: College of Communications, Joe Paterno, Lady Lion basketball, Penn State football. Tags: Chet Parlavecchio, Creamery, David Pencek, Kelly Mazzante, Matt Millen, Matt Pencek, Neil Rudel.