Are You aPenn Stater? A guidebook to life and times in Happy Valley EDITED BY MIKE POORMAN © Happy Valley Promotions Also from Happy Va lley Promotions: Introduction Niltany Lions, 1982 Nali~nal Champions Football Yearbook Are You A Penn Slaler? University Park poster Dear Fe llow Penn Stater: Penn Slale Twins "To hea r students ta lk, particularly recent alumni, Penn State is poster simply t he best of all possible worlds, , ' Penn State ha s an almost magnetic attraction that not only gets, but holds. Even after graduat ion, herd s of kids find it difficult to leave this area that's almost free of crim e, pollution and turmoi l. And many won't. 'Those who ha ve to leave are almost sure to make to make it back for at least one weekend a year. It is Utopia ... " In the Ph yrst one night last September so mebody mentioned a television news story t hat told about the National Enquirer reporter who was given $10,000 to spend searching for a Utopia. Everyone at the table smirked. They'd al rea dy found it." T he above excerpt appeared in the November 1977 issue of Ph iladelphia Magazine in an article written by J anice Selinger. As a freshman who enrolled at Universi ty Park the same year, I was given this article by m y sister , Bonnie, who had just graduated from Penn State. She suggested that I save the article because I would appreciate it even m ore after I entered the "rea l world."' Well , it is now 1983 and I have yet to enter that "real world." Instead, I remain here in "Happy Va lley" fighting for the surviva l of a small business called Happy Valley Promotions. We specialize in capturing those feelings and emotions that are unique to the total Pen n State ex perience. It is with great pride, and the help of many fe llow Pe nn Staters, that Happy Valley Promotions is able to welcome you to our latest and most complete ventu re - the "Are You A Penn Stater?" guid ebook . Hopefully, the list of 80 activities on the succeeding pages wi ll se rve Text Copyright © 1983 Happy Va lley Promotions Illustrations Copyright © 1983 Tom Mosser as either a guide to your Happy Va lley future or as a key to your treasure chest full of Penn State memories. Each item in the All right~ reserved: including the right to reproduce this book or portions guidebook includes an accompanying box for actual checking upon thereof. 10 any form whatsoever. For information address Happy Va lley completion of the designated activity, so you ca n see how close you Promotions. P.O. Box 120 1, State Co llege. PA 1680 1. (8 14) 234. 1610 are to being the ultimate Pe nn Stater. 3 In the process of producing this guidebook we conjured up some • Sports at Penn State. The Nittany Lions and Lady Lions exciting and happy memories of our years in Happy Val ley, drawing annually challenge for a national title in over half of their 29 varsity upon a "think tank" that included the likes of some ve ry special Penn sports. There are better sports here than in a big city, beginning with Staters: "Specia l K," "Stampy," Patty, Pam, Laurie, Carrie, Sharon, the football team, which draws better than most professional teams Jane, "Dill," "Burkey," "Ads," "Pooh" and t he truest Pen n Stater of and has a record under Joe Paterno that is tops both on and off the them all, Rich "Sab" Sabatine. The b runt of the research and writing field. for this guidebook was done by Mike Poorman, who spe nt many • Culture. There are foreign films, classic films and a beautiful art hours g lean in g volumes of information at the Penn State Room in museum on campus. In Eisenhower, there's theatre, ba llet and Pattee and asking questions like "Who is Old Coaly, anyway?" nationally-known speakers, as well as music of all kinds . What we've come up with may not be the exact Penn State you • The downtown area, which has shops, stores and restaurants know or remember; the Pen n State experience is different things to that cater strictly to the students. Everything is just a short wa lk away. different people. You can put as much as you wa nt into your years at Where else can you go out to eat at 3 a.m. and have a choice of fast Penn State, with the only certa inty being that you'l l get at least twice food places as well as being able to order a sit-down breakfast or as much back. That's definitely been the case with me. dinner? And the town is an arcade fa natic's paradise. - My first exposure to the feeling that this p lace must be something • Kappa Delta Rho fraternity, where I had 40 brothers and 30 special came in 1975 when I was a junior in high school. T hat sprin g I little sisters for fa mily and constant company. visited Penn State for the fi rst time. It was the weekend of the Blue­ • A giant health club. For a pa ltry $2,100 for tuition, you ca n White Game and I had come along with my family to visit my brother, have a year's access to racquet and basketball courts, swimming Steve. and sister, Bonnie, both Penn State students at the time. In just pools, running tracks, weight machines, golf courses, playing fields, two days, I decided I wanted to become a Pen n Stater forever. bowling lanes and phys. ed . classes with top-notch inst ructors. I was in heaven when I saw there were p layi ng fie lds and basketball • Bowl games. Twelve of us crowded into a van for 24 hours to go and tennis courts with games going on eve rywhere! I was amazed the 1983 Sugar Bowl and then the same 12 of us crowded into a when the soda machine at my brother's fratern ity delivered a cold single room at t he Quality Inn for four days waiting for the gam~ to Bud when you pressed Pepsi. I couldn't be lieve the beautiful women start. "Dill" didn't drive down, though; he didn't have any vacatIOn my sister had as so rority sisters. (I cou ldn't ta lk to them either; I was time left at work so he paid $600 to fly to New Orleans for one day. He too shy ... and stil l am.) I had found my paradise. That Monday I wore said it was worth eve ry penny. I had four live telephone hook-ups from my new Penn State T-shirt to high school and haven't stopped talking the Superdome to "Ads" and "Sab" back in Pittsburgh because they Blue and White since. deserved to be there more than I did. Eight years have passed since that first visit. and in that time I have • Homecoming. Seventeen alumni buddies slept on my floor (I'm experienced the best and the worst Penn State has to offer - SOCia ll y the only one sti ll here) last Homecoming weekend . And "Ads" (who and academical ly. I've had A's and a few F's, and I'ye taken a few honestly has the Nittany Lion tattoed on his rear end) slept curled up terms off. I was there in the New Or l ~ans S.uperdome when Penn State on the three-foot by three-foot landing lead ing up to the attic. won its first national football championship and I litera lly cried after • Hundreds of excel lent and reputable organizations and activ­ too many losses to A labama. I'l l remember that win against Nebraska ities, from Greeks to intramurals to the Collegian, which I t hink is the in '82 for as long as I live. And I've spent many a Friday afternoon at best-run and most dedicated group of them all. the Skeller onl y to spend many a Saturday morning telling myself to • People. Many of them are specia l, like Mike at the post office "grow up." and Donna at the Student Bookstore. Then there are the people all For me, Pen~ State has been a combination country cl ub, Penn Staters have seen at one t ime or another - Pink Lady, Sam and playground, giant lecture hall and fami ly dining room table. Penn his dog and Methuselah (aka Father Time and the Vent Man). State is al l of the 80 things listed in this guidebook and much, much • Professors. They're people, too, I guess, but many of them more. To me, Happy Valley is: actually have helped me learn. Not just memorize, but think and grow 4 5 and apply the classroom to the real world. This is especially true of those in Liberal Arts and Journalism. They've helped me learn how to "survive." Although I'm still not sure why Prof. Schma lz ate that chalk You're Not a Penn in Geo. Sci. class. • My parents. They're the rea l Penn Staters, for putting three kids through here, especially me and my grief. " tended to major in Stater Until You: fraternity life and novelty prOducts a bit too much for their nervous systems. One term I invested my tuition and rent money in posters! They weren't pleased.