OT: Most memorable thing(s) you remember about your days as a student

[baccafarmer]

In the fall of 1970, after having served my tour in Vietnam, I took advantage of the GI bill and returned to good old State. I was married to my high school sweetheart and at the time we had a 3 year-old daughter another one on our way. I had a math class that was kicking my ass and I was failing miserably at it. As I recall I was sitting on a bench contemplating how I was going to tell my wife that I was likely going too be flunking out of school and to prepare to uproot the family and re-locate. The look on my face must have said it all as this gentleman sat down beside me and asked what was going on. I told him everything. I told him about how I married just after HS and that my conscience got the best of me when many of my friends were being drafted and it looked like i was going to get a "pass" and sit this one out. That after talking with my wife i had decided to enlist in the Marines and then learning shortly afterwards that we'd be expecting our first child later that year. I told him about being at Hue and all the horrors that came with that. I told him that i didnt want to go home and explain to my wife how I had failed her and my family. I told him that even with the monies from the GI bill I still needed to work a full time job to make ends meet and that was taking away my time to study. He asked me the name of the course and who my prof was. When I told him what and who and response was " if you can survive the hell of Vietnam, you can certainly get through this math course". He pretty much told me to stop feeling sorry for myself and get my sorry ass back to that classroom. With much hesitation, I went back into that classroom 2 days later and to my surprise a tutor had been assigned to me by an "unknown source".

The man I had been speaking to on that bench all those years ago was none other than Joseph Vincent Paterno.

Vintage Joe story. My wife and I were there in that era and got to know Joe, Sue, and family later in life. He’s still the greatest man I’ve ever had the pleasure of being around. He certainly had “a way about him” that made you feel good about yourself. As added proof of his greatness, he is the only man who could get my wife to drink cognac.

 

[Dixi]

Walking home from pattee in the Fall through a quiet campus after a night of studying. Grilled sticky buns from the diner after a night of drinking. Guitar lessons from Mark Ross from Queen Bee (RIP).

 

[El-Jefe]

Vintage Joe story. My wife and I were there in that era and got to know Joe, Sue, and family later in life. He’s still the greatest man I’ve ever had the pleasure of being around. He certainly had “a way about him” that made you feel good about yourself. As added proof of his greatness, he is the only man who could get my wife to drink cognac.

Yep. The part that really makes it a Joe story was him arranging a tutor for someone he just met.

My Joe story: I belonged to a club that ran a scavenger hunt as a fundraiser for some charity. One of the items was "Joe Paterno's address" -- all the teams had to do was grab a phone book from the HUB Desk counter and fill in the blank. It started and ended at the HUB Desk, so easy enough, right?

Wrong. Instead, some teams went to his house and had Sue sign the form. Ugh. So we wrote to Joe and Sue, profusely apologizing for the intrusion.

Joe returned the letter with a handwritten note wishing us well, and included a check for the charity.

 

[KCLion]

As a 17 year old freshmen at University Park in the fall of 1978, I wasn’t sure what to get my father (a huge PSU and Joe Paterno fan) for Christmas that first year away from home. I came up with the great idea to get him the book, Football My Way” written by Joe.

I packaged up the Book and included a self addressed box with return postage and sent it to Joe with a long letter about being PSU fans and how my father had taken me to the games since Joe had taken over the reigns.

Joe wrote a very nice letter to my father, autographed the book and took the time to correspond with my father for several years afterwards. What a guy!’

 

[AgSurfer]

I have a friend from New Jersey whose last name is Paterno. Her dad was a dead ringer for JoePa, same glasses and everything! I was really amazed when they told me they were not related.

 

[Still in State College]

Met Cappy at the pep rally prior to the Rose Bowl after the '94 season. Shook his hand. Biggest hands I ever saw. No wonder he never fumbled(don't know if that's true, but I like to think so).

21 NFL fumbles in his career.

 

[Pitchfork Rebel]

1.) The 80's girls, so many smoking hot foxes, built for speed, made powder blue jeans a source of impure thoughts. University Park was a smorgasbord of feminine beauty. I loved big hair and big (oh well). Nary a tat, goofy teal hair. muffin top or men's clothes to be seen.

2.) Fridays when "Gazer", aka "Stargazer" would announce "I don't know what we're doing this week, but I'm pretty sure it involves alcohol".

3.) Freshman engineering orientation at PSU Hazleton. Dr. Elliot Eisenberg told us we were going to be thrown to the wolves, no point in letting you slide. He said "look to your right and look to your left, two of you won't be here next year. I crossed my arms and said see you guys. Within a year, I was "undecided" before getting the now obsolete BA EC (Economics degree from College of Bus, now Smeal, rather than LIb Arts degree)

4.) The parties in New Castle House (5th/6th floor Pinchot); modeled on of course Animal House.

