The format for Lou Prato’s fifth and latest book was something of a happy accident. It was his publisher, Prato says, who suggested the idea for a diary of the Nittany Lions’ 2012 season. The catch was that the season was already over.

“How could I do it as a diary of the season,” Prato says now, “when I didn’t keep a diary?”

Prato ’59 tackled the challenge anyway. In the space of about four months, Prato turned his encyclopedic knowledge of Nittany Lion football—he did write the Penn State Football Encyclopedia, after all—and countless hours of intensive research into a book that does justice to the unforgettable events of last season. The result is We Are Penn State: The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions, with a forward by Bill O’Brien. It’s on sale now in hardcover and as an eBook.

We had a chance last week to catch up with Lou about the project. Among other things, he says, he “didn’t want to do a game-by-game breakdown; I wanted to capture the essence of the games.” As always, it was a pleasure to talk Penn State football with a guy who knows it better than just about anyone. Here are some of the highlights… Continue reading →