Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/969330
now are assigned specific areas, Penn State's recruiting south of West Virginia was practically nonexistent until the staff reached into Florida in 1980 for place kicker Nick Gancitano of Coral Gables and in 1982 for Tim Johnson. Those recruiting ventures later proved invaluable. Gancitano kicked field goals of 38 and 45 yards and three extra points to help Penn State win the 1983 Sugar Bowl and its first national champi- onship. Four years later, Johnson had an All-America season, leading the team in sacks as the Lions won their second na- tional title. "In 1982, we were looking high and low beyond our normal 300-mile radius of Pennsylvania for a guy who could be a good wideout," Bove recalled. "At that time, there were just a couple of recruit- ing services and any team could purchase them. Phil Grosz of Blue White Illustrated had one of those [G&W Recruiting Re- port]. He would give it to us, and that was within the NCAA rules, like an alumnus donating a gift-in-kind. Joe [Paterno] didn't pay any attention to it. I saw a highly rated option quarterback on Phil's list named Ray Roundtree from South Aiken High School in South Carolina. I didn't know where South Aiken was. We got some film of him and we were all impressed. He could fly with the wind." Someone on the football staff suggested they invite Roundtree's high school coach, Gary Smalley, to the summer foot- ball camp before Roundtree's senior sea- son. Smalley brought Roundtree with him. Upon learning from Grosz that Smalley loved fly-fishing, the coaching staff brought in Joe Humphreys, the former Penn State wrestler who has become world famous in that popular recreational sport. By the time Smalley flew back home with memories of fishing with Humphreys in the famed Spruce Creek where Jimmy Carter, Bob Knight and other celebrities had once fished, he was hooked, so to speak. Smalley's South Aiken High School was relatively new, hav- ing opened in 1980 to accom- modate the growing population of the small town near the WALLY WORLD Richardson led the Nittany Lions to a 20-5 record as the team's starting quarterback in 1995 and '96. Photo by Steve Manuel