5.) Getting a visit from housing because my roommate and I were selling bagel pizzas from our room and toaster oven.

6.) When my family came to pick me up in the Spring of '83, my Dad called me and said my sister, (then 14) wanted to come up with him to see a college dorm. I said "Dad no way, the place is a sty, it reaks of beer and there's dirty pictures for wallpaper". When my Dad stepped off the elevator he said "your sister? I'm not sure I want YOU here".

7.) First year down there, I had to get a room switch because my assigned roommate was a jerk I had no phone service in or out other than emergency calls because he didn't pay his bill. Became roommates with a guy from Philly that had no hand (born without), but would do pushups on that floor every night. Learned a lot about perseverance from Jeff

8.) Four of us stuffing into a 70's Toyota to head East to see The Scorpions play on City Island in Harrisburg.

9.) Seeing the NCAA champions wrestle the Soviet National Team in 1984. When the heavyweights came up, the Soviet guy had to wrestle 400 poundish Tab Thacker. A friend was a Lion Ambassador picked Thacker up upon arrival and said when he squeezed into Darrell's Ford Escort, there was a pronounced lean and Thacker said "sorry man". Thacker later had a film career after being noticed by Clint Eastwood.

10.) Not knowing what an "oncologist" was, much less having one. I really can't complain, though Dr. R and I spend most of my semi-annual appointments discussing wrestling (so far). Still I was about 205, not 250 and had no idea what a "ban-roll waistband" was for forty years ago.

 

[katsujinken]

Case race.... 2001 a case odyssey.

$5 pitchers of Captain and coke at the Shandigaff.

Table wars.

Late night pizza in Beaver Canyon.

Burritos as big as your head.

 

[matter7172]

There was the time our big cross-campus streak wound up in our quad and ended up as a big naked party. One of my classmates was a preacher's kid and he (along with some less recognizable of us) wound up on the front page of the weekly newspaper sent home to parents. That didn't go over well.

 

[AgSurfer]

I remember that when the weather was warm, on Friday afternoons a lot of students would congregate by sitting on the stone wall at the edge of the sidewalk on W College Ave. There was a photo taken and posted in the Daily Collegian that showed me sitting with two friends. I kept it for a long time, but it has probably disappeared by now. If I can find it, I'll post it on this thread.

 

[Idahopennstatefan]

I know this is a PSU thread, but it applies to most state colleges. We had a quad, Old Main Hill, CE Surveying the quad and old main, using the survey equipment for sightseeing. We also had first dam where every spring we had the annual shedding of the clothes. First nice sunny warm days were great days to check out the survey equipment. We had the cemetery to navigate between cheap parking and campus along with a hill. Nasty canyon wind as in the morning. Windchill of -30 as we braved the graveyard to campus. Not the same but still the same. Thanks for jogging the memories.

 

[Agoodnap]

In the fall of 1970, after having served my tour in Vietnam, I took advantage of the GI bill and returned to good old State. I was married to my high school sweetheart and at the time we had a 3 year-old daughter another one on our way. I had a math class that was kicking my ass and I was failing miserably at it. As I recall I was sitting on a bench contemplating how I was going to tell my wife that I was likely going too be flunking out of school and to prepare to uproot the family and re-locate. The look on my face must have said it all as this gentleman sat down beside me and asked what was going on. I told him everything. I told him about how I married just after HS and that my conscience got the best of me when many of my friends were being drafted and it looked like i was going to get a "pass" and sit this one out. That after talking with my wife i had decided to enlist in the Marines and then learning shortly afterwards that we'd be expecting our first child later that year. I told him about being at Hue and all the horrors that came with that. I told him that i didnt want to go home and explain to my wife how I had failed her and my family. I told him that even with the monies from the GI bill I still needed to work a full time job to make ends meet and that was taking away my time to study. He asked me the name of the course and who my prof was. When I told him what and who and response was " if you can survive the hell of Vietnam, you can certainly get through this math course". He pretty much told me to stop feeling sorry for myself and get my sorry ass back to that classroom. With much hesitation, I went back into that classroom 2 days later and to my surprise a tutor had been assigned to me by an "unknown source".

The man I had been speaking to on that bench all those years ago was none other than Joseph Vincent Paterno.

I just found out about this website. Essentially, it's for people to share stories about JVP for others to read. You should consider adding your story to the site.

