Blue White Illustrated

Fox Chapel coach who went on to be- come Penn State's head of football oper- ations. But it was Paterno's visit to his home that clinched it all. "Paterno came to my house and sat with my parents," Thorpe recalled. "His big thing in the conversation wasn't about football but more on the academ- ics. He [told] my dad he couldn't guar- antee an NFL career, but said, 'I promise you he will graduate.' " Thorpe graduated with a degree in telecommunications and eventually be- came a successful entrepreneur and businessman, but fresh out of school he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He applied for a sales position at Shaw In- dustries, one of the leading flooring companies in the world, with Paterno as a reference, and therein is another rea- son why Chris is so loyal to Paterno and Penn State. When the owner of the company, Bob Shaw, heard about the neophyte with Paterno's name on the application, he didn't believe it. "Bob was a big sports fan. So he calls the number," Chris said, laughing as he related what happened. "Bob later told this story in every meeting we had. Joe wasn't in the office but called him back that night. Joe said, 'I know what Chris Thorpe can do. Tell me why he should work for Shaw Industries.' Bob said, 'The next thing I know I'm trying to sell my million dollar company to Joe Pa- terno on why Chris Thorpe should come work for us.' " A Penn State lifer Thorpe spent a couple of years with Shaw, and in the early 1990s, he hooked up with another Penn State teammate, wide receiver Ray Roundtree, and started a company building private cable TV systems. He bought out Roundtree in 2001 and still runs the reorganized com- pany, CMG Media Ventures. Around the time Thorpe and Roundtree were getting their business up and running, he met his future wife, Nikki, at a church convention. C.J. is the youngest of their three children. Daugh- ter Christin graduated from Hampton University and will receive her master's degree in social work from Pitt this spring. Their other son, Nicholas (nick- named Niko), is preparing for his senior year at Fordham, where he is a starting linebacker. And, yes, Joe Moorhead, the former Fordham head coach who is now Penn State's offensive coordinator, re- cruited Niko and helped Franklin and Terry Smith pursue C.J. Chris is obviously a Penn State lifer, and all his children came under the unique spell of Nittany Lion football. But he said he didn't push C.J. toward the Lions. "I probably pushed other schools more than Penn State," he said. "C.J. was familiar with the whole at- mosphere. [The family would] go up for spring games, all the big games. My kids have grown up with the guys I played with – Blair Thomas, Quintus McDon- ald, Leroy Thompson, all those guys. They're like uncles to [my children]. When Coach Smith met C.J., he was in the eighth grade. Terry came over to the house, looked at C.J. and [kidded] him, 'You're just a fat kid on the field.' (Laughs) And that's just the kind of rela- tionship he's had with everybody up at Penn State. Those guys are just honest with him. They're like family. "But I didn't want C.J. to be swayed to think that his experience was going to be the same as my experience. He would say, 'Dad, what do you think?' And I would say, 'You have to go somewhere where if you weren't playing football you would still want to go there.' I said, 'I got injured early. When my football career was over, I had no thought of leaving Penn State. That is where I wanted to be regardless of whether I played football or not. You have to find your own path.' And he did." By now, readers should understand why I believe Chris and C.J. Thorpe epitomize the concept of Penn State's legacy recruit tradition. It started long before Joe Paterno and will continue into the decades ahead. You don't have to be a Penn Stater yourself to appreciate it, but if Penn State is in your blood or her- itage, as it is in mine, you are an ex- tended part of it all. ■ A Penn State football book by Lou Prato with a forward by Adam Taliaferro The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions Price: $14.95 plus shipping Published by Triumph Books (soft cover) Autographed copies available via louprato@comcast.net or through Lou Prato & Associates at 814-954-5171 Autographed copies of Lou's book We Are Penn State: The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions are still available via louprato@comcast.net or through Lou Prato & Associates at 814-954-5171. Price: $19.95 plus tax where applicable and shipping

• Cover