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backer U.' Or maybe the grandfather." That was the beginning of the restoration of Radakovich as the true "father of Linebacker U" and my quest for the origin of the nickname. After retiring from my museum posi- tion at the end of 2005, I picked up the pace of my freelance writing, and that allowed me to do more research on the subject. In the next few months I uncovered enough new information to write an article for the Aug. 26, 2006, issue of BWI entitled "How 'Linebacker U' Got Its Name." I described Radakovich's background and the school's line- backer heritage dating back to its ini- tial first-team All-American, William "Mother" Dunn, and I went into detail about the outstanding players from the late 1950s through the mid- 2000s who have been responsible for the nickname. I explained how the nickname start- ed sometime in the 1970s. The first known reference in print that I could find was in the Dec. 31, 1978, edition of the Harrisburg Patriot-News, in a story about the upcoming national championship matchup against Ala- bama in the Sugar Bowl. "Penn State Hasn't Lost Its Linebacker U Reputa- tion," blared the headline in longtime Patriot beat reporter Ron Christ's sto- ry. "Ever since Penn State started sending linebackers off to the NFL," Christ wrote in his lead sentence, "Penn State is recognized as the place to go if you want quality linebackers." However, what I wrote in the first paragraph of that BWI story still holds true today, six years later: "No one seems to be able to pinpoint precisely who bestowed the nickname 'Linebacker U' on Penn State. Nor can anyone recall a date that the distinc- tive term first appeared in print, on the air, or even in a conversation." My sources included former veteran beat reporters like Christ, the Centre Daily Times' Doug McDonald and Ron Bracken and the Philadelphia Daily News' Bill Conlin and various Penn State athletic department figures, in- cluding Jim Tarman, Fran Fisher, Barry Jones and Dave Baker. About a year ago, while doing some research on Penn State basketball, I stumbled upon one slightly earlier – and obscure – reference to Linebacker U before Christ's story. It was in one of the bound volumes of athletic de- partment news releases in the sports information office, and had been is- sued sometime during the week of Sept 1-9, 1978, before the second game of that season against Rutgers. The release was about two of Penn State's outstanding defensive tackles, Bruce Clark and Matt Millen. Buried in the 19th paragraph of the release was this sentence regarding Clark: "Instead of a graduate of 'Linebacker U,' he has become a defensive tackle in the tradition of Mike Reid, Mike Hartenstine and Randy Crowder." I then looked through all the football news releases going back through the 1975 season and found no other ref- erence to Linebacker U. Going for- ward, I didn't find another mention of the nickname until this first sentence in an Oct. 26, 1980, release about then-junior linebacker Chet Parlavec- chio: "For Chet Parlavecchio, there never has been any doubt that he was a linebacker and that Penn State was 'Linebacker U.' " Perhaps there are news releases missing from these historical files, but even if found it does not appear that the nickname really caught on until the 1980s. Back to Radakovich and his autobi- ography. Dan is an indefatigable sto- ryteller. As I listened to one story af- ter another, I suggested that he write a book. I was not the only one, but at the Second Mile golf tournament in 2008 he asked me to help him write one. With my knowledge of the histo- ry of Penn State linebackers and the nickname, it was easy to help Dan tell the definitive story of Linebacker U – with one major exception. We still don't know who coined the nickname. However, Dan and I think it might have been the late ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell. In 1974 Dan was coaching the offensive line for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who would go on to win their first of four Super Bowls SEE PRATO PAGE 60

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