Franco Harris
Franco Harris was a popular Penn State graduate who went on to a Hall of Fame career as a running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League.
Subject: Education
University Club
The University Club, often known simply as the UClub, is a social organization founded in 1908. Until it was demolished in 2022, the club’s three-story building was a landmark in State College.
Penn State Golf Courses
Penn State’s golf courses have evolved from a rudimentary course of four or five holes in the late 1800s to the 18-hole Blue and White courses that the university operates today.
Wally Triplett
Wallace “Wally” Triplett was a trailblazing Penn State athlete who was the first Black student to earn a varsity letter on the football team and the first drafted by a National Football League team.
Mary Willard
Mary Louisa Willard was a long-time chemistry professor at Penn State and an expert in chemical microscopy who became internationally known for her scientific work helping to solve crimes. Willard was born on Mary 19, 1898, in Moffatt Cottage on the Penn State campus.
Old Iron Kettle
The “Old Iron Kettle” is the coveted trophy that from 1941 to 1972 was awarded to the winner of the Bellefonte-State College football game. As the two largest high schools in Centre County, Bellefonte and State College had a passionate rivalry for decades. The winner of the game proudly got to keep and display the kettle.
Milton Eisenhower
Milton Stover Eisenhower came to Penn State in 1950 as its eleventh president after serving as a government administrator and seven years as president of Kansas State University. Eisenhower guided Penn State through a postwar transition of rapidly growing enrollment, academic programs, and research.
Schlow Library
Schlow Centre Region Library, established in State College in 1957, serves Centre County residents as an agency of the Centre Region Council of Governments. The library was founded when local business owner Charles Schlow donated a property with a two-room storefront on West College Avenue to house it.
Gene Wettstone
Gene Wettstone established the Penn State men’s gymnastics team and guided it to nine national championships, the most by a collegiate coach. He also served twice as head coach of the U.S. Olympic men’s team.
Pattee and Paterno Libraries
The Pattee and Paterno Libraries are one of the nation’s largest research libraries and serve as the headquarters of a statewide library system that encompasses Penn State’s twenty-four campuses. The building complex was built in stages and has been periodically renovated over the years.