Sneaking into Legend

NASTASI

Twenty years after one of the craziest days in Beaver Stadium history, we catch up with the unlikely hero of the “Snow Bowl.”

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The snow was the story. A mid-November nor’easter brought nearly a foot and a half of snow to central Pennsylvania just days before Penn State’s 1995 game against Michigan. If you were there, you’ll never forget it: So much snow that most of the stadium parking was closed, so much snow that hundreds of volunteers, and eventually inmates at local penitentiaries, were called on to try to clear the Beaver Stadium bleachers. So much snow, in fact, that by the time the Nittany Lions and Wolverines took the field on Nov. 18, 1995, the best that could be done was to pack much of that snow under the bleachers.

At kickoff, it was an open-air igloo for 80,000 shivering fans.

The fans who toughed it out that day witnessed one of the most memorable afternoons in Beaver Stadium history. Continue reading

Jordan Lucas: An Appreciation

 

Jordan Lucas Lead Athlete

Each issue of The Penn Stater magazine features a short profile of a current Penn State student-athlete, but back in the fall of 2012, we tweaked that formula ever so slightly, interviewing Lucas during his post-grad year at a Massachusetts prep school, months before he had actually arrived on campus. We felt like Lucas was a fitting exception: Continue reading