When the Lions Roared: Joe Paterno and One of College Football's Greatest Teams
272
When the Lions Roared: Joe Paterno and One of College Football's Greatest Teams
272eBook
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633198548 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 272 |
| File size: | 13 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
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CHAPTER 1
Halloween Night of 1981
Just past the halfway point in the 1981 campaign, Penn State took its 6–0 record to Miami, where dreams of an undefeated season came to an abrupt end on rainy Halloween night at the hands of Jim Kelly and Hurricanes coach Howard Schnellenberger, who had begun his career at his alma mater (Kentucky). After two years in Lexington, he moved to Tuscaloosa in 1961 to join Bear Bryant's staff at Alabama. His timing could not have been better as the Crimson Tide won their first national title under Bryant that year on the strength of a defense that allowed a paltry 2.3 points per game, never surrendering more than seven points in any single contest.
Part of Bryant's national recruiting philosophy was to attract players from other parts of the country that could add different dimensions to his program. As if to test the mettle of his newest assistant, Bryant dispatched Schnellenberger to western Pennsylvania to lure the area's top quarterback, Beaver Falls' Joe Namath, to Tuscaloosa. Legend has it that Bryant told his young coach something to the effect of "If you don't come back here with Namath, then don't bother coming back at all." Schnellenberger and Bryant's success in recruiting players like Namath would play a pivotal role in galvanizing the Alabama program. The Tide would win three national championships during the five years Schnellenberger served on Bryant's staff.
Schnellenberger left Alabama following the 1965 season and spent the next 13 years in the NFL, including two stints with Don Shula's Miami Dolphins. Schnellenberger returned to the college ranks in 1979 to resurrect the program across town in Coral Gables. One of his first moves in changing the University of Miami's football culture was to replicate what Bryant had him do two decades earlier — find a strong-armed kid from western Pennsylvania to run his offense. This time around he handed the reins to Jim Kelly from East Brady, a small town an hour's drive north of Pittsburgh.
Miami, however, was not Kelly's top choice. Like a lot of scholastic players from the area, Kelly wanted to play football for Joe Paterno and become the Nittany Lion signal-caller. "I'd always been a big Penn State fan," Kelly said. "I went to Coach Paterno's football camp during the summers before my junior and senior years of high school. I had my heart set on playing at Penn State. But then Coach Paterno called me and he told me that he'd already signed two all-state quarterbacks and that he didn't have a spot for me on the team as a quarterback. He did offer me a full ride as a linebacker. I appreciated the scholarship offer, but I wanted to go somewhere and play quarterback. That's how I ended up going to the University of Miami."
In the fall of 1979, Kelly would again visit Happy Valley — this time as a redshirt freshman for "The U." Despite ridiculously short notice, Kelly would exact revenge on Joe for not making him a Nittany Lion quarterback by engineering a stunningly one-sided 26–10 upset.
"I went into that week as the backup QB," Kelly said. "Coach Schnellenberger told me after the pregame meal that I was going to be the starter. I was shocked. But I knew it was an opportunity to show that I could play. Coach gave me that opportunity, and I made the best of it."
Two years later the stakes were even higher.
During its national broadcast, ABC aired an ominous graphic that listed four teams previously ranked No.1 in the country, and all had lost the week following their ascension to the top spot in the polls. Miami had not hosted a No.1-ranked opponent in the Orange Bowl since September of 1975. They entered this game with a misleading 4–2 mark. (Both of those losses came on the road to top 20 teams.) Their defense was holding opponents to 13 points per game while our offense was averaging a robust 37 points and 308 rushing yards per game.
Something had to give.
Revenue generation at the aging Orange Bowl facility was evidently a concern as the venue hosted an outdoor concert featuring both The Beach Boys and the Commodores the night before the game. While not uncommon at more modern facilities with synthetic turf, the event would wreak havoc with the natural grass playing surface. "When we came out to warm up the next day, we found shards of glass out of the field," recalled former Nittany Lions running back Jeff Butya. Strong storms would arrive shortly after intermission and turn the field into a near-quagmire.
