The State of Things in 1964
In 1964, the year of my matriculation to Penn State, the following things were true:
- Joe Paterno was an assistant to Rip Engle
- Girls had to live in women-only dorms unless they were 21 or married
- Jerry Sandusky was playing defensive end and also played offense
- Girls had to be back in the dorm at 11:30 on weeknights and 1:00 on weekends
- Pittsburgh still had operating street car lines
- Dick Anderson was a graduate assistant who taught my phys ed class
- The only State Store in Centre County was in Bellefonte
- Galen Hall was already an ex-quarterback
- The academic year was comprised of four quarters
- Mike McQueary wasn’t born yet
- Glenn Ressler was our only All-America team member
- It was the Look All-America Team then, sponsored by a long defunct weekly picture magazine
- We smoked cigarettes and pipes in class
- Beaver Stadium held about 45,000 people
- Players played both ways, offense and defense
- In State College, bars served beer but not liquor
- The Pitt game was the big rivalry, it was always the last game of the year, and I always froze my ass
- A gallon of gas cost $0.29
- The Nittany Lions played a 5-3 defense, because defending the run was what it was all about
- Cornerbacks were called defensive halfbacks
- Lyndon B. Johnson was the President of the United States
- Since the run was the thing, the offense lined up with two halfbacks, a fullback, and two ends
- The fullback was always the most productive runner.
- The fullback in 1964 was Tommy Urbanik.
- You could buy a new, fully equipped, full-sized car for $3000
- Syracuse used to kick our ass regularly
- Elizabeth Taylor was totally hot in Cleopatra
- Freshmen were not allowed to play varsity football, so there was a freshman team
- All freshmen except commuters had to live in the dorms
- The unranked Nittany Lions trounced the #2 Buckeyes in Columbus, 27-0
- There were no such things as co-ed dorms
- Our quarterback was Gary Wydman, backed up by Jack White
- The Steelers sucked
- The Pirates were good
- Jenny wasn’t born yet
- Neither were some of the McCabe Sisters
We’re talking 43 years ago here, folks. Boy, am I old! But I hope these factoids were fun for you.
If anyone else is still alive from that period, please post your reminiscences in the comments below.
Thanks!
—TNT
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JED says
Syracuse would paint the Lion orange on an yearly basis,causing much pontificating across central Pa. …….Ah yes, the 1:00 A.M. rule ….and making out in the stairwells as you waited to be thrown to the streets by the dorm mother. Came home in “70 after 4 yrs of USN and went back to school and couldn’t fathom the changes ( All for my betterment , may I add) Damn you turkey, you make me feel like a geezer this morning!!!!
The Nittany Turkey says
Ahhh, yes, Jed…I remember being part of an organized all-night effort to guard the Lion shrine from the marauding Orangemen on the eve of one Syracuse game—vaguely, I might add, because we were all guilty of doing what got Quarless, Harriott, Suhey, and Breen in trouble. We were crocked, and we couldn’t have defended shit. Besides, we were more interested in the sweet young things who were providing the coffee. (Those sweet young things now being grandmas, of course.)
During my time there, the ad hoc committee in loco parentis began demanding the changes that would eventually become unfathomable for you upon your return from national service.
It could be worse, geezerwise. At least you and I are still here. At least three guys from my sophomore dorm floor who have gone to that great underage drinking party in the sky.
And then, there were the “make-out rooms” in the girls’ dorms where the lamps next to the concrete sofas were specially adapted to accommodate 500-watt industrial light bulbs…
—TNT
John A. Johnson says
Thanks a million for posting these pics of Beaver Stadium, Ben! I’m not quite the geezer you are, but I have been attending games from 1960, when I was 6 years old, through the present. I might even be in the photo that shows the south end zone bleachers, where I sat when I was a kid. Tickets for the bleachers back then were $1.00 per game. Extra point kicks often flew over the bleachers, and we kids would try to retrieve the ball. I remember we had a good punter, Frank Hershey, back in 1964. Once he boomed a kick that went something like 63 yards.
The Nittany Turkey says
Hi John,
You’re welcome!
I remember those kids who used to chase the place kicks. As I recall, the parking lot guys used to sit in the south bleachers, too, wearing Day-Glo orange vests. I also remember Frank Hershey. I used to like to watch him kick booming punts to Mike Irwin in practice.
After the Pitt game in ’64, my dorm mates had to practically carry me back to East Halls and put me on a radiator to thaw me out. Perhaps it was memories of that 20 degree Pitt game that influenced my decisions through the years to live in warm climates.
—TNT
gary levitt says
1964 was my senior year. Remember “customs” ? Freshmen wearing beanies and singing the fight songs when requested. Freshmen girls giving name and phone numbers on request. The legend that the Obelisk would fall if a virgin female student ever passed by. The ‘skeller with its near beer. The all-male diners after curfew. Jack Harper’s. The Tavern. The whisper walls. Fall Pep rallies and summer semester movies on the Hub lawn. The Block S card section. (My wife and I designed the stunts and led the section). Peace corps training on campus. The fifty-mile JFK-inspired walks. The 1963 Pitt game being postponed by the assassination. Former President Eisenhower visiting his brother, the chancellor on Campus. Scheduling basketball games in Rec Hall after gymnastics or wrestling so someone would show up. Winning the Lambert Trophy and singing “There’s Pittsburgh with its Panther, and Penn her red and blue; there’s Dartmouth with its Indian and Yale her bulldog too; there’s Princeton with its Tiger and Cornell with its Bear — but speaking now of Victory, we’ll get the Lion’s share”. A long way from the Big Ten!
The Nittany Turkey says
Gary,
I certainly didn’t expect to hear from the Block S leader from back then. Thanks for your comments!
I remember everything you mentioned. Indeed I was a frequent, drunken denizen of the NCD after hours.
My claim to fame back then was that my photographs were used in the 1965-66 Penn Statesman, which was the freshman orientation guide. I never saw the pictures in the finished publication, but I knew they were there because someone asked me if I was the guy who took the pictures for the Penn Statesman.
Go Lions!
—TNT