Blue White Illustrated

of their love for Pitt and their constant needling of anything Penn State. The crusty, wisecracking Cook, who went on to become a national college football celebrity working for ABC and ESPN, was rarely seen wearing a tie but was hardly ever without his sweat rag towel, a clipboard and pencil. Borghetti is a polite coat-and-tie guy who could easily be mistaken for a sharply dressed lawyer. Both are native Pittsburghers but Beano, who was very smart, was not a classroom wiz at Brown and Pitt (gradu- ating in 1954), while Borghetti is a 1992 magna cum laude Pitt grad born into Panther football royalty. His dad, Ernie, was an All-America tackle on one of Pitt's greatest teams in 1963. Beano, who passed away in 2012, was a virtual one-man band in his heyday, which predated the Internet and cable TV. He mostly used newspapers to nee- dle Penn State with his trademark sar- donic brand of humor, whereas Borghet- ti takes advantage of all the multimedia tools available these days, using a more subtle, respectful approach. He has been especially active since the hiring of the Pat Narduzzi as Pitt's head coach before last season. When David Garth, a Post-Gazette as- sistant managing editor and Penn State alum, wrote an op-ed column in late Jan- uary tweaking Pitt fans for "being stuck in the past" and jabbing them for playing in "a half-full Heinz Field," Borghetti quickly responded with a letter to the editor mocking Garth as a grouch wear- ing "blue-and-white colored glasses" and rooting for a team that "can no longer avoid Pitt on the football field." In a March 7 post on Twitter, Borghetti displayed the celebratory cover of Pitt's student newspaper, the Pitt News, after the Panthers beat Penn State, 12-0, in their last meeting in 2000. The full-page colored cover photo with the headline "Last Laugh" showed a hulking No. 57 [defensive lineman Bryan Knight] salut- ing sarcastically over the prone Penn State quarterback [Rashad Casey] flat on his back after an apparent sack. Borghet- ti's tweet simply said, "The interesting things you find while spring cleaning." Another commonality: Like Cook, Borghetti is very good at his job. Al- though Beano sometimes got into trou- ble with Pitt's brass when he occasional- ly stepped over the line, like openly crit- icizing his own head coach, he had the respect of most media members across the nation, and that eventually led to his hiring by ABC Sports and ESPN. Except for Borghetti's needling of Penn State, he is the consummate diplomatic college sports public relations person. This past season, his Pitt operation was again named one of the "Super 11" sports in- formation departments by the Football Writers Association of America, the third time since the creation of the award seven years ago. Some readers may be surprised that a loyal Penn State guy like me is being so positive about two Pitt athletic depart- ment stalwarts. But I grew up in Indiana, Pa., and was a Pitt fan until I enrolled at Penn State and saw my first game, the now-classic duel between Lenny Moore and Jim Brown in the Syracuse game of 1955. A year later, I met Beano while I was on the staff of The Daily Collegian, and we became friends for life. Beano had his faults, but once a friend, always a friend. I am just getting to know Borghetti after we began cooperating on a historical re- search project in 2011 about the first time Pitt and Penn State wore numbers on their uniforms in 1908 – another story I wrote for BWI. He's been nothing but first class in our commutations since then. We also have the same sentiments about the annual football series. "Like many football fans in the com- monwealth, I grew up with Pitt-Penn State," Borghetti told me. "It was our neighborhood battle, but people coast to coast reveled in it. It was must-see TV. In the conference expansion age where classic rivalries are dying, there has nev- er been a better time to reinstate this game on an annual basis." A 'truly must-win game' When I wrote that BWI column in Jan- uary 2005, my rationale for not resum- ing the series annually was based prima- rily on two factors. The first was that the game lost its impact when the teams could not play at the end of the regular season. Playing the game in late August or September, I wrote, "would take away the tension, finality and bitterness that dominated most of the Penn State-Pitt games in the past and made it so mean- ingful. Furthermore, even a defeat would MEN'S BASKETBALL Lions to face Pitt on hardwood in December Penn State is set to face Pitt as part of the inaugural Never Forget Tribute Clas- sic on Dec. 10 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The event is a double- header featuring 2016 NCAA men's champion Villanova vs. Notre Dame, fol- lowed by the Panthers vs. the Nittany Lions. The event will partner with the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, which helps support the education of children of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "It is an incredible honor for our program to be a part of this inaugural event in helping to honor the families of Sept. 11 victims, especially the Penn State alums who lost their lives in the attacks," Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said. The CBS Sports Network will air the game at approximately 2:30 p.m., and it will be available on CBS Sports Radio. Established within one week of Sept. 11, 2001, the Families of Freedom Scholar- ship Fund provides education assistance for postsecondary study to financially needy dependents of the people killed or permanently disabled in the terrorist attacks. The fund has already delivered millions of dollars in scholarship support and will continue to offer education assistance through the year 2030, ultimately delivering more than $100 million to affected family members. Pitt and Penn State will be meeting for the 146th time but only the second time since 2005. The two teams last met Dec. 3, 2013, a 78-69 home win for the Panthers.

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