Blue White Illustrated

rest of the year, including the lackluster loss to Stanford in the Blockbuster Bowl. He was not happy, but leaving wasn't an option. "I never thought about transferring the whole time," Richardson said. "When Ron Powlus came up on his official visit, I ran into him Saturday night on College Avenue and he told me he heard I'm transferring. I told him I was going to be right here. When I chose Penn State my folks told me it was my decision, but when you make it you have stick with it. "Before my sophomore season I told Joe [Paterno] because of the way my first year went [that] if I didn't start I wanted to redshirt. When John Sacca left the team after our third game at Iowa, Kerry took over. Craig Fayak was the backup, but I continued working with the team. Fortu- nately, I never had to go into a game and I didn't even make the trip for our last two games." Richardson didn't get much playing time in 1994, either. Collins was so durable in leading the Lions' offensive blitzkrieg to that historic undefeated Rose Bowl season that Richardson was hardly on the field. He threw only 33 passes, completing 16 without an interception for 177 yards. The 1995 and '96 seasons belonged to Richardson. With some rebuilding in '95, Penn State came back from three midsea- son defeats in Big Ten competition to thrash Auburn in the Outback Bowl, 43- 14, and finish with a 9-3 record. The next year, the Nittany Lions wound up seventh in the polls with an 11-2 mark and a 38-15 victory over Texas in the Fiesta Bowl. When he graduated, Richardson was fifth in school history in career passing yards. Despite the increase in passing by Penn State in recent years, he is still 10th in ca- reer passing. As he looks back on his Penn State play- ing career, Richardson said he has no re- grets. "We were a ball-control team, and our offense wasn't very imaginative. But we had a lot of good football players, and it didn't matter at the time what we were running because people had to stop us," he said. "More often than not, they were unable to do that. I remember a couple of games we didn't get the job done but I don't lose sleep over it. Even though we were not a pass-happy offense, there were a lot of times I threw the ball 30 to 35 times during a game. The problem was, we were still running play-action passes and no one respected the fake when it was third-and-12." Bleeding blue and white Since taking over the Letterman's Club, Richardson has concentrated on improv- ing communication between the Penn State football staff and the players of the past. "We do this on a regular basis with a newsletter each month and a listserv [over the internet] just so they know what's happening," he said. "The biggest thing I want to do moving forward is to make sure we keep guys engaged with what's going on here and be comfortable in coming back. We don't want them feeling bashful about going over to the Lasch Building, introducing themselves to the coaches and staff and getting to know those guys. We want them to feel connected and feel good about things that are going on, because each guy who's gone through this program has sacrificed time, body parts and missing holidays with families, among other things." Retirement is beyond the horizon, but he knows he will go back to the South to be closer to his family, including his mother and two younger brothers. "These are some good earning years for me," Richardson said. "I'm trying to do things now that will help me be success- ful moving forward. I made up my mind a long time ago I'm going to retire down South someplace. I don't know where it's going to be yet." No matter where he winds up, Penn State will always be part of him. "I bleed blue and white," he said. Actually, Richardson has literally bled for the blue and white. Giving back in his postgraduate career has been like a recur- ring blood donation that few Nittany Lion football players from the South or any- where else can equal. ■ 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

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