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Penn State Media Members Share Their Press Box Memories

“Well they knocked down the Beaver Stadium press box Saturday morning.” – Bruce Springsteen (probably) (Photo via GoPSUSports.com)

Beaver Stadium means a lot of things to a lot of different people.

For fans, for players, for lovers of chicken baskets.

For the media, Beaver Stadium’s press box — which is no longer standing as of Saturday morning due to the $700 million renovation — was the place they consumed the journey of Penn State football to inform the fan, to challenge the play-calling decisions and to drive you crazy with their usually right opinions.

However, it seems that the Beaver Stadium press box wasn’t exactly the Ritz of Big Ten media in-stadium accommodations. There are stories about plumbing. There are stories about structural integrity.

This week, we rounded up a few of those stories from Penn State’s media contingent about what they’ll miss, what they’ll remember and what they’re excited for about a new press box.

Steve Jones – Penn State Play-by-Play Announcer

2005 Penn State-Ohio State was wild. The place was rocking and every time they play Zombie Nation the fans would jump up and down.

At one point in the third quarter the place is going crazy and Zombie Nation is playing. The press box starts to move up and down, back and forth.  

Jack Ham looks at me in the commercial break and says “Steve, are we ok?”

I said, “Not a clue. I’m an announcer not an engineer.  We’ll just have to see.”

We survived.

Bob Taylor – Operations Manager at Lightner Communications

Bob sets up and runs much of the tech equipment that powers Jones and Ham’s broadcast.

The 2nd floor bathrooms kind of hang out over the back of the press box and when the crowd is rocking, those bathrooms BOUNCE!

The Home Radio booth becomes a balmy 80 degrees when it’s cold out!

There’s been some interesting incidents with running water just outside of our booth door. I’ll leave that on at that!

One of my best memories was while Roger Corey was showing me the ropes in 2016, I was running the audio myself for one of the first times during the blocked FG in the Ohio State game.

Audrey Snyder – The Athletic

Never did I expect to spent my 21st birthday in the press box (covering a very uneventful game against Kent State) as a student, nor did I expect to still be here quite a few years later. Truthfully, I didn’t expect the press box would still be here either. 

When you think about all the hours spent agonizing over storylines in that space, seeing the place literally overflow in November of 2011 and then feeling it shake in 2016 during Grant Haley’s scoop in score, more than anything it’s been a space full of friendships and memories. It’s where we reconvene after a long summer away. It’s where we sweat during non-conference play and have our boots melt from the heaters in November (the lack of AC/overwhelming use of heat has been something). You watch other writers come to Beaver Stadium knowing everyone will have a quip about the old press box. You show them the staircase down to the field and say uh, you don’t want to do this if you’re afraid of heights or are unaware when you had your last tetanus booster. The bathroom door didn’t lock at one point and then it wouldn’t open. One year a third bathroom (and thus a third toilet — yes there were only three for all of us — appeared) and we were living large. You might find a dead bird on your seat after an offseason away (yes, it’s true) or the lunch box you forgot months ago (also true). 

What (if anything) will you miss?

The views from the bathroom looking out over the parking lot were strangely really cool. Many great sunsets were captured from there. 

Mark Wogenrich – Penn State Nittany Lions on SI.com

Favorite memory: Adam Taliaferro walking through the Beaver Stadium tunnel and onto the field before the Penn State-Miami game in 2001. Beaver Stadium’s sound usually erupts in reaction. This sound built to an embrace. I’ve never seen or heard a more human moment from the press box.

Story: The most terrifying moment in the press box isn’t when it sways after a big play (though that can be jarring). It’s when the TV crews pack up their gear postgame. The box is usually pretty quiet with people working, but when the crews begin loading gear, the thuds sound like trucks falling from the roof. It’s a jump scare, for sure.

What I’ll miss: The stairs. They started from what felt like a trap door on Level 1, were outside, rusted, often wet, seemingly loose and sometimes the only option to get down quickly. Descending them felt like a dare. They rattled and shook. I made sure to go down them one last time after the playoff game.

Mike Poorman – StateCollege.com

I covered my first game in the Beaver Stadium press box as a Penn State freshman for the Daily Collegian on Homecoming Day, Oct. 13, 1979. Penn State beat Army. 24-3. I proudly spend 3 1/2 years on the PSU FB beat for TDC.

I covered my last game in the Beaver Stadium press box on Dec. 21, 2024, as a columnist for StateCollege.com, my writing home for the past 15 years. Penn State beat SMU in a first-round playoff game, 38-10.

