Blue White Illustrated

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 through Lou Prato and Associates Call 814-692-7577 or email louprato@comcast.net Price: $19.95 plus tax and shipping Philadelphia and once or twice at his winter home in Palm Springs, Calif. Rowell had become a successful busi- nessman and from 1992 to 2007 was a member of Penn State's board of trustees. One year in the 2000s, the group even went on a cruise from Cali- fornia to Hawaii. I knew all this, and more, about Jack because he always sent me a postcard when he traveled, with a greeting and a short message about his trip. In fact, Jack sent me more than post- cards. He would often send me newspa- per clippings, fresh ones and old ones from his file, especially items about Elmer Gross's 1954 basketball team, as well as copies of his frequent correspon- dence with Gross. I think I know more about that team than anyone outside of the six players still living. No one was more proud of the 1954 basketball team than Jack. His football career ended at the Blue-Grey All-Star Game in 1954, and he became a success- ful manufacturer's representative, but he continued to play basketball for years. As the NCAA postseason tournament grew in stature over the decades, and simply making the Final Four became a feat of its own, the accomplishments of Penn State's 1954 team became legendary. Truth be told, it wasn't really a big deal 60 years ago. Although the NCAA tournament had started in 1939, only 16 teams were in- volved in the late '40s and early '50s. In fact, until 1952, there was no "Final Four" in which the last four teams had a playoff in one city. The National Invita- tional Tournament in New York, which began one year before the NCAA tour- nament, was considered a more presti- gious event – until the aftermath of a 1951 gambling scandal took its toll on the Madison Square Garden event. However, in 1954 the NIT was still the premier tournament. Throughout the season, Duquesne and Kentucky had bat- tled for No. 1 in the polls, but Kentucky turned down the NCAA invitation be- cause three of its star players were ineligi- ble for the postseason, and Duquesne chose the NIT where it was the No. 1 seed. Unranked Penn State was the last team selected by the NCAA, but it had to beat Toledo in Fort Wayne, Ind., to earn the at-large berth in the Eastern Regional semifinals. The Lions won that game, 62-50, and the next week at Iowa City, they shocked No. 14 LSU, 78-70, and No. 6 Notre Dame, 71-63. Suddenly, Penn State was the Cinderella team of the tournament and was headed to the Final Four in Kansas City. Cinderella's carriage went off the road against pre-tournament favorite and in- trastate rival La Salle, led by all-every- thing Tom Gola, 69-54. But back then, the losers of the first game played the next day for third place, and Penn State beat Southern Cal, 70-61. When the fi- nal AP poll came out, Penn State was No. 9 in the nation, and that remains the benchmark for Nittany Lion basketball. "What I remember the most outside of the games themselves is that after we upset LSU and Notre Dame in the re- gional games, there were 4,000 people waiting for us in front of the Corner Room when we returned to State College at 2 in the morning," Jack told me. "We were shocked." What the team didn't know is that the games had been broadcast over WMAJ Radio, with Mickey Bergstein using a code from Western Union in conjunc- tion with sports publicity director Jim Coogan at the game, plus pre-recorded crowd noise to recreate the action from Iowa City. Bergstein repeated his gim- mick for the Final Four. When the team returned from Kansas City, another large crowd greeted it at Rec Hall. "We were excited just to be playing in the tournament," Jack said. "But do you know what our reward was? A spaghetti dinner at the Elks Club and a little tro- phy." Actually, the trophy was one of those popular mini-statues of the Nittany Lion shrine, which the athletic depart- ment used in those days to reward play- ers and coaches who won team or indi- vidual championships. However, the real prize from the Final SEE PRATO PAGE 60

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