2014 Spring FB Guide 65-180.qxp_2010 Spring Football Guide 4/15/14 2:04 PM Page 166
October 1, 1938 — The first Penn State radio network is set up and starts broadcasting with an opening game against Maryland at New Beaver Field. KDKA Pittsburgh originates a broadcast with Bill Sutherland on play-by-play and Jack Barry doing color commentary as Penn State wins, 38-0.
October 24, 1942 — The Nittany Lion Shrine, created by famed sculptor Heinz Warneke, near the entrance of New Beaver Field is dedicated during halftime of a 1310 Homecoming win over Colgate. H.D. “Joe” Mason, Class of 1907, who instigated the move for a Lion as the mascot, is among the crowd of 11,510.
November 20, 1938 — Penn State loses, 26-0, at Pitt to finish with 3-4-1 record that will be the last losing season for 49 years. Despite the record, the team sets three NCAA defensive records, including one for fewest yards passing allowed per game (13.1 yards average) that still stands.
November 30, 1942 — Penn State is ranked for the first time by the Associated Press at season’s end, tying at No. 19 with defending National Champion Minnesota and Holy Cross, as a team dominated by sophomores and freshmen surprises the nation with a 6-1-1 record.
November 14, 1942 — In one of the biggest upsets of the Higgins era, Penn State shocks Penn, 13-7, before 50,000 at Franklin Field behind the punting of Joe Colone and the running and defensive play of Larry Joe, who is carried off the field at the end of the game.
October 29, 1938 — Two players each get 100 yards in a game for the first time as sophomore Chuck Peters (156 yards) and junior Steve Rollins (122) help lead Penn State to a 33-6 win over Syracuse at New Beaver Field.
November 13, 1943 — Snow forces some officials to be late for the Temple game at New Beaver Field as Doggie Alexander, owner of the Rathskeller tavern, comes out of the stands to be the field judge and Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter Stan Baumgartner leaves the press box to serve as the head linesman. Only one 15-yard penalty is called in Penn State’s 13-0 win.
November 25, 1939 — Future All-American Leon Gajecki leads Penn State to its first victory over Pitt in 20 years in a 10-0 upset before a record-tying crowd of 20,000 at New Beaver Field and Penn State finishes the year with its best record since 1921 at 5-1-2. November 9, 1940 — Juniors Bill Smaltz and Lenny Krouse team for the greatest passing day to date as Smaltz completes 14-of-21 passes (including 12 in succession that remained a record until 1994) for 193 yards and two touchdowns and Krouse catches 10 for two touchdowns and 155 yards. November 16, 1940 — Chuck Peters sets the all-time kickoff return record with a 101-yard touchdown return on the opening kickoff of a 25-0 win over NYU. It’s his second touchdown runback of the season (96 yards against Temple to open the second half) and sets the season record for kickoff touchdown returns that now is shared by Curt Warner (1980).
October 21, 1944 — Larry Cooney, 16, of Pittsburgh becomes the youngest player ever to start a Penn State football game. He opens at right halfback against Colgate in the fourth game of season, when frosh were eligible because of World War II, and carries the ball five times for eight yards. Johnny Chuckran becomes the Guard Steve Suhey earned first-team All-America honors in 1947 and only freshman ever to serve as captain for a season, was a member of arguably the most prominent family in Penn State and runs back a punt 50 yards in the last minute to football history. Suhey married a daughter, Ginger, of Penn State All- spark a 6-0 upset win over Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y. American and future head coach, Bob Higgins, and three of their sons — Paul, Larry and Matt Suhey — played for Penn State in the 1970s. October 28, 1944 — For the first time, an all-freshman Kevin and Joe Suhey became fourth-generation members of the starting lineup takes the field and loses to West Virginia, Higgins-Suhey family to play for the Nittany Lions during the 2000s. 28-27, in the first home loss since 1938. November 17, 1945 — Freshman Wally Triplett becomes the first African-American player to start a Penn State game when he takes the field at right halfback (the tailback position in the single-wing formation) against Michigan State at East Lansing, Mich. The Nittany Lions lose, 33-0, but Triplett is praised for his all-around play.
November 23, 1940 — Penn State loses its first and only game of the season and a chance for a bowl game when upset by Pitt, 20-7, at Pitt Stadium.
September 1941 — Dave Alston and his brother, Harry, of Midland, Pa., become the first African-American players on the Penn State team. Dave becomes the star of the unbeaten freshman team and is selected by some preseason magazines as college football’s “sophomore of the year.”
Summer 1946 — Jim O’Hora, a center at Penn State from 1933-35, and Earl Bruce, the high school coach from Brownsville, Pa., join Bob Higgins’ coaching staff, O’Hora as assistant line coach and Bruce as freshman coach based at California (Pa.) State Teachers College.
September 1941 — The State College Quarterback Club organizes and meets for the first time to sponsor Wednesday luncheons with head football coach Bob Higgins, players and other assistant coaches.
Summer 1946 — Casey Jones and other Pittsburgh area alumni raise $19,000 to buy an old fraternity house off campus to house football players. New assistant coach Jim O’Hora agrees to be “counselor” of the facility and he and his family move in. All freshmen players are assigned to the campus of California State Teachers College, where they will train under the direction of Bruce.
October 31, 1941 — Penn State plays its first night game, at New York’s Polo Grounds, against New York University and wins, 42-0, in heavy rain on a sloppy field.
November 9, 1946 — Penn State cancels the final game of season, set for Nov. 29, when University of Miami (Fla.) officials request that Penn State not bring its two African-American players, Wally Triplett and Dennie Hoggard, on the trip.
November 12, 1941 — Led by Dave and Harry Alston, Steve Suhey and Red Moore, the freshman team goes unbeaten for the first time since 1916 with a 5-0 record. Dave Alston scores eight touchdowns, passes for four others and drop-kicks six extra points in one of the school’s outstanding individual freshman performances ever.
November 16, 1946 — A U.S. President makes his first known attendance at a Penn State game as Harry Truman gives Navy a pep talk before the game and at halftime in Annapolis. Penn State upsets the heavily favored Middies, 12-7, as Elwood Petchel runs back a pass interception for one touchdown and scores another on a one-yard run.
September 10, 1941 — The Athletic Board authorizes freshmen to play on varsity teams for the duration of World War II.
August 15, 1942 — Freshman star Dave Alston, Penn State’s first African-American player, dies in Bellefonte Hospital after a tonsillectomy operation, but his death is traced to injuries suffered in a spring practice scrimmage against Navy. (Brother Harry is so shaken he never returns to school.)
October 18, 1947 — Penn State sets an NCAA record for fewest total yards allowed by holding Syracuse to a minus-47 yards in a 40-0 Homecoming win at New Beaver Field.
October 25, 1947 — In the key game of the 1947 season, Penn State comes from behind to beat undefeated West Virginia, 21-14, before the largest New Beaver Field crowd (20,313) since the 1925 Notre Dame game and stays on track for its first bowl game in 25 years.
September 1, 1942 — The first radio network, organized by KDKA, dissolves because of World War II. A major gasoline sponsor can’t get enough gas to sell.
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