A Game to Remember

By Lou Prato

Blue White Contributor

When Penn State's new head football coach, Bill O'Brien, spoke to the media for the first time in early January, he couldn't wait to tell everyone that his older brother Tom played in the only game ever between Penn State and Brown - the alma mater of the O'Brien brothers and the man Bill was succeeding, Joe Paterno.

Tom was sitting in the front row of the room at the Nittany Lion Inn, and Bill asked his brother to stand up.

"I'm really happy that he's here," O'Brien said. "Quick note about Tom. In 1983 he was a sophomore at Brown. Most people here probably remember this: Brown played Penn State in Beaver Stadium, and he claims as a sophomore to have made a tackle on the kickoff team. We've got to go check the film and see if that's correct, but that's a pretty neat little nugget about him."

I knew instantly that I would soon be visiting the Penn State Paterno-Pattee Sports Archives to look at that game film. The date was Nov. 5, 1983, and I was at the game as a fan with my wife, Carole. There are three things I remember about that day: Penn State won easily; Carole and I met a lot of Brown fans, who were just happy to be in a big-time college football atmosphere; and we tailgated in an unreserved parking spot in the grass where the Bryce Jordan Center is today.

Penn State was playing in its 10th game of the year, the fifth at home, and the team was fighting back from a disastrous start in which it lost its first three games. That start included an embarrassing 44-6 rout by preseason No. 1 Nebraska in the first Kickoff Classic. The Nittany Lions were coming off their first national championship season in 1982, and the stunning loss to Nebraska was followed by an even more shocking 14-3 home loss to Cincinnati in what remains one of the biggest upsets of the Paterno era.

But after another defeat, against Iowa at home, Penn State reversed course with five consecutive victories, including a 34-28 upset over No. 3 Alabama at Beaver Stadium. Then a week before the Brown game, Doug Flutie led Boston College to its first win over Penn State, 27-17, in Foxboro, in what BC players then called "the greatest victory in Boston College history."

If Brown had beaten Penn State, that would have made the Nebraska, Cincinnati and Boston College losses seem like pillow fights. Brown was not even a power in the Ivy League then, and like the rest of the Ivy schools did not give scholarships, hold spring practices or play freshmen. Brown wouldn't even have been on the schedule if not for two of its Ivy League rivals and Tennessee.

About 10 years earlier, Tennessee had backed out of a two-game series at Beaver Stadium that had followed games at Knoxville in 1971 and '72, both of which were Volunteers victories. To fill the void, Penn State went after old Ivy League rivals of the early 20th century - Yale and Penn, but both declined. So, Brown agreed to visit Beaver Stadium to fill one of those openings.

"We anticipated this game for two years because it was on our schedule as freshman and we were excited about it," Tom O'Brien recalled recently. "The entire team traveled, which is not always the case, so we brought 100 or so guys. We had three buses and we left Providence on Thursday and stopped [overnight] somewhere along the way, but I don't remember where. We ate at a family-style restaurant with a buffet and we were in our jacket and ties, and I remember a couple of older couples asking us who we were. We kind of proudly said, 'We're the Brown University football team, and we're on the way to play Penn State.' This one man says, 'You guys look pretty small to be playing Penn State,' and we all laughed."

When the players arrived at Beaver Stadium Friday afternoon to practice, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. "There already were hundreds of RVs and campers already there for the game," Tom said. "We weren't allowed to practice inside the stadium but we did work out in our sweats and shells on a field outside the stadium. When we pulled in the next morning, there must have been a thousand or more RVs. At least it seemed like it. There were probably more RVs there than we get in total people [in the grandstands] for one of our games."

In the locker room later, other Brown players recalled the atmosphere. "What shocked us when we arrived was all those campers," fullback Steve Heffernan told reporters. "We kid about tailgating at Brown, but we've never seen anything like that. Beaver Stadium felt like a pro stadium to me, and this was like an exhibition game or something."

Brown middle guard John Daniel said, "It was kind of like a big party. It's fun if that's what it's all about around here."

Among the 5,000 or so Brown fans attending the party were John and Anne O'Brien of Andover, Mass. John had lettered at Brown in 1953-54, but he and his wife were there primarily to watch their middle son, Tom, a 20-year-old, 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior reserve linebacker. Their oldest son, Jack, 24, who also had graduated from Brown but didn't play football, was a law student at Suffolk and had stayed home to be with their youngest son, Bill.

