Blue White Illustrated

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Ath- letic Association was holding its champi- onship tournament at Penn State in the late winter of 1975, and he wanted to watch the favored heavyweight, George Atiyeh, who was a junior from the Allen- town area. That's how Millen wound up in the Rec Hall crowd for the semifinal round, where Atiyeh was matched against another kid who would join Millen in Penn State's recruiting class that fall. "George Atiyeh was a stud wrestler, off the charts," Millen said. "He was pinning his way through the PIAA tournament, and in the state semifinals he runs into Matthew Jerome Suhey of State College. And Matt was scared to death. You ought to hear him talk about it. But Matt and George had a phenomenal match. It came down to a referee's decision. They don't have that anymore. And that's how Matt didn't win a state title, because George pinned the guy in the final." Atiyeh not only won the heavyweight championship that season but the next year, too. Suhey never wrestled at Penn State, nor did Millen. But Millen said he sometimes wonders if he should have tried out for the team. "I have no idea what would have happened," he said. "All I know is that Bruce Clark and I never wrestled, and the kids on our team who wrestled who were good, we used to throw them around like tackling dummies." This writer had never talked to Matt Millen before, but one gets the feeling after a couple of good conversations that there is still a lot more to learn about him. All you have to do is ask. Perhaps Mark Wogenrich, the Penn State beat reporter for Millen's home- town newspaper, The Morning Call, who has written about the man for years, sums him up best: "It's impossible to go through a life-changing event and not change, and Matt acknowledges that he has in some ways. But Matt still loves his family, wrestling and football (in that order), still makes self-deprecating jokes with Detroit Lions fans and still helps others in ways that few see. Matt had a big heart before the transplant. If any- thing, it's bigger now." ■ !!&&$" #$& &" % "$ $% No. 70 in Lou Prato's book ' ( Autographed copies available via louprato@comcast.net or through Lou Prato & Associates at 814-954-5171 Price: $16.95 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 FOOTBALL

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