NEWS
& NOTES
FOOTBALL
Who's
next?
Decision to retire
Cappelletti's number
sparks debate
DOING THE
WAVE
Cappelletti was
saluted at
halftime of Penn
State's home
opener as part of
a ceremony
honoring the
undefeated
1973 team.
Steve Manuel
If you're going to get into the tricky
business of retiring numbers, there's no
better place to begin than with a Heisman Trophy winner. The Heisman lies at
the nexus of athletic accomplishment
and popular appeal, so it's the obvious
starting point in any debate about the
most significant athletes in a school's
history.
Less obvious, at least at Penn State, is
the question of what to do next.
At halftime of its home opener against
Eastern Michigan, during a ceremony
honoring its undefeated 1973 team, Penn
State announced that it was retiring
John Cappelletti's number. Cappelletti
wore No. 22 during his great career,
which reached its crescendo in December 1973 at the Downtown Athletic Club
in New York. On that night, the senior
tailback delivered an emotional acceptance speech in which he dedicated the
trophy to his younger brother Joey, who
was dying of leukemia. It was one of the
most powerful moments in the history
of college sports, and Cappelletti has remained a beloved figure at Penn State
even as other running backs have
eclipsed his rushing totals. (He's now in
ninth place all-time with 2,639 career
yards.)
"In all the years this school has been
here, the players who have gone through
