New Ken grad Tamburo stood up for beliefs at Penn State
“We Are Penn State.”
That's the chant made famous by Nittany Lions fans for many years.
But before it became a chant, it was a statement of what Penn State thought it should be.
A local athlete who was in the locker room in 1947 when Penn State football players made an important decision regarding the Cotton Bowl will be entering the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
Sam Tamburo, a 1944 New Kensington graduate who attained All-American status in 1948 with the Nittany Lions, will be posthumously inducted at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Clarion Hotel, New Kensington.
Tamburo, a defensive lineman who was named to the high school all-state team in 1943, died Dec. 18, 1998, at age 72.
His grandson, John Regoli Jr. of New Kensington, will accept the induction plaque for Tamburo.
In 1946, Penn State was on its way to a 6-2 season, but a game at Miami (Fla.) loomed to end the season.
Because of the Jim Crow laws in effect, Penn State could not bring its black players — Wally Triplett and Dennie Hoggard.
Coach Bob Higgins left it up to the players to decide whether to travel to Miami without Triplet and Hoggard or to cancel the game.
When a player suggested Triplett and Hoggard leave the locker room while the players voted, Tamburo stood up and said: “No, they're part of the team. We are all Penn Staters.”
The Nittany Lions voted unanimously not to go, and athletic director Carl Schott made the call to Miami to tell school officials that the game would be canceled.
“Sam was my man,” Triplett said of Tamburo. “He was one of the guys who stood up when people thought America wasn't what it should be.”
The Nov. 29, 1946, game was never played.
“That day there happened to be three feet of snow on the ground in State College, and Miami had sunshine.” Triplett said with a laugh.
A similar situation arose the following year when Penn State was undefeated and ranked fourth in the country.
The Cotton Bowl wanted to match the Nittany Lions with No. 3 SMU. Higgins made it clear the Nittany Lions would only accept a bowl invitation if Triplett and Hoggard could play.
Cotton Bowl officials gave the OK but said Triplett and Hoggard couldn't room with the team in segregated Dallas.
Tamburo and his teammates insisted they find a place where the team could stay together.
“We're Penn State,” Penn State Board of Trustees member Paul Suhey said. “And that's it.”
The Nittany Lions stayed at a Naval Air base 14 miles outside of Dallas.
“I was surprised and happy, and I remember the guys who supported us,” Triplett said. “A lot of people don't get the credit for things that had to be done. Times were changing, and sports were changing.”
Tamburo made four All-America teams the following season — Associated Press third team, Collier's Magazine first team, Central Press second team and Hearst Newspapers selected him to its first-team offense.
He also played in the Hula Bowl postseason all-star game.
It was common for Tamburo and others to play offense and defense until two-platoon football came along several years later.
In 1949, Tamburo was a sixth-round choice of the New York Bulldogs, an NFL team that folded the following season.
George Guido is a freelance writer.
