Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/503016
Caldwells still wanted to live there. But
he knew he could not keep both his Ver-
mont and Pennsylvania houses unless he
found the right job. He took a part-time
job with Orvis, a catalog company with
roots back to 1856 that specializes in out-
door clothing and equipment.
"I went to work for their :agship store
up there," Spider said. "I was a greeter for
a while. It was a tourist attraction. People
came in from all over the world. They'd
be wearing a college or NFL sweatshirt or
hat and I'd talk college football with them.
That would lead to Penn State, and it be-
came known who I was and what I was
doing there. When Penn State fans came
in they'd recognize me, and it was a blast."
When the store managers learned about
Spider's background, they asked him to
help reorganize their four storerooms. He
was a big hit, but the conversations about
Penn State were making him homesick.
Spider wanted to see another Penn State
game. So he and Linda returned for the
White Out game against Ohio State on
Oct. 25. He didn't know what to expect
because he had always been working from
dawn until late at night, and tailgating
was completely new to him.
"We tailgated with Dan Delligatti and
some other former players over near the
baseball stadium," Spider said. "I wanted
to walk over to the BJC Founders [Room]
lot where the lettermen park and see a
bunch of guys. It took me an hour to make
that short walk. I had fans and people
coming up to me that I didn't know thank-
ing me for everything I did for Penn State
and not being afraid to talk about Coach
Paterno. I was overwhelmed and I couldn't
believe it. We were almost at the Founders
lot and Karen looked at me and said, 'You
have to come back. This is where you be-
long. The people love you here.' And I
knew it."
And that was before he spent the game
roaming the sideline near the Penn State
bench, talking to the players and coaches.
That made him even more determined to
return.
Brad Caldwell has always been popular
with the players and coaches, dating back
to his years as a student manager. In fact,
one of those players from the 1980s, Del-
ligatti, a walk-on who never earned a
letter, gave money to have the Lasch equip-
ment room named a