Dear JoePa

Description

dearjoepa.org

 

[Shifty15]

oh well here goes 5th grade 1960 election yr Kennedy and Nixon was sitting in class when I found a Nixon pin laying on the floor the kind you pin to your shirt so I take the pin and stick in on my shoe to make that clicking sound what I didnt know was it was owned by the girl sitting behind me so she goes up and tells the teacher I guess she was a Nixon voter she walks up to my seat puts both hands around my neck picks me up and slams me on the seat behind me still choking me she finally lets go goes back to hers desk not saying a word what a strange teacher!

Back in those days only strange because she didn’t finish you off!

 

[Pale ryder]

I just found out about this website. Essentially, it's for people to share stories about JVP for others to read. You should consider adding your story to the site.

Dear JoePa

Description

dearjoepa.org

I appreciate the gesture. Honestly, It was hard enough for me to share that the first time. Not that Im not grateful for what Coach did for me all those years ago, but in sharing the story it brings back painful memories of my tour over there and many questions as to why I made it and others didnt.

Let me give it some thought.

Thanks for reaching out.

 

[Pitchfork Rebel]

navy boot camp great lakes Nov Dec Jan average temp 20 below and many days much colder one guy got in the trash bin found him in the morn frozen solid!

I lived in Pinchot and remember going to the 'skellar after a particularly nasty econ exam, convening a snowball fight with my fellow victims and staggering back 3/4 in the bag. Rolling Rocks were great for hangovers. (getting. not curing)

Somebody should have said Wet Drunk and Defeated is no way to go through life, son, ala Dean Wormer.

When I was down there last (2014), I was shocked to see Parking lot 80 mostly swallowed up by new construction.

 

[Pitchfork Rebel]

Here's one I forgot to include. I'm not sure it's a good memory, but definitely a lasting one.

We went out to observe the "Mifflin Strip" and it turned out of my friends' girlfriends flashed in her dorm. He was aghast and called her up to register his discontent. Somewhere along the conversation, she had enough and offered the quip "what were you doing there watching". They broke up right after. I mean she kind of had a point.

Years later, I was in the bar in the railroad station in Wilkes Barre and a woman walked up to me and addressed me by name. I had to admit I didn't recognize her. She said you knew me as XXXXXX XXXXXX XXX XXXXXX's girlfriend. She told me that in the following years, she met somebody else and was married.-just happened to be out with some coworkers or something.

After a short conversation where I told her XXX and I kind of lost touch, and an exchange of where we both ended up professionally, it was nice to see you again and that was our chance meeting.

 

[Pale ryder]

Here's one I forgot to include. I'm not sure it's a good memory, but definitely a lasting one.

We went out to observe the "Mifflin Strip" and it turned out of my friends' girlfriends flashed in her dorm. He was aghast and called her up to register his discontent. Somewhere along the conversation, she had enough and offered the quip "what were you doing there watching". They broke up right after. I mean she kind of had a point.

Years later, I was in the bar in the railroad station in Wilkes Barre and a woman walked up to me and addressed me by name. I had to admit I didn't recognize her. She said you knew me as XXXXXX XXXXXX XXX XXXXXX's girlfriend. She told me that in the following years, she met somebody else and was married.-just happened to be out with some coworkers or something.

After a short conversation where I told her XXX and I kind of lost touch, and an exchange of where we both ended up professionally, it was nice to see you again and that was our chance meeting.

Inquiring minds want to know: Didya see the strip??

 

[Pitchfork Rebel]

Inquiring minds want to know: Didya see the strip??

It really should have been the Mifflin tease. Saw the girls run across the window and thought saw we undressed females, but it was more a flash than a strip. East halls was notorious in those days for the occasional freshman who forgot she wasn't home anymore and would get dressed without closing the drapes in a room visible from another dorm.

But it cut both ways, the roommate that didn't pay the bill, brought his girlfriend over for cuddle time, and I had no idea. I went for a shower, came back and she apparently got a good look, altering me to her presence with "hey weasel calves".

I still have no idea.

 

[doubleboots]

It really should have been the Mifflin tease. Saw the girls run across the window and thought saw we undressed females, but it was more a flash than a strip. East halls was notorious in those days for the occasional freshman who forgot she wasn't home anymore and would get dressed without closing the drapes in a room visible from another dorm.

But it cut both ways, the roommate that didn't pay the bill, brought his girlfriend over for cuddle time, and I had no idea. I went for a shower, came back and she apparently got a good look, altering me to her presence with "hey weasel calves".

I still have no idea.