Blue White Illustrated

H I S T O R Y ketball, women's volleyball and wrestling," said Kevin Fiorenzo, the athletic department's publications co- ordinator. "They've been well-accepted by the fans. Sales for game day pro- grams have gone down every year, par- ticularly for the last games of the season. Reaching as many fans as possi- ble with our publications is a key prior- ity. The hope is that the new yearbook and tri-fold game day [brochure] will be a more accessible and affordable option for fans." As for those human-interest profiles about individual players or historical pieces about a big game or a past sea- son? Well, if today's fans no longer read newspapers or magazines, why would they waste their precious time reading something they don't give a hoot about? What the fans can no longer save are the programs of classic games, such as the one on Sept. 25, 1982, against Ne- braska. One can be certain there are some Penn State families that still have copies of the program from that thrilling 27-24 win in which Todd Blackledge led a 10-play, 65-yard drive with 1 minute, 18 seconds left in the game and no time- outs. My program collection goes back to my freshman year at Penn State in 1955. It includes the bowl games that gave the Nittany Lions their national championships in 1982 and '86, along with the inaugural game against Boston Univer- sity at Beaver Stadium in 1960 and the win over Maryland at the Beav in Joe Paterno's first game as head coach in 1966. Since the opening of the Penn State All-Sports Mu- seum in 2002, many fans have been donating their program collections to the museum, or at least they've been trying to do so. The museum has been so swamped that it now rejects most donations. "We already have an extensive number of football game day pro- grams, and it's important that we con- tinue to grow that collection if it fits the holes we have rather than duplicates what is there now," said Ken Hickman, director of the museum. "We are always looking for away game programs, as well as any home game programs dating be- fore 1940." The oldest program in the museum's collection is from Penn State's 21-3 upset over undefeated Navy in 1923, and it has been on display in the lobby case dedicated to Beaver Stadium since the museum opened. Future Hall of Famer Harry Wilson made national headlines by scoring touchdowns on a 72-yard run, 55-yard interception and 95-yard kickoff return. The program was do- nated by Hope Coder, whose father, Bill Jeffries, was a junior at Penn State that season. Hope's son Ron was a standout defensive tackle on Penn State's 1975 team, and his namesake father's Olympic soccer uniforms and other memorabilia are part of the museum's collection. For whatever reason, saving game tickets became popular after programs. Perhaps a specific ticket was valuable to an individual but not to relatives after that person's death. Unless one knows the history of that specific game, the relatives wouldn't realize the ticket's historic value to collectors or museums. The sports museum has a fair number of tickets in its storage area that go back to the late 1920s. The oldest ticket is from the Syracuse game on Oct. 27, 1928, when a homecoming crowd of 15,000 turned out for the fifth game of the sea- son to watch a 6-6 tie. My ticket collection is rather sparse, because I spent most of my time at home and away games freeloading in press boxes. I have ones from the national championship years in 1982 and '86 and others from the 1978 and '85 title games. My favorite one is from the 1995 Rose Bowl that was for my wife, Carole, but was never used because she couldn't travel in late December after surgery back East. Now, paper tickets are disappearing into the netherworld as digital ticketing becomes the norm at Penn State and elsewhere. It's already begun in football for students, and there's no turning back despite some flaws in the first couple of games at Beaver Stadium. The rest of the season- ticket holders have one year to prepare for this revolu- tionary change. Five other varsity sports will be fully digitized this year, with one digital season ticket for all scheduled home games. Sea- son-ticket buyers for men's and women's basketball, men's hockey, women's volleyball and wrestling are the guinea pigs. The details are too complicated to explain succinctly, but any- one can contact the athletic de- partment for a full explanation. This is expected to curtail if not eliminate pregame scalping, but one can be sure some of those en- terprising entrepreneurs prowling around Beaver Stadium will find a way to keep on peddling those tickets at jacked-up prices. The switch to digital ticketing

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