PSU memories: Many hats have made life rich

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Dean DeVore

I'm not exactly sure when it was, but at some point last season it hit me: The 2008 campaign was my 25th around the Penn State football program. Along with a flood of memories of the great people I had encountered and the many places it has taken me, was a sense of amazement at how many hats I have worn in those 25 years.

In my initial experience with the program (1984-88) I actually wore a hat — the military-style hat of the Penn State Blue Band. While I will never forget the thrill of that first time marching onto the field out of the tunnel, my greatest Blue Band memory has to be marching at the 1987 Fiesta Bowl.

CDT file photo/Nabil K. Mark

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Watching my golf class partner Shane Conlan and the Penn State defense subdue Vinny Testaverde and company to win the 1986 national championship in person was amazing. Perhaps the oddest thing about the whole experience was being in my State College apartment with a foot of snow on the ground watching the game on my VCR, just 12 hours after the game was over in Tempe. The band had left the warm climes of Arizona immediately after the game.

The next phase of my connection with Penn State football (1988-94) was during my years in sports radio working for WRSC and then WMAJ, serving as sports director at both. During those years, among other duties, I hosted weeknight call-in shows and pre-and post-game shows on football Saturdays. It was also at this time I began spotting for visiting radio stations and doing some announcing for the Penn State Blue Band.

One of my greatest thrills during this period was getting to know and work with one of my broadcasting heroes, the late Harry Kalas. I was assigned to spot for Kalas when he came to Beaver Stadium to broadcast games for Westwood

One/Mutual radio. He often worked with Jack Ham, now our superb radio color analyst. I can remember a few times being out with Kalas and Ham late on a Friday night at what is now the Allen Street Grill singing songs at the piano bar, watching fans’ faces light up when they realized the man belting out songs with them wasthe Harry Kalas.

The Blue Band announcing for away games and Tailgreat, and the continuation of spotting for radio and TV talent,

would be my connection from 1994 to 2000. During this time I returned to Penn State and finished my degree, worked full time for the athletics department for a year and was doing public- address announcing for numerous sports, starting with lacrosse. As of today, there are only two sports I haven’t announced for at one point or another — tennis and fencing. It was during this time that I began doing women’s volleyball. I worked with the Pep Band to get the “point … Penn State” tradition started.

My work with women’s volleyball and the other sports kind of put me on the public-address map, which led to my next phase with Penn State football: being the “Voice of Beaver Stadium.”

In 2000, when another of my heroes, Fran Fisher, retired, Steve Jones moved to the radio and I was awarded the Beaver Stadium job.

It’s hard to describe the feeling of sitting atop the stadium “talking” with 100,000 people while information is being fed to me from multiple sources. It is a tremendous honor and privilege I take seriously and enjoy tremendously.

Saying “Touchdown Penn State” never gets old! The greatest moments of my tenure so far are announcing Adam Taliaferro’s triumphant

jog out of the tunnel and when Joe Paterno won his 324th game, passing Bear Bryant. Last year’s Big Ten championship celebration wasn’t bad either.

While the hats have been different over the years, the rich experiences have remained the same. And the best part of it all is the people. The countless folks I get to work with, who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make game day “The Greatest Show,” my hat’s off to you for more memories to come.

Dean “DeVore” Otthofer is a broadcast meteorologist and manager of radio operations for AccuWeather and can be heard on radio stations all over the country. Readers can reach him at devore@accuweather.com. Penn State football memories columns run on home game weekends on Views.