Injuries also played a pivotal role in our upset loss on All Hallows' Eve. Weeks earlier junior tailback Curt Warner had scorched Nebraska for 238 yards in a key road win. Three games later he dazzled an overmatched Syracuse defense with a school-record 256 yards rushing in the Carrier Dome. Warner literally established himself as the greatest show on turf a full quarter century before the "other" Kurt Warner led his high-flying St. Louis Rams offense to victory in Super Bowl XXXIV. During the first five weeks of the '81 season, Curt had quietly become a serious contender for the Heisman Trophy (eventually awarded to USC's Marcus Allen) by rushing for 838 yards on 115 carries, a gaudy 7.3 yards per carry that led the entire country.
But Curt tweaked his hamstring in practice the week before the West Virginia game, and the injury severely limited his effectiveness. Warner played sparingly against Miami, picking up just 21 rushing yards. (In addition, our senior co-captain and inspirational leader on defense, linebacker Chet Parlavecchio, missed the entire contest with an injury.) The aggressive Hurricanes defense had every intention of shutting down our running game by crowding the line of scrimmage. That strategy, along with the fact that Curt wasn't close to 100 percent, were key reasons why we trailed for the entire game.
We self-destructed, missing four field goals while turning the ball over three times in the final quarter, including twice in the final three minutes. Joe also committed a rare strategic error by failing to call his final timeout with the ball on the Miami 2-yard line at the end of the first half. Make no mistake, it was mission accomplished for a stingy Miami defense that included seven future NFL draft picks and stifled a running attack that had been cranking out more than 300 yards per game.
Enter Todd Blackledge, who had been somewhat inconsistent in his first full year as our starter. Time and again, Blackledge rose to the occasion against Miami. Despite enduring a fierce pass rush, he almost single-handedly pulled the game out by throwing for more than 350 yards and breaking several Nittany Lions passing records while outplaying Kelly. Trailing 17–0 going into the final period, we mounted a furious comeback and nearly pulled the game out before losing 17–14. If there was any consolation in this frustrating loss, it was that Todd's performance served notice that our offense was no longer one-dimensional and had quick-strike potential.
Following the upset loss to Miami, we lost again two weeks later at home to the one coach and team Joe could never figure out — Bryant and his vaunted Crimson Tide. This was Alabama's inaugural trip to Happy Valley and the first game played between the two schools since the epic 1979 Sugar Bowl. Nearly three years removed from that contest, Bryant had assembled yet another tough and talented team that would finish the 1981 season ranked sixth in the AP poll.
Alabama broke open a tight contest by scoring 17 straight points to take a 24–3 halftime lead. We took the second-half kickoff and drove to the Tide 1-yard line. However, in a sequence eerily similar to the '78 Sugar Bowl, Alabama's defense rose up to prevent us from scoring any points despite running seven plays inside the 5-yard line. The Tide complemented their wishbone option with speedy wide receivers who got behind our secondary on several occasions. Any chance at redemption or an outside shot at the national championship slipped away as the Bear's mastery over Joe continued in a 31–16 Alabama win.
With a record that stood at 7–2 and a top bowl bid now very much in the air, our remaining schedule included a home game against Notre Dame followed by the annual battle with the Panthers in Pittsburgh. Pitt had taken over the top spot in the polls after our unexpected loss in Miami, and the Panthers were beating the absolute tar out of everyone they played.
CHAPTER 2
Football Royalty and a No. 1 Rival
November 21, 1981 Notre Dame (5–4) at No. 13 Penn State (7–2)
Under first-year head coach Gerry Faust, Notre Dame visited Beaver Stadium for the first time in its program's storied history. Despite being ranked in the top 10 in both major wire services at the start of the season, the Fighting Irish were scuffling after close losses to Florida State and USC, both of whom were nationally ranked.
