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Safety No. 3: Penn State is in a four- man line, and Reid cannot be seen in the film. Morgan is the left end with no blocker in front of him because the Terps' right end is split wide. The left tackle is No. 76, two-year starter Dave Rowe. He is between Maryland's right guard and right tackle. McBath, the right tackle, is between the center and right guard with right end Frank Pringle just outside Maryland's left end. When the ball is snapped, three blockers take on Rowe and McBath, while the Terps' right tackle completely controls Morgan. Rowe breaks away from the blocker and surges toward the quarterback, Petry. Pringle throws the halfback aside, and when Petry moves left to avoid Rowe, Pringle forces him toward the back line deep in the end zone. As Petry is about to throw, Pringle hits his arm, sending the ball spiraling away toward the right end line. At that instant, Rowe and Mc- Bath are 5 to 8 yards from Pringle and the quarterback, and the ball eventually caroms out of bounds. Neither the Centre Daily Times nor The Daily Collegian made any mention of Reid's involvement in the third safety, although Riley did in the Football Letter. Obviously, the alleged record was not significant at the time. Based on my intense study of the game film, the only Penn State player involved in all three safeties is not Reid but Mike McBath. Reid told me on the phone from his home in Nashville that he hardly re- members the game. "I think I blocked a kick in the end zone, but that's it." McBath, then a junior, may be one of the most underrated defensive tackles in Penn State history. He was virtually a three-year starter but is overlooked be- cause he was a transition player on two teams that finished 5-5 – Rip Engle's 1965 squad and Paterno's '66 team. Yet it was McBath, by then a senior, who helped the sophomore-laden 1967 de- fense salvage Paterno's coaching career by turning that season around. McBath played five years with the Buf- falo Bills before becoming a successful stockbroker and investment counselor in Orlando. He is now the president- chairman of the NFL Retired Players As- sociation, which is deeply involved in the NFL lawsuit and settlement over concussions. McBath doesn't remember much about the game, either. "I remember be- ing somewhat involved in one safety but nothing else," he said from his home in Orlando. I then described in detail what I had seen on the game film and that he, not Reid, was the only lineman involved with all three safeties. He was not sur- prised that Reid was credited with the last safety. "During any era, but especially way back before all the video was available, it all depends on who's writing it up," Mc- Bath said. "Did they really watch the play? Did they listen to the guy sitting beside him? It's like sacks. You could be the one forcing the quarterback out of the pocket and then he runs into the other guy who gets the credit for the sack. The film [or video] is the only true answer to all of that." *** In The Daily Collegian's coverage of the game, there is a story headlined "Mike Reid Stars in Season Debut," that contains a prescient quote from Paterno as he compares his sophomore lineman to Penn State's 1964 consensus All- American Glenn Ressler, a three-year starting middle guard who won the Maxwell Award that season and eventu- ally was inducted into the College Foot- ball Hall of Fame: "Right now he's better than Glenn Ressler at a comparable stage of development. If he improves the way we expect him to, Mike will be one of the greatest linemen in Penn State history." Reid certainly is. A second knee injury in the first game of the 1967 season against Navy forced him to take a red- shirt that year. However, he returned to become the acknowledged inspirational leader and co-captain of the great 1968 and '69 undefeated teams that finished No. 2 in the country. Not only did Reid win the Maxwell Award in '69 but also the Outland Award as college football's outstanding interior lineman. He re- mains the only Nittany Lion to receive that trophy. In 1987, Reid became the 14th Penn State player enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, and in 1995 the NCAA honored Reid with its Silver An- niversary Award given to former athletes who distinguish themselves in their pro- fessions. Reid, an accomplished pianist, ended his five-year All-Pro stint with the Cincinnati Bengals to concentrate on his music and became a Grammy Award-winning country songwriter and performer. Most Penn State sports historians tab either Reid or Ressler as Penn State's greatest interior defensive lineman. However, despite all his accolades, Mike Reid should not be credited with a school-record three safeties in one game, one season or career. Perhaps he is tied for the record with two safeties, but more research is needed to determine that. Sorry, Mike. ■

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