My biggest memories of the Beaver Stadium press box are the people. Of Neil Rudel, my mentor, friend and so-very-talented colleague for all these years. Of sitting next to Dave Anderson of the New York Times and Lesley Visser of the Boston Globe. Of sitting next to — the past several years — Audrey Snyder of The Athletic. And of sitting next to Associated Press cranky legend Ralph Bernstein, for whom I worked spotting and running quotes while I was a Penn State undergrad. Of close friends and icons Lou Prato and Fran Fisher, two giants in the Penn State media world, who taught me lessons about both Penn State football and life.

And, of being in the Beaver Stadium press box with literally scores of my Penn State students — both current and former (I’ve taught 5,000-plus…and counting.) It was always a legit thrill to see them at work there, as undergrads and then as some of the best in the business.

Seth Engle – StateCollege.com

The Beaver Stadium press box always reminded me of an airplane. Not a nice airplane, but an airplane, nonetheless. It just about spanned the length of the turf, but the width from the field-view window to the back wall was narrow. It was so thin that two people couldn’t pass each other in opposite directions at one time. Instead, you had to wait and nod an awkward hello to the person walking by. Then it was your turn to stealthy walk in the direction you wanted. 

There was never an ideal temperature in the box. It was either too cold from a lack of heating or too warm when the heat was blasted. The three bathrooms were all private and created long lines at halftime. The scouts and coaches who worked upstairs also used these bathrooms, so it wasn’t uncommon to wait alongside a coordinator, who was in a rush to get back to work as the second half neared a commencement. It took about 10 minutes for an elevator to reach the bottom floor and another 10 minutes to reach the third-floor press box level. 

It must have been a humbling experience for an NFL executive or national college football reporter to consume a game from the box. The games I covered there were the closest I ever got to living in the 20th century. There was truly nothing else like it. 

But I will miss its imperfections. I missed it when I traveled to road games, where the press box had been newly renovated with a thick, sound-proof window. I nearly missed the entire National Anthem the first time I covered a game at Ohio Stadium because I couldn’t hear it. I never missed a National Anthem in Beaver Stadium. 

The longest I ever spent in the old press box was Penn State’s 20-18, nine-overtime loss to Illinois in 2021. That was my first year covering football for the Daily Collegian and just my fifth home game. The air was cold and gray. There was a large portion of the student section that hadn’t bothered showing up for such an event. I had the perfect shot of the most depressing football in recent Penn State history. And I got to cover it in the oldest, most uncomfortable press box in major college football. What joy! In many ways, that game encapsulated what was the Beaver Stadium press box. Cold. Imperfect. Uncomfortable. It was the perfect place for a young and hungry student journalist to get their start. It was my home and office for the past four years, and it was disgustingly beautiful.

Ben Jones – Ben Jones on Penn State

A memory that really sticks out to me was waiting to see how the end of the Ohio State/Michigan game was going to unfold while Penn State was playing Michigan State. It was a weird thing to have a game going on in front of you but so much of what really mattered happening somewhere else. The Ohio State blocked field goal and Allen Robinson’s catch against Michigan are both up there too because the press box was shaking so much.

When it comes to overarching memories a lot of press boxes around the country are closed off and it’s hard to hear the crowd noise though the thick glass. I loved being able to slide open the window above my head each game and hear the roar of the crowd. I hope that a future Beaver Stadium press box still has that because it really connects you to everything going on in the sea of humanity below you.

Rich Scarcella – Reading Eagle

I covered my first game from the Beaver Stadium press box in 1980 when I was a senior at The Daily Collegian.

When I stepped off the third-floor elevator for the Syracuse game that October, I thought the press box was magnificent. It’s amazing that it didn’t change much in 44 years and became one of the smallest press boxes in the country.

I’ve sat near some of the legends in our business, such as Bill Lyon, Bill Conlin, Gene Collier, Ron Cook and Bob Smizik. I’ve worked alongside guys who have passed, such as Ronnie Christ, John Kunda and Jerry Kellar, my best friend.

I’ve probably made the 2.5-hour drive about 300 times over the years. I remain energized and enthusiastic to do it mostly because of the people I see in the press box. Many of them have become some of my closest friends.

I will treasure those times spent on the third floor with my professional family, the Penn State football beat.

Thank you to everyone who shared their memory with us. May your new press box have better bathrooms and working A/C.

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Darian Somers

Author
Darian Somers is a 2016 graduate of Penn State and co-host of Stuff Somers Says with Steve. You can email Darian at darian@stuffsomerssays.com. Follow Darian on Twitter @StuffSomersSays.

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