Blue White Illustrated

dangerous cities in America because of the drugs and the crime that's rampant there. It's a difficult environment and difficult cycles to break. I was blessed to have family and friends and good people around me to help me overcome it. I beat the odds coming from McKeesport. The biggest problem is economics and no jobs and few opportunities with the unem- ployment rate twice as high as it is in the state and nationally, and [about] 50 per- cent in the Harrison Village housing proj- ect where I grew up and where there is the most violence. So people have no value for life and very little hope. They need ed- ucation. You provide people with an ed- ucation, and the economic issues would be solved and people would have hope. One of the reasons I joined the board [of trustees] is to champion education and champion affordability in education, be- cause upward mobility is the American dream that allows people to come out of impoverished and tough neighborhoods and have the same opportunities I had." Grandma Wilkes, whom he affectionally called Gran, gave him his first education, and it wasn't in the classroom. "She taught me the value of hard work," Short said, "that you can't look at things in the short term. You need to dream big and then wake up every day thinking about that dream and every day take a step toward it. If you do that, it will keep you from trying drugs or hanging out with the wrong group. It will make you go home and study while other people are out partying because you have that dream, a goal, that you're working toward. She taught me that if you want something you can achieve it if you put your mind to it. It's just how much you're willing to sacri- fice." Figuring out the future Short's first year on campus was disap- pointing on the field but not off it. In Penn State's first game he was in for five plays at defensive end. His season ended the next week against Temple with a bro- ken bone in his left foot that led to a med- ical redshirt. He had enrolled in the Divi- sion of Undergraduate Studies to figure out what degree he wanted to pursue and was attracted to the school's business curriculum. "I decided to go into marketing because no matter what line of business you're in, you're doing some sort of sales," Short said. "I thought marketing would give me the widest options to do what I wanted to do in the business world. I could go into finance or logistics or some other avenue with marketing as the base." While he was earning his degree, his football career took off. Over the next four seasons, Short started all but three games, moving from a pass-rushing de- fensive end as a redshirt freshman to middle linebacker in 1997. In his senior year, as captain of the defense, he was a consensus All-American, but was some- P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> FAMILY PHOTO Short poses with (L to R) daughter Karli, son Noah, wife Mahreen and daughter Miriam. Photo courtesy of the Short family

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