Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1315054
hardly afford the costs of college. The family lived in a public housing project and survived primarily on Hugh's small pickup truck that he used to help people in the town's Black community move from one home to another throughout New Rochelle. He had other odd jobs, including service as an auxiliary police officer and miscellaneous work in the city courthouse. (In the mid-1950s, Hugh became an official policeman.) 'I just knew it was the right place' In December 1949, Arnelle turned 16 years old, and the football recruiters started calling. He wanted to attend a prominent academic college and was pleased when Paterno called on behalf of Brown, telling Jesse that Brown had heard about him from an alumnus. A short time later, Paterno was meeting with Jesse and his parents in their New Rochelle living room. Paterno had graduated from Brown after quarter- backing the team in 1948 and '49 and was now assisting his head coach, Rip Engle, while waiting to enroll in law school. "He started talking about the value of a college education, and what that could mean," Arnelle recalled. "He asked me what I wanted to do in my life, what would create the best scenario for [me] for the next five to six years, doing some of the things you enjoy in life and in sports. ... He didn't talk much about football. … It was all wrapped up in the total college experience. I had thought about it, but not a lot." Jesse, who also had been considering football overtures from Colgate, Co- lumbia and Penn, accepted Paterno's offer. Then, out of the blue a couple of months later, Paterno called to tell him he had followed Engle to Penn State and would be there for at least two years be- fore going to law school. "He asked me if I would call off my decision about Brown long enough to take a look at State College," Arnelle said. "I think if it had come from anyone else, I would have probably not considered it, [but] because I thought so much of Joe per-