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would go on to a long career in sports broadcasting. They became friends, and Barres figured Alexander's connections with coaches and others on the football team could help him. Barres had been im- pressed with Giftopoulos at Cathedral and thought Penn State should recruit him. "I had a video of Giftopoulos that I gave to Paul, and I told Paul, 'You need to look at this kid,'" Barres recalled in a telephone conversation. "I don't know what the hesitation was, but it really wasn't until I was back in Canada a couple of months later when Paul called me and said they were very interested in Gifto. By that time, other schools like Michigan, Notre Dame and Syracuse got involved as well. "[Assistant coach] Randy Crowder went up to see him, but he was very nerv- ous about Randy Crowder only because he wanted to be a linebacker and Randy was coaching the defensive line. Peter was telling me this stuff and I was telling Paul. It got down to the final week of the recruiting process and [head coaches like Bo] Schembechler, [Gerry] Faust and [Dick] MacPherson had been in his house [but not Joe Paterno]. I was in Ottawa watching a basketball game and I get a call from Paul saying Peter doesn't want any more recruiters in his home. I was six hours away and it was snowing but I got on a bus, got to Peter's house and listened to everything he had to say. I got back to Paul and they were allowed one more phone call." What clinched it all was Paterno acced- ing to Gifto's insistence that he would play linebacker and not defensive end and agreeing to speak at the annual banquet at Giftopoulos's high school. Before Gifto's freshman year, Barres was added to the football staff as a graduate assis- tant. Philadelphia sportscaster Mike Mis- sanelli had additional insight into the re- cruiting of Giftopoulos in his 2010 book about Penn State's 1986 championship year, "The Perfect Season." "Because his hometown was also home to one of the country's most popular football teams [the Hamilton Tiger- Cats], people with American football pedigrees surrounded him," Missanelli wrote. "Back then a Canadian football roster was filled with players from the States, especially in the skill positions. Those players and many teams' coaches had friends who coached at major college programs. "Giftopoulos had already stood out for his ability. He was a 6'3", 240-pound de- fensive lineman [and middle linebacker] who flew all over the vast Canadian foot- ball field tracking down ball carriers and receivers. If he could do that up there, where the field is wider and longer, he could sure do that down here. Besides that, he was a great athlete. "Recruiting in big-time college football is a phenomenon not unlike a spreading of wildfire. Once a player gets on the radar of a big-time football school, others soon come running. Because Hamilton was not far from Buffalo, New York… Giftopoulos was on the recruiting lists of many schools in the Northeast corridor. But for Giftopoulos, recruiters also came from Georgia, Arizona, and Washington State… He had decided he would stay as close to home as possible and narrowed his final recruiting list to three: Penn State, Michigan and Syracuse. Then Giftopoulos studied hard to figure out which of those three programs had the best chance to win a national champi- onship in the next few years." Penn State's reputation as Linebacker U sealed his final decision. He wasn't happy when Paterno switched him to tight end midway through his freshman year, but he was back at outside linebacker after that season and became a key backup. By the 1985 season opener, he was a starter. A legend is born A little luck and a vanilla defense turned Giftopoulos into a legend at the 1987 Fi- esta Bowl. Miami was on fire. It was fourth-and-goal at the Penn State 13- yard line with 18 seconds left and the Nit- tany Lions holding onto a shaky 14-10 lead. Quarterback Vinny Testaverde had driven the Hurricanes 64 yards in 12 plays from their own 23-yard line after getting the ball with 3 minutes, 7 seconds left. Penn State had been using its basic 5- King defense with no frills, no blitzes and no stunts. The Lion players often refer to this scheme as their vanilla defense. Testaverde called the signals on fourth down. Three receivers dashed across the line of scrimmage, and the Heisman Tro- phy-winning quarterback looked to his left for Brett Perriman heading to the cor- ner of the end zone. Testaverde threw the ball as four Lions converged on the re- ceiver. Giftopoulos stepped in front of Perriman, caught the ball and ran to the 10-yard line before falling on his knees. After the play, Giftopoulos got up and handed the ball to the closest official. Asked after the game why he didn't keep it as a treasured souvenir, he said, "If you keep it, you've got to give the NCAA $50. That's $75 Canadian." That interception was the second of the game for Giftopoulos. Early in the fourth quarter, his pick had set up a 49-yard field goal attempt that failed. It was the only time in his career that he would have more than one interception in an entire season. He scored a touchdown on his first career interception in 1985, and his final pick, as a senior in 1987, came in the last two min- utes at Maryland, stopping a late Terra- pins rally to preserve a 21-16 victory. Undrafted by the NFL in 1988, Giftopoulos went back home and carved out an eight-year career with the Hamil- ton Tiger-Cats, including two years play- ing on the offensive line. The Canadians who followed Giftop- oulos at Penn State were two obscure walk-ons, punter Rob Deluca of Hamilton and quarterback Chris Sutton of Niagara Falls, Ontario. As Jamie Barres was be- coming a graduate assistant in the spring of 1984, Penn State was looking for a punter to succeed George Reynolds. Two sophomore walk-ons were competing for the job: Greg Montgomery, Reynolds' backup in 1983, and redshirt sophomore John Bruno, who had been on the '83 ros- ter as a split end. They had potential, but the coaches weren't sure if either one could meet their expectations. Barres told the coaches about Deluca. "It was in June, and they invited Deluca to come to summer camp," Barres said. "We had to do an evaluation. He came F E A T U R E S

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