Be a Sport
Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions have held the spotlight for decades at Penn State with thrilling, championship seasons. But sports at PSU go way beyond the gridiron — all the way back to 1882, in fact, when a Penn State team took to a baseball diamond.
To experience what’s happened in the intervening years, visit Penn State’s All-Sports Museum, tucked into a corner of Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. You’ll see that Penn State has been home to 29 sports, ranging from boxing and basketball to field hockey and lacrosse. Floor to ceiling panels in the museum trace the histories of these teams with huge photographs and informative captions. There’s also a great collection of artifacts — running back John Cappelletti’s Heisman Trophy from 1973, the Olympic gold medal Horace Asherfelter won in the 3000-meter steeplechase in 1952 and a collection of football gear that shows how equipment has changed over the years. Exhibits break down into separate sections for different sports, and each display has a hands-on section that will delight younger visitors, who can thrust and parry with a foil, throw a haymaker into a punching bag or take down a full-size wrestling dummy.
At various times during the year, the museum hosts walking tours of Beaver Stadium, the second-largest football stadium in the U.S. By covering all sports, Penn State’s All-Sports Museum pleases all fans. Well, almost all. As Chloe, a third grader, recently wrote on Facebook, “I just can’t believe they didn’t have anything about ballet there. Bummer!”
Popularity:This article has been viewed
234 times.