Meeting the Penn State fans

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
1

<p>We were lucky to get tickets to the game.</p>

<p>The day started hot, so people started heading to the Ferg for relief.</p>

<p>Soon, Penn St fans started coming in as well. A few seemed a little hesitant coming into an area full Crimson, but they soon were welcomed by Bama fans. </p>

<p>Soon we were all eating together and watching sports on many of the flat screens in the Ferg.</p>

<p>By the time it started raining, the Ferg was absolutely packed…people literally sitting everywhere…on steps, in halls, everywhere. But, everyone was happy, cool, and dry! :slight_smile: Some of the Penn St fans who had driven in for the game, were sleeping in chairs…LOL</p>

<p>I had the pleasure of speaking to many Penn State families. They couldn’t get over how nice everyone was to them and how beautiful everything was. The Calif people last week said the same thing.</p>

<p>The Penn St people all mentioned that we all have to come up to PA for next year’s game.</p>

<p>anyway…for anyone who is wondering how “outsiders” are treated at Bama…they should just talk to some San Jose and Penn St fans.</p>

2

<p>My son said the Bama fans gave Joe Paterno a warm ovation when he entered the stadium. Very classy and well deserved.</p>

<p>His favorite sign: “Joe Pa’s still #1. Wait, that’s his Social Security number!”</p>

<p>I also noticed that several Bama players joined a group of Penn State players in a prayer circle upon the conclusion of the game. It’s nice to know that there’s still room for high level sports competition and sportsmanship to co-exist.</p>

3

<p>I didn’t see that sign :slight_smile: My D has always loved Joe P; she says she feels like he’s everyone’s grandpa. & I noticed that prayer circle too Malanai.</p>

<p>One of the shirts I liked best when we were on campus has a list of things about Bama fans one of which was “We don’t tear down the rush onto the field & tear down the goalposts after a game.” And other things in that vein. When we were watching the game yesterday, one of the UA players did a forward roll into the endzone when he scored; DH immediately said “oh, Nick is going to be in his face about that!” And when he went down the sidelines Coach Sabin was in his face immediately! Glad to see that he is a stickler for appropriate behavior.</p>

4

<p>My husband can also attest to how nice Bama fans are to their rival’s fans. He traveled there in 2006 for the UH-Bama game, and although he wears Bama t-shirts just about every day of his life here, when he went to that game he sported a UH hat and t-shirt. </p>

<p>He met some great Bama fans who actually thanked him for coming so far. He was surprised that no alcohol is served in the stadium, but some Bama folk were happy to share their secret to that “problem” with him :slight_smile: Now, if you’re a Tennessee fan, it may be a whole different story!</p>

5

<p>^^^</p>

<p>I helped paint that one for GameDay :-)</p>

<p>Unfortunately, security took some of our funnier signs. (a really good Masoli one comes to mind…)</p>

6

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<p>Ah, you’re a good man, kansasdemocrat. Lemme guess; your confiscated sign said something along the lines of, “Jeremiah Masoli Stole This!!”</p>

<p>[Oregon</a> Ducks dismiss quarterback Jeremiah Masoli for failure to adhere to obligations - ESPN](<a href=“http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5268741]Oregon”>http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5268741)</p>

7

<p>Malanai: If you had a chance to catch the Miami-Ohio State game, at the end, the players also joined together in prayer.</p>

<p>M2CK: My husband works in Pennsylvania. He wore his Alabama polo expecting to get some flak for it. Just the opposite. Many Penn State fans figured that the Tide would hammer the Lions.</p>

8

<p>You all may be interested in this article. These guys are salt of the earth people!! They are huge supporters of the Tide.</p>

<p>Also, the Columbia Pennsylvania High School Teams are also known as the “Crimson Tide”!! </p>

<p>The Unlikely True Story of the Alabama Booster Club of Bridgeport, Pa.
September 10, 2010 </p>

