Blue White Illustrated

side the East and the annual bowl game trips, they could drive from their home in Easton. Flying to Cedar Rapids and Champaign or even to Chicago and Minneapolis required more logistics and extensive travel arrangements. When they decided to move to State College in 1997, the away-game travel didn't change, but driving to Beaver Stadium from their new home in the Toftrees housing development was a snap compared to their trips from Easton. "We would leave Easton between 5 and 6 a.m. to drive the 185 miles to Beaver Stadium," Carolyn recalled. "After the game, we drove to the Pine Barn Inn in Danville to get halfway home. Late games were difficult because we missed a great dinner. Often the inn kept the restaurant open just for us. Fall construction on Route 80 is now a distant memory. "After Terry and I retired, we decided there were four places we might like to live. We had family in Tucson and Florida and we liked to vacation in North Carolina and Maine. We visited all four places. In the end, Terry wanted to move to State College. " Terry immediately joined the State College Quarterback Club. Carolyn soon found herself teaching marketing at Penn State. After you meet them, you know that opposites attract. Carolyn is a bit of an extrovert, which one expects from a college professor. She is amiable and makes friends easily. Terry is crusty and reticent, and with his beard and trademark hat, he looks like he might have just come out of the Australian bush country. "I usually caution the students that Terry's a 'toasted marshmallow, Car'" olyn said. "He's crusty on the outside, soft in the middle. That's the term I first heard from his work colleagues in Allentown, and it has stuck with me ever since. They knew him so well. " Until this season, Terry and Carolyn sat in the upper WBU section of Beaver Stadium, at about the 10-yard line. They prefer to sit high because Terry likes to see the plays developing. Because of his cancer, Terry needs a wheelchair and oxygen tanks, and Penn State temporarily moved their seating to the ADA area behind the visiting team's bench between the 40- and 45-yard lines. Naturally, the Todds were shocked when Terry was diagnosed on July 26 with a form of lung cancer that is treatable but not curable. So far, the chemo treatments have worked, but there have been some problems along the way that have taken a toll on both of them, including the need for more than a week of hospitalization over the Labor Day weekend. So, for the first time ever, they watched a Penn State game on a hospital television set, but Terry almost missed the kickoff because of an MRI test. "I held my breath as kickoff was about to happen and Terry wasn't back yet," Carolyn wrote in her online blog. "But he did arrive with 30 seconds to spare! And we had a decent HDTV to watch the game. " Carolyn had recently joined a private Facebook group of Penn State fans, the Penn State Football Nation, and she had been communicating with the group over the Internet since the late morning. Around noon, about 20 members who were tailgating together outside MetLife Stadium sent her a photo. Todd Speck, who started the Facebook group, stood in the middle of the group and held a large sign that included a photo of Carolyn and Terry. Carolyn admits the sign brought tears to her eyes. "What's remarkable," she wrote, "is that I have not physically met a single person in this picture. It's simply through this one Facebook discussion group that I've come to know them. And that says a lot about what it means to be a part of this phenomenon called the Penn State football family." The text on the sign read: "Carolyn and Terry Todd; The Streak Continues; You Are Here in Our Hearts; Get Well I Soon Terry. " The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions A diary by Lou Prato, author of the Penn State Football Encyclopedia and four other Nittany Lion books Personalized autographed copy available soon through Lou Prato and Associates Call 814-692-7577 or email louprato@comcast.net Price: $19.95 plus tax and shipping

• Cover