Blue White Illustrated

This Linebacker U alumnus is one for the books J ake Lassiter is a controversial hotshot Miami lawyer who once played linebacker for Penn State and the New York Jets. Perhaps you've never heard of him, but his agent, Paul Levine, says Lassiter was a walk-on who didn't play much because he was always in coach Joe Paterno's doghouse. "When Jake played at Penn State, he cut so many classes he was often suspended, and Joe put him on the bench, " said Levine, a former sports editor and editor of the school newspaper, The Daily Collegian. "Or as Jake likes to say, 'Joe put me so far down the bench, my butt was in Altoona. ' "Jake also was a little slow of foot, and not always the best decision maker, and when he did play, he had the propensity for the late hit, and that also did not endear him to Joe. Penn State had some pretty good linebackers in those days and Jake never earned a letter. "But as a free agent several years ago, Jake was signed by the Miami Dolphins and made the last cut. He never started for the Dolphins at linebacker but he was on the suicide squad on the kickoff teams. Once, in a tough game against the Jets on one of those foggy, rainy days in old Shea Stadium, he made this jarring tackle on the kickoff and recovered the fumble, but unfortunately got turned around and ran to the wrong end zone and ended up scoring a safety for the Jets, and the Dolphins lost by a point. That was kind of the highlight of Jake's professional football career. "That probably led him to go into a different line of work. So he went to night law school at the University of Miami and passed the bar exam on his fourth try. But his football career at Penn State served him well, because he's also known in the courtroom for his late hits, and that's a useful tool in the courtroom. As he told me, 'They don't call us [lawyers] sharks for our ability to swim. " Levine said Lassiter prides himself on being a shark and doesn't mind when people call him a shyster. "'I'm not that bad, he tells me. "'Some people just '" write about me that way.'" Lassiter's cavalier attitude toward the law has finally caught up to him because he's on trial in Miami for the murder of his lover, who was also his banker. "Jake told me it's a bum rap," said Levine, "and I believe him. As Jake put it in his own unique style, 'I never stole from a client, bribed a judge or threatened a witness, and until this bum rap, the only time I was arrested, it was a case of mistaken identity. I didn't know the guy I hit was a cop.'" If anyone reading this column wonders why they've never heard of this former Penn State linebacker, then they probably are not readers of mystery novels or knowledgeable about Penn State's famous alumni. Paul Levine is an award-winning author of crime fiction, mostly legal thrillers, with 19 books thus far, including 10 that feature the ex-Nittany Lion linebacker Jake Lassister as the prime protagonist. Like Lassister, Levine also graduated from the University of Miami Law School. But unlike the impudent attorney he created, Levine graduated from Penn State and was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2003. At one time, he not only practiced law and taught it but he also was a reporter for The Miami Herald and a legal commentator for two Miami television stations. After 30 years in Miami, Levine moved to Los Angeles in June 1990 to also work in television, and he became a writer for the popular television program "JAG." He also created a short-lived TV series about the U.S. Supreme Court, "First Monday," that starred James Garner. Levine moved back to Miami about a year ago to concentrate on his legal thrillers. His latest book, "State vs. Lassister, places the former Penn State " linebacker in extreme jeopardy on a charge of first-degree murder in a client-trust bank scam. "This is the 10th book of a series, and with Jake Lassiter charged with murder it's time to ask, 'Is this the end of the linebacker turned lawyer?'" Levine told me recently. So, why did Levine create the character of Jake Lassiter with a loose-cannon background as a Penn State and Miami Dolphins linebacker? "That's the first time in 25 years I've been asked that question," Levine said with a laugh. "I'm going to have to think about this a little bit. Because I graduated from Penn State and covered the football team for two years at The Daily Collegian, I was steeped in Penn State football and the Joe Paterno ethos. It just seemed natural, when someone says to me, 'Write what you know,' to have Jake come out of that atmosphere. "But I always wanted him to be a flawed character. I thought there was something unique here. If you look at all these heroes in crime fiction, you find so many private detectives and cops and you find cops who lost their badges and now they're private detectives. I thought it would be fun to have somebody who's a little bit more physical and a lawyer who's not a Harvard graduate who barely passed the bar exam who would be a bull in the china shop in the courtroom. But he is tenacious, and that's what gives him characteristics that separate him from other characters we see as heroes in crime fiction." Obviously, Penn State football has

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