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P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> ond round) and tight end Vyto Kab (fourth round). Contz knew he would get some negative reaction to his claim that the 1982 team is one of the greatest in college football his- tory, particularly from SMU and Ne- braska factions that have disputed Penn State's title for 35 years. So he devotes a chapter, entitled "Rebuttals," to the pros and cons of his and their points of view. His narrative about Nebraska is particu- larly enjoyable, concluding with a hu- morous scene at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas involving sportscaster Bob Costas and Kirk Bowman, the Lion tight end who was nicknamed "Stonehands" for his inept receiving but who nevertheless made the winning touchdown catch in Penn State's last-second 27-24 win over Nebraska. Telling the players' stories While working on his manuscript, Contz started looking for a publisher. Jay Paterno helped put him in contact with Tom Bast, the editorial director at Tri- umph Books in Chicago, which special- izes in regional sports books. Triumph not only published the 2014 bestseller "Paterno Legacy" but four of my books dating to "What It Means To Be a Nittany Lion" in 2006 that I co-wrote with another Penn Stater, Scott Brown. Scott was assigned to assist Contz as his ghostwriter. "Tom said I needed to have a name like [Todd] Blackledge on the cover, and the story had to be com- pelling," Contz said. The self-admitted "obscure offensive lineman" knew that Blackledge, quarterback of the 1982 team, was a natural fit because he had become the most famous member of the squad thanks to his role as a popular football broadcaster for ABC/ESPN. "I already had targeted Todd as one of the 30 or so players I was going to interview. Todd agreed immediately to do the fore- word, and later we inserted his running commentary throughout the book. "In April of 2016, I began doing my in- terviews. And it was a domino effect. When Scott Brown started reading some of the players' stories, he said they were un- real. That was flattering, but these were stories I already knew existed and I thought everybody knew about them because they had been documented at some point. The real amazing thing to me was that when I brought up some- thing to a player, he would have another story. The memories were amazing and so vivid and their recollections were dif- ferent, slightly in some cases and some cases maddeningly different than mine. And I was becoming a fan of what my teammates were telling me was happen- ing on the other side of the practice field. While [offensive line coach] Dick Anderson and I are working at the two- man blocking sled, on the other end of the field Joe is reading the riot act to [defensive end] Al Harris or Gregg Gar- rity. And to hear these guys describe being singled out by Paterno in front of your peers was a fate worse than death. Paterno had his unique style, and I don't know anybody who was exempt when he thought he saw something wrong. "I use an example in the book. Al Har- ris told the story. It was during a practice in 1981, and Sean Farrell is an All-Amer- ican, the team captain and one of the best players on the team. Harris is prac- ticing against Farrell. And Joe comes running up from 100 yards away and he says to Farrell, 'Your father's a doctor, HISTORY MAKER Bowman pulls in the decsive touch- down catch in Penn State's rous- ing and controver- sial victory over Nebraska. BWI file photo

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