Blue White Illustrated

catches) with two touchdowns in nine regular-season games. Playing for coach Bob Higgins, he tallied five total touch- downs in 1947. As a senior in 1948, Triplett had 424 rushing yards, 90 receiving yards and six total touchdowns. He also averaged 26.8 yards per punt return (134 yards on five returns) and had three intercep- tion returns for 62 yards. Triplett ranks second in Penn State history with a 16.5-yard punt-return average (280 yards on 17 returns).He also has the fourth-longest punt return in the pro- gram's history with an 85-yard touch- down return against West Virginia in 1948. A native of La Mott, Pa., Triplett grabbed the tying touchdown on a 6- yard reception in the third quarter of the 1948 Cotton Bowl, as the Nittany Lions tied third-ranked SMU, 13-13. Triplett also played an outstanding defensive game. The 1947 Nittany Lions finished the season 9-0-1 and ranked No. 4 in the final Associated Press poll, shutting out six opponents and allowing an average of only 2.8 points per game. Triplett was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame earlier this year. After his Penn State career, Triplett became the first African-American player to be drafted by and play in the NFL when he was selected by the Detroit Lions in the 19th round of the 1949 NFL Draft. While attending Penn State, he had never thought about playing pro foot- ball, but as he told the Detroit News in 2015, the money was too good to pass up. "My father worked 12 months a year for a salary of $3,600," he explained. "My first contract was for $4,800. So he told me, 'Sign it, boy. They're going to pay you to play.' " He played four seasons in the NFL with the Lions and Chicago Cardinals, taking a two-year break to serve in the Korean War. Triplett faced racism during his tenure as a pro player. During a trip to Green Bay, he had to stay in a different hotel than his white teammates. "That was typical America back then," he told the Detroit News. "It's hard to describe it to people who didn't experi- ence what we had to. It was a fact of life that you had to fight to defend yourself along the way." There's a bust in the All-Sports Mu- seum of Penn State's first black football player, Dave Alston, a potential super- star, who died unexpectedly from a blood clot after a minor tonsillectomy operation in August 1942 before he could play in a varsity game. There should be a wall near Beaver Stadium – similar to the ones at war memorials – for Penn State football's other black pioneer, Wally Triplett, and his teammates in 1946 and '47 for what they did for civil rights. Triplett, who passed away in early November after a long illness, will al- ways be recognized officially as Penn State's first black player to start a game (against Michigan State in 1945) and the first to win a letter in '46. However, his legacy is not framed by what he did on the field offensively and defensively while playing wingback for the Nittany Lions, but by his successful efforts to foster racial parity. In an era when blacks were still second-class citi- zens, Triplett forged a relationship with his white teammates and coaches that eventually brought lasting honor to the team and the university. Triplett was already worldly about racism and civil rights when he began playing football for Penn State. Al- though he publicly fought prejudice and advocated for equality, he never com- plained about the pummeling he re- ceived from some teammates during scrimmages in 1945 and much of '46. Before the '46 season, Triplett had an- Triplett's profound legacy deserves to be memorialized at Beaver Stadium A P P R E C I A T I O N B Y L O U P R A T O IMPACT PLAYER Triplett fights for yardage during Penn State's matchup with SMU in the 1948 Cotton Bowl. Photo courtesy of Penn State Athletics

• Cover