Blue White Illustrated

Even in what became Bruno's greatest game, the 1987 Fiesta Bowl, he was obliv- ious to his average. And yet he averaged 43.4 yards on nine punts. In what is re- membered as a titan defensive perform- ance by the Nittany Lions against the powerful Miami offense, Bruno's punts were crucial to the 14-10 victory, forcing the Hurricanes to start most of their of- fensive drives deep in their own territory. Except for recovered fumbles and inter- ceptions, Miami never took possession past the 36-yard line. One of his punts was downed at the Miami 2-yard line, and another went out of bounds at the 9. Penn State's upset of the then-No. 1 Hurricanes has been credited to a defen- sive scheme that confused Miami's Heis- man Trophy-winning quarterback, Vinny Testaverde, and the aggressive, crushing tackling that caused five sacks, four fum- bles, multiple dropped passes and five in- terceptions, including the famous last-second one at the goal line by Pete Giftopoulos. Two-time All-America linebacker Shane Conlan deserved his award as the game's outstanding defen- sive player, but as Joe Paterno would say later, "We wouldn't have won without [Bruno]." Author and longtime Philadelphia radio host Mike Missanelli, who wrote the de- finitive book about Penn State's 1986 na- tional championship entitled "The Perfect Season," asserts that "Bruno may have been the Nittany Lions' most valu- able player that night." Missanelli devotes several pages in his book to Bruno, from his upbringing through his untimely death, and includ- ing his recruitment as an invited walk-on by assistant coach Fran Ganter, who had married Bruno's second cousin Karen. His actual name was John Bruno Jr. and he was Blue and White through and through. His father, John Sr., grew up outside of Greensburg, Pa., and had been recruited in 1953 to play football as a halfback for Penn State by a young assistant coach named Joe Paterno. But he had the bad luck of playing behind Lenny Moore and other more-talented players and lettered only as a senior in 1956. His jersey num- ber was 11, and John Jr. made sure he wore his dad's old number when he walked-on 25 years later. John Sr. went to work as a metallurgical engineer for the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. and moved his family of four around before returning to the Pittsburgh area, where John Jr. became a popular three-sport athlete at Upper St. Clair. John Sr. also sent his older daughter Cheryl to Penn State, and before he passed away in June 2015 after a 15-year fight against Parkinson's disease, he had been a regular at Penn State games for decades. Despite John Jr.'s distinctive punting ex- pertise, it was his inherent wit and care- free spirit off the field three nights before the overly hyped "Duel in the Desert" na- tional championship game against Miami that made him a Penn State legend. Long- time Nittany Lion fans are familiar with Sandwiches • Salads • Spuds • Soups • Sweet Tea HUB-Robeson Center • On-Campus mcalistersdeli.com he ic w nd a S • s ad al S • s u o S • s ud Sp T t ee w S • s p u a e T

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