Curt Warner's nagging hamstring injury meant Joe would revert back to starting sophomore Jonathan Williams at tailback, a move that had worked well earlier in the season when Jon ran for 140 yards against West Virginia. Williams, along with sophomore Harry Hamilton, electrified an already pumped up crowd in the game's first minute. Hamilton took the opening kickoff back 50 yards followed by Williams exploding for 40 yards on the first play from scrimmage. We scored two plays later to take a 7–0 lead less than 60 seconds into the contest. In only his second career start, Williams roasted a Notre Dame defense for 192 yards on 27 carries. Jon happened to be the latest from what seemed to be a plug-and-play, next-man-up stable of NFL-caliber running backs that Paterno managed to stockpile that season, including Warner, Joel Coles, and Mike Meade.
Despite its misleading 5–4 record, Notre Dame built a 21–17 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Then an improbable play shifted the game's momentum in our favor.
Notre Dame quarterback Blair Kiel dropped back to pass inside our 35-yard line and attempted to hit one of his running backs circling out of the backfield. What the Irish signal-caller could not have possibly imagined was reserve nose tackle Greg Gattuso dropping back into coverage and running step for step with the Notre Dame receiver. Gattuso reached over his shoulder to make an off-balance, one-handed interception ... 15 yards downfield. Nearly every player on our sideline had to blink two or three times at what had just happened. We literally could not believe our eyes as we watched a 255-pound defensive lineman pick off a pass that far downfield.
But Gattuso was a pretty accomplished athlete, having played fullback at Seton LaSalle High School in Pittsburgh while helping lead his team to the WPIAL championship. It probably didn't hurt that one of his high school teammates was a guy named Jim Sweeney, who would go on to play at Pitt and for 15 NFL seasons with the New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Like most Panthers offensive linemen coached by the late, great Joe Moore — a list that includes Russ Grimm, Mark May, Jimbo Covert, and Bill Fralic — Sweeney played with near flawless technique, had excellent feet, and great strength and leverage. It was a rare occurrence to see any Pitt offensive lineman surrender a sack.
Weather permitting, in late spring we would play pick-up basketball outside the dorms in South Halls on the asphalt courts to stay in shape. Penn State recruited its fair share of multi-sport athletes, and we had no shortage of talented basketball players on the football team (John Luton, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Fruehan, Kevin Baugh, and Blackledge, to name a few). In addition Curt Warner and Kenny Jackson ran track, Ron Heller had a 3–0–1 record in a brief stint as a Penn State varsity wrestler, and Steve Sefter went on to become an NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion. Suffice it to say, there were some pretty gifted athletes on campus in the early 1980s.
One of the biggest surprises — to me, anyway — was how agile Gattuso actually was on a basketball court. For someone playing the interior of the defensive line at close to 260 pounds, he was a damn good ballhandler and shooter who could make it rain field goals from deep. His sensational defensive play kept Notre Dame off the scoreboard and jump-started our offense. Blackledge culminated a lengthy scoring drive by going over from a yard out with less than three minutes left, giving us a hard-fought 24–21 win.
After our stirring fourth-quarter comeback against a gritty and stubborn team, we found ourselves playing the role of spoiler against Pitt. While that wasn't exactly what we had in mind at that stage in the season, the opportunity to knock off the No. 1-ranked team, not to mention the bitter rival that had beaten us in each of the past two seasons, guaranteed we would be ready to play.
November 28, 1981 No. 11 Penn State (8–2) at No. 1 Pitt (10–0)
Much has been written about the outcome of this contest, and it remains one of the darkest days in the history of the proud Panthers' football program. A Pitt victory and another against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl would have delivered the Panthers' second national championship in six seasons. Instead, a lopsided 34-point loss only further infuriated loyal Panthers followers, whose collective loathing of Penn State and Joe Paterno may have already been at an all-time high. The consensus among most former Panthers seems to be that had these teams played 10 times Pitt would have won eight or nine of them. The outcome of this contest is a shining example of why you actually play the game because anything can — and in this case did — happen.
