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1950s, Paterno received almost as much credit as an assistant as Engle did as the head coach. Engle never le7 Penn State, and Paterno never went to law school. Still, Engle had "a lot of misgivings" when he took the job. "I had never met these coaches," he later told author Ken Rappoport for his book, "The Nittany Lions: A Story of Penn State Football." "They were all single-wing coaches. The whole sta6 that was here had been here long before me... and then Joe had never coached, although I knew he had great possibilities. It was a pretty precarious situation, and I just wondered how smart I was, really. But we worked real hard to- gether, and it was the greatest thing that could have happened. I always say I owe so much to these coaches here." A7er losing three of its 5rst 5ve games and tying one in 1950, Penn State reeled o6 four consecutive victories, including a thrilling 21-20 upset over archrival Pitt in a historic season 5nale delayed a week be- cause of a record 23-inch snow storm in Pittsburgh. The players were so happy they carried Engle o6 the 5eld on their shoul- ders and all the way into the locker room. Collegian reporter Marv Krasnansky summed up the game and the season in his front-page story of Dec. 5: "Taking over a squad that at 5rst looked too clumsy and awkward to master the intri- cacies of the winged-T, Engle knitted a team that in the last 5ve games played as if they worked the system for years." What may have been the longest spring practice in the history of college football, and certainly a unique one, had paid o6 and then some. Rip Engle and Joe Paterno were on their way to being enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. ■ CORRECTION The April 8 edition of BWI contained a list of Penn State running backs with the most NFL longevity. Leroy Thompson was inadvertently omitted from that list. Thompson was selected by Pittsburgh in the sixth round of the 1991 dra7 and played six seasons in the league with the Steelers, New England, Kansas City and Tampa Bay. No. 27 in Lou Prato's book Autographed copies available via louprato@comcast.net or through Lou Prato & Associates at 814-954-5171 Price: $14.95 plus shipping, handling and tax where applicable Also available with autograph: Lou's book "We Are Penn State: The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions" Price: $19.95 plus shipping and tax where applicable H I S T O R Y

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