Penn State Blue Band alum, Air Force vet will return to Beaver Stadium for special honor
Tony Petroy, a Blue Band alum and an Air Force vet, hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Saturday’s Penn State-Rutgers football game.
As the honorary co-captain for the Nittany Lions’ annual Military Appreciation Game, the 1982 drum major said the excitement hasn’t waned since university officials first asked him about the prospect last week. Although he earned a reputation during the Gulf War for his patience and calm, Joe Paterno’s former good luck charm acknowledged the butterflies were fluttering hard this week.
“This is the 10th year that they are recognizing veterans, and it gives me chills down my spine every time Penn State acknowledges the veterans in service,” said Petroy, who performed flips during Paterno’s first national title run. “Because we understand what that means. We give up our lives for the country. So, for them to ask me to do this, I’m so honored. I’m excited about it.”
Penn State chose Petroy to take the field as an honorary co-captain, sharing the coin toss with players and officials alike, after three of his friends approached the university more than a month ago. Petroy was too humble to ever approach Penn State himself, they said, so they wanted to do something special on his behalf.
After all, it’s not every day an accounting major decides to voluntarily enlist a year after graduation because his desk job “lacked excitement.” And it’s not often a college graduate starts as low man on the military pecking order — most would go through officer training and start with a higher ranking — and then never complain about it.
“We went out to the field. We dug ditches; we lived in the mud and the rain and everything — and Tony was one of those guys, where he was still always just absolutely positive,” said Paul Saunders, who was stationed in England with Petroy and will see him this weekend. “Even when the rain was coming down sideways.”
Granted, Petroy was quick to add, his accommodations were usually a little better as a communications specialist. But his longtime friends said they could think of 100 more examples of his positivity.
At Penn State, there was the time he suffered fractured bones in both his hands when he prematurely opened up from a practice flip in mid-August. (He couldn’t brush his own teeth thanks to two arm casts — but he still marched with the band and had a “replacement flipper” before eagerly resuming his flipping duties by October.) While serving and teaching confirmation classes in England, there was also the time some of his Air Force colleagues stayed in a monastery and young children found Petroy’s room and threw his clothes out the window — which, coincidentally, came raining down on Petroy as he walked nearby.
“He just goes, ‘Oh, that looks like my clothes,’ and he just started laughing,” Saunders remembered.
Petroy served as an inspiration for many of those stationed in England during the early 1990s. He volunteered for a midnight shift so he could take classes toward his master’s degree during the day, as Troy (Alabama) professors were stationed at bases to provide instruction. After serving four years of active duty in the military, he later earned a doctorate in management/organizational leadership and became assistant vice president at Robert Morris and then president at Grantham University in Kansas. He recently moved back home to Pittsburgh and attended his first Penn State game in 22 years during Homecoming a few weeks ago.
He always caught Penn State on TV whenever he could. But he hasn’t been on the field since attending a Homecoming game during the LaVar Arrington era, and he hasn’t heard his name over the loudspeaker since the Todd Blackledge era.
“It’s going to give me chills, for sure,” Petroy said. “And I just hope other people are excited as I am.”
Saturday’s game will serve as the 10th such Military Appreciation Game in Penn State history. The tradition boasts humble beginnings, as 100 tickets were originally handed out to veterans for the first game. By comparison, on Saturday, some 7,500 free tickets will be given out to current and former servicemembers. A complimentary pregame tailgate for veterans and their families will also be held at the Bryce Jordan Center and is prepared for about 8,000 such visitors.
Eugene McFeely, Penn State’s senior director for Veterans Affairs and Services, was one of several officials who helped Petroy’s friends organize a special weekend for Petroy. While McFeely hopes all veterans feel welcome and at home Saturday, he also wishes for Petroy to have an unforgettable experience.
“I just hope he gets to kind of relive the spark of his days on the field as a drum major, just soaking up the atmosphere of the stadium, the crowd and the fan base,” McFeely said. “And, because it’s Military Appreciation, it’ll be great to have him recognized not just as a drum major but an Air Force veteran.”
The honorary co-captain will have a meet-and-greet with the Blue Band on Friday before he takes on honorary co-captain duties Saturday. He’s believed to be Penn State’s only drum major/Air Force veteran, and his friends believe the public honor is long overdue.
“He’s the unknown guy who works his butt off and goes unnoticed — and then some event like this happens,” Saunders said. “And then you get to recognize him for the great guy that he is. This is absolutely wonderful for a guy who is very low-key and doesn’t look for awards and all that.”
Added Petroy, with a laugh: “It didn’t take much twisting of my arm to say, ‘Let’s do it.’”