<p>This is the story of a group of Italian-Catholic guys from Pennsylvania who had to go a thousand miles to find a football coach to root for.
When I interviewed current University of Alabama president Robert Witt ’68 Ph.D. a few weeks ago, he mentioned a group of Pennsylvania residents who were among the Tide’s most loyal fans. I assumed they were Bama alumni who had relocated to the Keystone State, but Witt said he didn’t believe they were.
He was right. The membership of the Alabama Booster Club of Bridgeport, Pa., doesn’t include a single Penn Stater. Though logic dictates that maybe it should.
Instead, Johnny Nicola and about 30 of his family and close friends will be in Tuscaloosa this weekend to support the team they’ve been following for 40 years. Here’s how these guys from outside Philly came to idolize the pride of Southern football.
“My brother in law, Tony Chiccino, played for Coach Bryant at the University of Kentucky, and he was a teammate of Dude Hennessey, who became one of Coach Bryant’s assistants at Alabama,” Nicola explains. “Tony always said, ‘If you want to follow good football, you gotta go down south.’”
For what it’s worth, this was in the late ’60s, when a Penn State squad (that happened to be coached by an Italian Catholic guy) was on the verge of back-to-back unbeaten seasons. Nicola, though, was listening to his brother in law. Back to our story.
“So my brother Jerry and I took a trip down to Alabama in ’68, and the first place we went was the practice field. When practice was over, Coach Dude got Coach Bryant to come over and introduce himself. I was terrified. He was an imposing figure—that deep Southern drawl, and those eyes … he would stare through you. But I liked him from jump street. My couple days there, everything was Alabama football.”
It’s hard to blame Nicola and his brother for admiring Bryant and his program, or even for choosing to become Bama fans. But what came next, well, no one really expected.
“Around here,” Nicola says, “there’s Notre Dame clubs, plenty of Penn State alumni, so I said to my brother, we ought to start a booster club for Alabama.”
And so they did. They recruited fellow members and started making annual trips to see their beloved Tide. The club’s one by-law? In the event of Alabama winning a national championship, they would pay tribute by erecting a billboard.
In Bridgeport.
Alabama claims 13 national championships, including last year’s crown, and one of those came at the end of the 1978 season. The title was decided in the ‘79 Sugar Bowl, where Alabama beat… well, you know.
“We put it up on Route 202, on the bridge that separates Bridgeport from Norristown,” Nicola says. “The local paper said, ‘You threw salt in the wounds of the Nittany Lions.’ I have a lot of friends from Penn State. It wasn’t meant that way.
“Penn State just happened to be the victim.”
It’s been 40 mostly very good years for Nicola and his friends following Crimson Tide football. He got to know Bryant well, and late in 1979, the legendary coach even made a trip up to Bridgeport. Bryant flew up in a snowstorm, and among the guests at the banquet thrown in his honor were the parents of John Cappelletti ’74. “We had about 550 people who came out in a snowstorm,” Nicola says. “Coach Bryant signed autographs for every one of them.”
The Alabama Booster Club of Bridgeport has lost many of its original members, including Johnny’s brother Jerry, the former police chief and mayor of Bridgeport, who died last year. But Johnny is carrying on, content that he made the right choice of legendary coaches to follow, and happy to be rooting for the home team at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night.
“I know it seems funny, a Yankee, an Italian Catholic rooting for a team from the South,” Nicola laughs. “I always rooted for Coach Paterno, and I wish him the best. But my heart is in Dixie.”</p>

9

<p>Lol. There are a lot more italian catholics at bama these days. And I don’t just mean my kids. Lol. There is a large group of italians in birmingham and the brunos are big bama supporters. Bruno buidiness library is one example.</p>

10

<p>These stories are wonderful. Thanks to everyone for sharing them. I have a BS and MA from Bama so when I was living in the NYC area I joined the Metropolitan NYC Bama Alumni club. At that time (early 80’s) we were 300 strong and got tickets to games when we could. Went over to Happy Valley for a game with Penn State and their fans were very hospitable so it is nice to see that things have not changed. BTW, Bear and Joe Namath would regularly attend the club’s holiday party on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. </p>

<p>M2ck, I grew up in B’ham with a lot of Italian Catholics. When I was at UA, we had a tailback by the name of Johnnie Musso who I used to see at Mass at the Catholic Center. At a game at Legion Field with LSU, I saw a sign with an Italian slur aimed at Musso and I must say I have never felt the same about LSU since that time! </p>

<p>The Brunos have been very generous around the state, especially at my HS alma mater, John Carroll Catholic. </p>

<p>These stories make me homesick for Bama. Am hoping that my DS catches the bug when he visits!</p>

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<p>Ahhhh. John carroll. Lots of grads go to bama. My kids went to the catholic high in huntsville.</p>

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<p>A great article written by a journalist who traveled to Bama from Penn for the game. Makes me very, very proud to be an alumnus of Alabama!</p>

<p><a href=“http://blog.pennlive.com/davidjones/2010/09/commentary_southern_hospitalit.html[/url]”>Commentary: Southern hospitality is no joke at Alabama - pennlive.com;

13

<p>What a nice article! :)</p>

14

<p>Second that m3ck! Looking forward to experiencing it next month if we get lucky enough to score some tickets.</p>

15

<p>I stood in the rain but got a great seat (student section). Joe Pa was given a pretty wild standing ovation after the second quarter ended- though when I was watching him walk around during the pregame as his players did their warm ups he looked extremely frail- it made me a bit sad for him.</p>

16

<p>I forgot to mention that the MALE Penn State fans repeatedly commented about how beautiful the Bama girls are. LOL</p>

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<p>Letter from Monday’s State College paper-</p>

<p>Praise for Penn State fans
September 15, 2010 8:21am EDT</p>

<p>Last Saturday, my son and I woke up at 5 a.m. to park cars for the Alabama-Penn State game. He is in Boy Scout Troop 90 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and we had the privilege of meeting many of the members of the Penn State Alumni Association, who purchased all of the parking in the area we were working.</p>

<p>The Alumni Association had some 500 members there and I have to tell you that bar none, Penn State has the most awesome fans we have ever had the opportunity to work with. They were friendly, generous and just a ton of fun to be around for the day.</p>

<p>I hope you’ll pass this along to say thanks to your fans and that Troop 90 in Tuscaloosa will welcome them back at any time. Penn State has such a great athletic program, and to see the fans exemplify this even further was a real pleasure to experience. Thanks once again.</p>

<p>Mark Lent Tuscaloosa, Ala.</p>

<p>Read more: [Praise</a> for Penn State fans - Your Letters | Centre Daily Times - State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate](<a href=“http://www.centredaily.com/2010/09/15/2209603/yourletters.html#ixzz0zhvEeO4p]Praise”>http://www.centredaily.com/2010/09/15/2209603/yourletters.html#ixzz0zhvEeO4p)</p>