"I was 14 and in the eighth grade and was playing a game for my junior high school that day," Bill recalled recently. "I remember my parents telling me all about it and what a great time they had, even though Brown lost."

Beaver Stadium was sold out for the 1 o'clock game, but instead of an expected crowd of 84,670, an estimated 75,000 were there for the kickoff. Perhaps that was because of the pedigree of the Lions' Ivy League opponent and/or the blustery, 37-degree weather that included spotty rain, hail and the first snow showers of the year. One witty Brown player said after the game that there were "almost as many no-shows" as Brown's average attendance for its home games.

"I remember we had a state police escort from our hotel to the stadium before the game, which was very unusual for Brown," Tom O'Brien recalled with a laugh. "When we got off the buses, there were fans along both sides of the walkway and we knew this was for real. But the most unusual thing I remember is when we got into the visiting [team's] locker room, I kept thinking the strangest thing - that [Pitt's] Tony Dorsett and [Navy's] Roger Staubach and players like that once dressed in this locker room. And we all looked at each other and said, 'We're in the same locker room where those guys got dressed and played.' "

Obviously, Penn State was a heavy favorite and looked like it in the first quarter. The Lions methodically drove 62 yards on seven plays for a 31-yard touchdown by senior fullback Jonathan Williams with 4:42 gone in the quarter. Less than three minutes later, Williams ran 61 yards for another touchdown, and with 1:44 remaining in the first period, Nick Gancitano kicked a 47-yard field goal to climax a 47-yard drive, giving Penn State a 17-0 lead.

"Our kids were in awe in the first five, six minutes," Brown coach John Anderson, then in his 11th season, told reporters later. "Then they settled down and played good defense against a very great team. ... Someone said to me that this was like Custer's Last Stand - but we had a much better game plan than Custer."

That they did. In the second quarter, Brown's defense clamped down on the Lions, giving up only 19 yards, while the offense controlled the ball for nearly 12 minutes, gaining 175 yards and scoring an 11-yard touchdown on a run by quarterback Joe Potter at the end of an eight-play, 64-yard drive with 6:40 before halftime.

"When we got up 17-0, everybody seemed to sit back and say, 'Who we play next week?' " Paterno told writers after the game.

After a halftime lecture from the coach, Penn State scored on a 55-yard reverse by Kenny Jackson on its first possession of the second half. Five minutes later, freshman tailback D. J. Dozier took a pitchout and ran 44 yards for a 31-7 lead.

Everyone seemed to relax after that, and there was no more scoring until the fourth quarter when Penn State scored after a 10-play, 53-yard drive with 12:25 left. Brown then added two touchdowns against the Lions' reserves to make the final score a respectable 38-21.

"We played pretty well, and the whole team can [leave] holding our heads up high," said Joe Potter, a Brown co-captain along with Daniel.

Brown actually had more first downs, 22-16, and possession time, 31:29, while the net rushing and passing yards were almost even: 304-311 rushing and 106-113 passing in favor of Penn State.

"It was a challenge just to see how good we are," said Brown tailback Jamie Potkul, who gained 93 yards on 15 carries. "We are never going to play against that type of competition again in our lives. Even though we lost, I thought we did a pretty good job against them."

So, did Bill O'Brien's older brother make a tackle on a kickoff? Maybe.

"I usually played on kickoffs and returns and then was the third linebacker," Tom recalled. "But I had separated my shoulder for the second year in a row, and this was my first game back since separating my shoulder earlier in the season. So I played on kickoff returns but was a backup on the kickoffs. But I remember somebody got hurt on the kickoff team and I played maybe one or two kickoffs."

There are two videos in the Paterno-Pattee Library Sports Archives: the official game film shot by John Palmgren, the team's chief football video coordinator from 1977 to 2007, and a DVD from the delayed telecast by TCS of Pittsburgh. In that era, when few games were televised live, TCS produced an edited "live" version of the game that was later syndicated throughout the East. Both videos were shot primarily by a camera atop the press box, although TCS had several other cameras for close-ups and replays. Because the press box side was (and still is) the sideline for the opposing team, the numbers on the back of the Brown players' jerseys can be seen throughout the game, but their last names above the numbers are sometimes difficult to read.