Pitt entered the contest, having won its previous 17 games under Jackie Sherrill, who had chalked up a 52–9–1 record in five seasons at Pitt. That mark solidified his reputation as a top recruiter and gameday strategist. A few years earlier, Joe had infuriated Panthers fans with a comment about not "leaving college football to the Switzers and the Sherrills" in reference to the steady decline of ethics and morality in college football. Joe never intended the remark to go public. He had made it during his regular Friday chat with Penn State beat writers. Those sessions were strictly off the record and a chance for the media to sit down with Joe in a more relaxed setting. The comment made it into print because a reporter at one of the chats did not know it was off the record and ran with it.
Our outspoken senior linebacker, Chet Parlavecchio, threw some gasoline on the already smoldering rivalry a few days before the game. Parlavecchio, appearing on a Pittsburgh sports broadcast, made it quite clear that Pitt's perfect record did not impress him. "Pitt's No. 1," he said. "They played that tough schedule — Rutgers, Temple, and Thiel. Now they're going to be in a real football game."
Thiel?
"Ricky D'Amico had a friend named Kevin who went to Thiel and had visited Penn State earlier that fall," Parlavecchio said. "When Rick introduced us, I didn't even know Thiel was a college." An annoyed Sherrill shot back, saying the linebacker "didn't have the class to get into Pitt." The opposing coach and player would end up having a closer encounter during the game.
What's odd is I can't recall Paterno ever chastising Chet in public or any team meeting about his comments. Perhaps Joe secretly concurred with his co-captain. Suffice it to say, the overwhelming majority of Panther fans in attendance wanted Chet's head on a platter. How dare any Nittany Lion insult us? We're the No. 1 team in the country! Why isn't Paterno disciplining that kid? Who does this Parlavecchio think he is?
Truth be told, Parlavecchio may have relished calling attention to what he truly felt was a distinct advantage we had after playing a much more difficult schedule. I am not sure even Chet knew how prophetic his rather bold and obnoxious pregame inference would turn out to be, but his comments defined him to the core.
Chet did more than just take a poke at Pitt. The confidence that bordered on cockiness also reflected the high expectations Penn State players had in the early 1980s. Freshmen like me, who had arrived on campus in August of 1979, joined a squad that was eight months removed from the narrow 14–7 Sugar Bowl loss to Alabama. The '78 Penn State team was Joe's first to ever enter a bowl game ranked No. 1 in the country and it finished literally one yard shy of Joe's fourth perfect season in 13 years as head coach and the school's first national championship.
Returning seniors that fall entered camp with a chip on their shoulder. The group included Lombardi Award winner Bruce Clark; Matt Millen, who went on to win four Super Bowl rings with three different NFL teams, as well as future NFL players Irv Pankey; Matt Suhey; Lance Mehl; and Mike Guman. Most of those dudes came back pissed off and regularly took out their frustration on freshmen on the scout team. As one of those scout teamers I learned a valuable lesson that fall. Getting pounded by Clark and Millen taught me that I had to get a lot bigger, faster, and stronger if I was going to have even a remote chance to compete at this level.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "When The Lions Roared"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Bill Contz.
Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
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Table of Contents
Foreword by Todd Blackledge,
Introduction,
1. Halloween Night of 1981,
2. Football Royalty and a No. 1 Rival,
3. The Fiesta Bowl,
4. From Basketball Star to Quarterback,
5. The 1982 Preseason,
6. The Start of an Epic Season,
7. Agony and Ecstasy,
8. Getting Up off the Mat,
9. The "Playoff" Stretch,
10. The Sugar Bowl Timeline,
11. The Secrets to Our Success,
12. Rebuttals,
13. One of the Greatest,
14. Reflections on Paterno,
15. Where Are They Now?,
Acknowledgments,
Sources,
Photo Gallery,