Week 7 tailgate: Penn State Stupid Club has soup

Gail Franklin

The Penn State Stupid Club, of Plymouth, is not a slight on the Nittany Lions. In fact, it's the opposite.

"We're stupid about football," explains Ron Kobuski, who helped form the grassroots group in 1991 to make it easier for a network of Penn State football fans in Plymouth to tailgate and travel to games together.

There are 18 official members of the club, but the charter bus they drive to every home game and some away games carries at least 25 people. About that many fans had gathered for the tailgate breakfast of soup and pasta behind the charter bus on Saturday.

Ron's wife, Barb, makes soup from scratch for every tailgate, and she starts chopping vegetables two or three days before the game.

The steamy hot beef barley soup she stirred at Saturday's tailgate was boiling in a cauldron-sized pot next to a pasta and broccoli casserole that was being tended by Ron's brother, Matt.

"This will all be gone by the time we're done," Barb Kobuski said about 10 a.m. "We've done (typical) breakfast be fore, but our guys like to have something substantial be fore they go into the game."

Kobuski said the club raises funds throughout the year so the cost of parking at Penn State or plane tickets to away games doesn't hurt so much during the season.

It was cold on Saturday be fore the game against Purdue, but everyone at the Penn State Stupid Club's tailgate was happy to be there.

"My brother talked me into coming down here for a game one Saturday when I didn't have anything else to do," Matt Kobuski said. "Now, I love this place. This is like a second home."

Tailgate coordinators: Matt, Ron and Barb Kobuski, and Ed Vnuk Sr., of Plymouth

Tailgate food: There's always a big vat of soup, whether it be September or November with varieties such as classic clam chowder or stuffed pepper soup.

Favorite Game: When 40 club members or friends traveled together to Miami in the early 1990s and witnessed an electrifying win.

Why we're the best tailgate: We have the greatest bunch of people. Everyone has a job to do such as setting up, cooking and cleaning up.

Why we should win the contest: We're all going to Temple on Saturday together. Next year, we're going to Iowa and the year after that we'll go to Alabama. We love this.