Brown had seven kickoff returns and four kickoffs. Tom wore No. 59, and on the return team he was positioned about 10 yards in front of the two return men. He can be clearly seen in five returns. But the video angles on two returns were limited: On the third return, the Brown runner accidentally stepped out of bounds at the Brown 2-yard line, while the fourth return was downed in the end zone.

In at least two of the returns, Tom was in the thick of trying to make a hole for the Brown runner. In the return after Jackson's game-breaking touchdown in the opening moments of the second half, the runner took the ball at the 6-yard line and reached the 19 before being swarmed under. Just as the runner went down, O'Brien was belted by a Penn State blocker.

"I do have a very clear memory of getting drilled by one Penn State kid on a kickoff return," Tom said. "I was in the wedge formation group, and the kid caught me before I was kind of set and I went flying on my back. I remember getting grief about that the next week from the special teams coach when we looked at the film."

That "Penn State kid" was No. 53, a freshman linebacker named Don Graham. Three years and two months later, Graham would be singled out in an iconic photograph used by newspapers all over the country to exemplify Penn State's 14-10 upset win over Miami at the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship. Graham is seen with his arms raised triumphantly as he stands over Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde following one of five sacks the Penn State defense made that night. It is one of the most famous photographs in Penn State football history.

"That's awesome," Tom said upon hearing about the photo. "That makes me feel a little bit better. Maybe I can take another shot at him now that we are in our 40s?"

As for Tom making a tackle on a kickoff, there is no video evidence. On the opening kickoff, the game film shows No. 59 definitely on the sideline, near the Penn State 44-yard line, standing between No. 64 - sophomore middle guard Ted Moskala - on his right and No. 94 - junior defensive end Scott Graham - on his left as Penn State's Kevin Baugh spurts up the sideline across the field in front of the Penn State bench to the Lions' 46-yard line. Neither game video shows No. 59 involved in the other three kickoffs, including the last one, which went into the end zone without a return with 1:41 to play.

But Tom still believes he was in on one of the kickoffs in the second half. "I remember at one point on one play going after somebody and doing a face plant on the sideline as my face mask hit the ground at the end of the play and dug in." O'Brien said. "And I can remember getting up, and there were cheerleaders around, Penn State or Brown cheerleaders, and wondering, 'Where the hell am I?' "

The cheerleaders stick to the end zones, so O'Brien's hit may have been out of camera range. More than likely, it was on the last kickoff that went into the end zone.

The game ended shortly after that kickoff, and Tom is seen on the game film walking off the sideline onto the field behind No. 92, sophomore defensive end Bruce Taylor, and shaking hands immediately with Penn State's No. 67. Until interviewed for this story, Tom did not realize he was meeting the future nose guard of Penn State's 1986 national championship team, Mike Russo, then a true freshman.

At the conclusion of the TCS telecast, play-by-play announcer Stan Savran and analyst George Paterno (a former Brown player), commented about the sometimes lackluster play by Penn State and the determination shown by Brown. Paterno probably summed things up best: "The game kind of reminded me of a big brother wrestling with his little brother and didn't want to hurt him, and when the little brother started acting up, [the big brother] exerted more of his strength. ... It was a tremendous effort by Brown, and the kids never stopped trying."

The Brown players took their time leaving the field, many of them seeking out Joe Paterno for handshakes.

"One of the last clear memories I have is at the end of the game when we all shook hands," said Tom, now the managing partner of the HYM Investment Group in Boston. "Paterno came through and shook a lot of our hands, and he said, 'I'm really proud of you guys. You fought hard.' It was very nice. He was very kind to us, and it was a big deal. I remember walking over to the crowd of players and being in a clump of players right there with him, but I don't know if I got close enough to actually shake his hand. It all happened so fast. At the end, we all felt pretty good. I am still in contact with a lot of my teammates, and we still talk about that game. It was a great experience."

That was the last time Penn State played an Ivy League team.

And there is one more thing. When brother Bill reads this he'll have an even better story to tell about his older brother Tom, but he'll have to remember that Tom wasn't a sophomore that season but a junior. Can't remember everything when you were 14 years old.