PSU athletic director Tim Curley a hometown success

Among his first jobs at Penn State University, Tim Curley sold game programs and served as batboy for the school's baseball team.

Growing up in a State College house across the street from New Beaver Field, Curley played football for Penn State. Two years after graduating in 1976, he became the school's first full-time recruiting coordinator and worked his way up to director of athletics in 1993.

"Curley's dynamic and passionate leadership has been the driving force behind the Nittany Lions' tremendous level of athletic and academic achievement," the Penn State football guide says in his biography.

Curley was charged Saturday with a felony count of perjury and a summary charge of failing to report child abuse as part of the state's case against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who was charged with 40 counts related to the sexual abuse of children. Curley is expected to surrender to police on Monday.

"I hate to see his name out there like this," said Rocky Washington, who played wide receiver for Penn State in the early 1980s when Curley was assistant to the athletic director. "He is one of the nicest guys you would ever want to know. Tim Curley would never tell a lie, and everyone affiliated with Tim Curley knows he would not tell a lie."

In 17 years as part of the Big Ten Conference, Penn State has won 21 NCAA championships, more than double any other school in the conference, according to the football guide. Curley has helped the university raise more than $128 million for athletics and overseen improvements to the school's softball park, golf clubhouse, soccer practice fields and a baseball stadium that it shares with a minor league team.

In June, the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame gave Curley its John L. Toner Award, which recognizes an athletic director who has "superior administrative abilities" and "outstanding dedication to college athletics."

The foundation's president and CEO Steve Hatchell announced the award by saying, "Tim Curley is a great leader with unparalleled vision, and he has helped Penn State maintain and expand its role as a national powerhouse in collegiate athletics and academics."