Blue White Illustrated

2 0 1 8 K I C K O F F S P E C I A L really thought I was going to Yale. Except when we got the financial aid package back, it was still going to be incredibly ex- pensive. My mom didn't really have an in- come with my dad gone. So, I could go to Yale and come out of school with a lot of debt, or I could go to Penn State and I could play the best football in the country. "I didn't know how good of a linebacker I would ever be, but I knew if I went to Penn State I would find out, because I would be as good as I could ever be, as op- posed to some of the other schools. At the same time, the Penn State architectural engineering program was ranked No. 1 in the country. I even remember when I went on my visit having a conversation with the professor in the AE department, Howard Kingsbury, telling him I was going to play football and take AE. He looked at me and said, 'It can't be done. I'm sorry, son, but you can't do those two things.' I said, 'With all due respect, sir, I think that should be my choice to try and figure out if I can or not.' "What's funny is just a couple of years ago I get a letter or email out of the blue from Howard saying, 'I've watched your career and I'm really proud of you.' He was a good man and always gave me good advice. Now, you put all that stuff to- gether, a professor telling you you can't do it, a guy like Coach Paterno telling you this is where you need to be and telling my mom that academics come first, and it all seemed to fit. Penn State was the right fit for me." An All-America career Radecic didn't finish the five-year ar- chitectural engineering program until after his second year in the NFL, taking courses at Penn State in the off-season. By then he already had a combined playing and academic legacy that few Nittany Lions achieve. He played sparingly but earned a letter in his freshman season, and despite a back injury that curtailed his playing time, he was an active backup at inside linebacker. In 1982, Radecic came into his own on the field and in the class- room. He led the national champions in tackles that season with 71, including 48 solo stops and three sacks. He also had a game- high 14 tackles and a forced fumble in Penn State's 27-23 victory over Georgia for the title, helping the defense harass Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker. Four years later, Radecic's brother Keith was the starting center on Penn State's only other national championship team. The result was the establishment of the ;rst ;ve priority projects within a ;ve-year time period at a cost of $120 million. Funding will dictate what is built, a point that Barbour emphasized during the three-day Coaches Caravan tour in May. "Sandy has made it clear," Redecic said, "if we have a donor who has a pas- sion for a sport and wants to contribute, we can get that project into the capital plan and make it happen." –L.P. CENTER OF ATTENTION As part of the facili- ties master plan unveiled last year, Populous envi- sions a central- ized head- quarters for the athletic depart- ment called the Center of Excel- lence. The time- line for construction of the center and other projects in the plan will de- pend on the progress of Penn State's fundrais- ing efforts. Image courtesy of Penn State Ath- letics

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