Bear Creek Twp. man seeks PSU board seat

BEAR CREEK TWP. – Will Kresge has a passion – Penn State – the university and the football program.

Kresge, 67, of Bear Creek Township, wants to take his passion for the Blue & White to the Penn State University Board of Trustees. The retired engineer is running for an alumni seat on the board, a position that is elected by Penn State alumni.

"This recent fiasco, well, I believe it rests right with the board of trustees," Kresge said. "Had they blown the whistle on Jerry Sandusky 10 years ago and turned him in, this would have been a Sandusky scandal, not a Penn State scandal."

Kresge said he has been active with Penn State both locally and at the main campus for many years.

He said he has been told the board conducted a "group think" before announcing the firings of former head football coach Joe Paterno and President Graham Spanier. He said the board was probably going to "get rid of Paterno" anyway after the football season and that this gave them "an out."

"Paterno said he was going to leave after the season, so why not let him do that?" Kresge asked. "Here is a person (Paterno) who dedicated his life to Penn State and donated much of his savings. If he sat on his hands and did nothing, it would be different, but he reported what he knew to his bosses."

Kresge said he is actively campaigning for the seat, one of three that will go to the highest vote getters among alumni. All declared candidates who get the required number of nominating signatures will go on a ballot that will be distributed to all PSU alums. The new board members will be seated in mid-May.

Kresge graduated from Penn State in 1966 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. His first position was with the UGI Corp., where he progressed from an engineering assistant to assistant manager of operations. In 1973, he and a partner formed the consulting engineering firm Utility Engineers Inc. that later became the architectural/engineering firm Quad Three Group.

Kresge served on the first board of trustees of the Luzerne County Community College. He sat on an advisory panel to combine three local hospitals into a single new hospital -- Geisinger Wyoming Valley. He has served on an advisory board for Penn State Wilkes-Barre.

He is married to his wife of 47 years, Betty. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.