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succeeded by one of his longtime assis- tants, Mel Franks, who retired at the end of 1964. During their tenures, their re- sponsibilities not only included han- dling the football team but also working with the basketball, baseball, gymnas- tics, soccer and wrestling teams. Buchenhorst was a character. Dan Radakovich, a standout linebacker in the 1950s who would later become an assis- tant coach and the man primarily re- sponsible for Penn State's reputation as Linebacker U, remembers chasing Buck- enhorst through a train carrying the Penn State team back from a game at Virginia in 1955. "I was lying on the top bunk of the double bunk bed in the stateroom," Radakovich recalled in his recent book, "Bad Rad: Football Nomad." "The door opens up and Oscar sticks his head in and starts screaming my name and yelling that I was 'lower than a snake in the grass.' I had no idea what he was screaming about, so I jumped off the bunk and went after him as he took off. I chased him through four railroad cars trying to catch him. He was screaming as he was running, yelling, 'Either Radakovich goes or I go and I've been here 23 years.' … After running through four railroad cars, some players stopped me. … I guess I'm lucky I didn't catch him because I might have hurt him bad." Afterward, Radakovich learned what had triggered the equipment manager's outburst. One of Buckenhorst's respon- sibilities was to ensure all the players were on the train. Another player who was late told Buckenhorst he had to wait for Radakaovich, angering the equip- ment manager, but Radakovich had ac- tually been one of the first players on the train. "I never talked to Oscar again," Radakovich remembered. Mel Franks was mellower than Buchenhorst and so were the two men who followed Franks, John Tomko (1965- 68) and Ed O'Hara (1969-70). Then came the man with a Penn State football pedigree unequalled by any other Nit- tany Lions equipment manager. John Nolan had been an outstanding tackle and a co-captain of Penn State's great undefeated Cotton Bowl team of 1947. He returned to Penn State as a graduate assistant, became the head equipment manager in 1971 and hired Shope as his top assistant. In 1979, Shope succeeded Nolan, and in '86, Shope hired Brad "Spider" Caldwell, a senior manager for the '85 team that lost the national champi- onship game to Oklahoma in the Or- ange Bowl. Like Spider, Shope and Nolan were well-liked by the players they encoun- tered during their tenures in the equip- ment room. Yet, upon their retirements, neither they nor their predecessors at- tracted the attention Spider has received from the fans and the media since his surprise announcement. Spider's likeable and amiable every- man personality despite his physical handicap was at the root of his populari- ty. The first time he met someone, he treated them like a friend, whether it was an obscure walk-on freshman, an overbearing reporter or a big-shot donor touring the football facilities. However, I believe it was the modern- day saturation of college football cover- age through television, radio, the Inter- net and social media that gave Spider the popularity unmatched by the nine men who preceded him. In essence, Spi- der represented all that was good about the much-maligned Penn State football culture that had been battered by the Sandusky scandal. Perhaps that is why Spider's departure has had such an emotional impact on fans and many in the media. With the death of Joe Paterno and wholesale changes in Penn State's football program under new coach James Franklin, Spider was the last link to the glorious legacy of the Rip Engle-Paterno eras dating back to 1950. To quote a newly elected President Kennedy upon succeeding Dwight Eisenhower in a monumental genera- tional change 45 years ago, "The torch has been passed." ■ 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

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