News

June 25, 2007

PSU fans don Hokie colors, salute victims

At the annual Blue-White Game, Joe Paterno and his players praise fans for their support of the Virginia Tech community.

JERRY KELLAR jkellar@timesleader.com

UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State’s annual rite of spring – the Blue-White Game – became more a tribute to Virginia Tech’s Chicago maroon and burnt orange on Saturday.

And Joe Paterno couldn’t have been prouder.

A large portion of the estimated 71,000 fans on hand at Beaver Stadium wore some form of Hokies’ school colors as a way of honoring the 32 victims of Monday’s tragic shootings on the Blacksburg, Va., campus.

“To see all these kids and all these people around campus,” Paterno said, his voice filling with emotion, “there’s something about intercollegiate athletics that’s special. You’re almost fascinated by it and proud to be a part of it.

“It’s a better world than we think it is.”

Like so many people, Paterno has been touched by the tragedy. He and his wife, Sue, are close friends with Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer and his wife, Cheryl. Also, Hokies athletic director Jim Weaver was an assistant on one of Paterno’s first Nittany Lions teams in the late 1960s.

Paterno said he hasn’t had success getting through to coach Beamer this week.

“After everything settles down I’ll try to get ahold of him.”

Near the end of his pre-scrimmage press conference, Paterno, eyes welling, read a poem from a book about General Stonewall Jackson that was sent to the coach by Cheryl Beamer.

The passage referred to the many young men and women who risk their lives defending their country’s honor, and our freedom.

“It really hit me,” he said.

Penn State’s players (Fairfax, Va., resident and sophomore tailback Evan Royster knew two of Monday’s victims and went to high school with the shooter Seung-Hui Cho) were equally impressed by Saturday’s massive show of unity.

“For our fans, who are as supportive as they are for us, to wear (Virginia Tech’s) colors, I thought that was fantastic,” quarterback Anthony Morelli said.

Corner Lydell Sargeant said: “We’re blessed to be here, to be alive.”

Earlier, Paterno showed reporters a Virginia Tech baseball cap that was presented to him by the girlfriend of former Penn State student and Bellefonte native Jeremy Herbstritt. A grad student completing his master’s in engineering at Virginia Tech, Herbstritt was among the victims wounded fatally by the lone gunman.

Herbstritt’s father works in Penn State’s physical plant.

Paterno praised Penn State’s students, almost all of whom wore maroon and orange on Saturday, as well as the fans in general. He even credited his wife for getting into the spirit of things.

“She had to dig around and find something maroon and orange,” he announced, smiling.

“They’re here because of their love for Penn State, yet their love is deep enough that it covers across two states. It’s a great day for college athletics and a great day for college institutions.”

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