Features
Crowd gathers at Capitol to greet national champs
By Judith A. Faruquee
A lazy Sunday afternoon
before classes started!, close to
7,000 people converged on
Capitol Campus, creating a
traffic jam that had cars
creeping along the half-mile
route from 322 at three miles
per hour.
There excitement focused on
the victorious Penn State
Nittany Lions returning from
the New Orleans Superdome,
the winners of the 1983 Sugar
Bowl.
By now it was official, too,
that the Associated Press
College Football Poll and the
United Press International
Board of Coaches both voted
Penn State the Number One
college football team in the
nation.
The ecstatic fans echoed their
sentiments over their teams’
multi-victories again and again.
“It’s the best thing that has
happened at Capitol Campus,’’
saia Joyce Susa, a Capitol
student, adding: “This is the
biggest thing that ever hit
Capitol Campus.’’
And big it was. There were
fire truck sirens blaring, brass
bands playing, whistles and
horns blowing, and everywhere
people cheering and screaming
we are number one. The area
was a sea of blue and white
Love Ya Lions and Number One
banners, pompoms and Penn
State hats. The jubilant throng
pierced the air with their
chanting, “WE want Joe.”
Joe Paterno, Lions’ coach for
17 years, triumphantly led the
pride of Penn State to the
platform where the adoring
fans were going wild. Amia the
ear splitting noise, Governor
Dick Thornburgh congratulated
“There’s only one word for
what happened next.
PANDEMONIUM. It was like
New Year’s Eve at Times
Square. The crowd cheered
with gratitude and admiration.
What a night. Everybody loved
everybody.”
the Lions’ success and called
them a splendid team. He said,
“You make the University
proud and the Commonwealth
Eroud.” As he held the Sugar
owl silver trophy aloft, the
crowd roared. Then Governor
Thornburgh introduced the man
of the hour.
Joe Paterno’s emotional
remarks were what the fans
loved to hear, “I want to tell
you one thing,” he began,
“when we drove here a week
ago or so, we drove down the
road on 322 and people were
standing outside with signs -
Will Penn State Do It? And
when we came down here (at
the airport) there was a big
crowd to send us off. And do
you know what? We wanted to
win this thing just as much for
you as we wanted to win it for
ourselves.”
There’s only one word for
what happened next:
PANDEMONIUM. It was like
New Year’s Eve at Times
Square. The crowd cheered
with gratitude and admiration.
What a night. Everybody loved
everybody.
The horns and sirens drowned
out the responses from the
players as they made their way
back to the buses. Fans shook
their hands, asked for
autographs and hugged and
kissed tne team as the players
pressed through the wall of
people.
Jane and Jim Stanton,’7l and
’72 alumni from Lancaster,
brought their young son,Seth,
along for the historical event.
They had figured that in 2002,
he will be a Penn State
alumnus.
Scott Leib, a Capitol student,
said, “It’s good for everybody,
everybody joining in from
Pennsylvania iust getting
together. The way the economy
is going and everybody is down,
well this really did it for us.”
Bob Topper, head adorned
with a Santa Claus hat,
Joe Paterno and Pa. Governor Richard Thornburgh share a moment of pride, while
directly above, crowd gathers at Capitol Campus parking lot to greet the team follow
ing their arrival at the Harrisburg International Airport.
Page 11
declared, “Penn State is
number one in everyone’s
minds, but number one in our
hearts.”
The events that brought
everyone here are now history.
The 49th Sugar Bowl game
played on New Year’s Day in
New Orleans ended in victory
for the Penn State Lions, with a
final score of Penn State
27—Georgia Bulldogs 23.
The game got off to an
exciting start with Todd
Blackledge’s excellent first four
passes setting up the scoring
touchdown by Curt Warner just
2V2 minutes into the game.
It was a game with a lot of
heroes. Kevin Baugh’s
sensational job of catching
Georgia’s punts, Gancitano’s
field goal tne last 44 seconds of
the first half. Walker Lee
Ashley, Kenny Jackson, Jon
Williams, Gregg Garrity all
doing an excellent job. All the
players worked fantastically
well together to make it click.
From the high-pitched
beginning till the cliff hanging
end, it was a hard-won victory
and a well-deserved one for Joe
■Paterno and his finest team. It
was the fourth trip to the Sugar
Bowl for Joe and as many"——
times his team ranked number
one. This time, having won the
Sugar Bowl and the National
Championship, there is no doubt
what team is number one.
Victory is sweet and being
number one makes it even
sweeter. .
courtesy Jim Tyson