Iconic cheer began in 1977 Courtesy of Jim Sullivan and George Dennis By Vera Greene Collegian Columnist The words connect complete strangers who see a fellow Penn Stater sporting school apparel and are echoed by 107,282 people in Beaver Stadium at every home football game. The words are ingrained into the minds of potential freshmen from the moment they set foot on Curtin Road with their backwards-walking Lion Ambassador tour guide. There’s no doubt about it — the “We are... Penn State” cheer is a pillar of Penn State University and the strength behind the No. 1 student section in the country. But it hasn’t always been like that. History has it that in the 1940s the Penn State football team canceled a game in an effort to protest traveling south without their black players. And when captain Steve Suhey was asked if there would be further discussion about it, he allegedly said, “No, we are Penn State.” But up until 1977, there was no “We Are” chant and as much as Penn State fans prefer to give as little credit as possible to rival Ohio State University — it is because of their students that Penn State has one of the most recognizable cheers in the world. Before Penn State was in the Big 10 conference or any national football titles were won, there were just games played by an independent team. And an away game in Columbus, Ohio — home to the Ohio State Buckeyes — is where the idea of the cheer was first planted. Bring it on Dave Eckhart, a cheerleader in 1977 for the Penn State cheerleading team, said the whole squad was in awe of Ohio’s student section when they first heard their “O-H, I-O” cheer overtake the stadium. “We thought the cheer was cool, and we thought, ‘There’s got to be something like that we can do at Beaver Stadium,’ ” Eckhart said. “We were all sitting around, trying to think of what would resonate.” During this year, many cheerleading teams in the United States were competing for the national cheerleading title, which encouraged Eckhart’s squad to come up with unique ways for fans — both students and alumni — to get involved at games. The title for best cheerleading team wasn’t just chosen based on a single competition or cheer routine, Cheerleading Team Captain George Dennis said. “The National Cheerleading Association chose the best team based on stuff like the philanthropies we did,” Dennis said. “They would even send people to the stadiums and spy on different teams to see how much you got your fans involved.” The team knew they needed an edge like Ohio State’s. When the squad all got together, they understood they needed an easy cheer — one that clearly identified what Penn State was and one that got fans involved. “So we thought for awhile and the easiest thing was saying who we are. We are Penn State,” Dennis said. Though he can’t pinpoint exactly who said the words “We are, Penn State,” Eckhart said the whole team put their heads together and agreed to try it out. But there was a block in the road — or so they thought. The Mic-men At a time when alumni wouldn’t even wear blue and white to the football games, Dennis said he didn’t foresee them actually involving themselves enough to participate in a cheer. Regardless, Eckhart said the team decided to give it a go. So Dennis and the team went to the maintenance labs, at that time located next to the stadium, and picked up loudspeakers — ready to throw fate to the wind and try something new. “We said we were picking up speakers, and a maintenance guy said we weren’t authorized to do so. We just told him that the athletic director said we could have them,” Dennis said. “But really, we didn’t even ask the athletic director, we just took them.” The team then lugged six speakers over to the stadium and lined them from one side of the press box to the other. After setting up the speakers on either side of the stadium, Dennis and Don Mains, the “mic man” who led the cheers during the game, decided they would split up. One of them went to the alumni side and the other went by the student section in an attempt to teach what is now a cheer known by Penn Staters worldwide. Mike Eckhart, team member and twin brother of Dave Eckhart, said he never could have guessed that the cheer his team created would have had such a big effect. But if Ohio State could do a cheer and have it be successful, he said, Penn State could certainly rise to the occasion. The birth of a tradition… with manners So, on that fateful day 33 years ago, 20 cheerleaders entered Beaver Stadium and took Penn State spirit to a whole new level — making history and creating a new tradition. “In the beginning we went up in the stands and tried to explain it to get people to do it — then they did, but it wasn’t like the whole stadium,” Dave Eckhart said. “But soon after, we ended up getting the whole stadium involved very quickly” But not everyone accepted the new change. “There was an article in the Centre Daily Times about how alumni were annoyed with us after that,” Dennis said. “They didn’t want to be bothered with our cheer because they felt it distracted them from the game.” It was too late, however — the cheer had caught on and was here to stay. The stadium, a few thousand seats smaller than it is today, was more accessible to the fans. The field, still surrounded by a running track, was only separated from the crowd by a small fence, which Dave Eckhart said made the attempt at a cheer much easier. Mike Eckhart said he never really thought about the impact he and his 1977 cheerleading team had on the school until those certain times when he’s watching a Penn State football game on television and he hears a dull roar of “We Are…Penn State” over the broadcasters. “You know, when I think about it — it’s pretty cool. We did that,” he said. “We pulled something pretty special together.” The cheer stuck from then on, and was only modified once a few games later when the mic man Don Mains decided it would be polite to thank the alumni for actually participating. “He was just a very polite guy, so he thought the students should say thank you,” Dave Eckhart said. The rest is history Jim Sullivan, also a member on the team at the time, said he can hardly believe how far the cheer has come — from a once outlandish idea to a household name. “I told my kids when they were freshmen at Penn State to tell their friends that their dad was one of the people who came up with the “We Are…Penn State” cheer,” he said. “No one ever believes them.” Dennis isn’t saying the cheer won it for his team, but in 1977 — when they first premiered the now-iconic chant — the Penn State cheerleading squad was named No. 1 in the country and was inducted into the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame. “We got a silver dish from it and told Joe Paterno that we’ll trade it back and forth,” Dennis said. “We said, ‘We’ll keep it until you guys win a championship.’ ” Dennis said one of the most special things about this now-famous cheer isn’t the fact that his cheerleading team spearheaded it — but the idea that it brings together fellow Penn Staters. “You could be in China and see someone with a jersey on, and say ‘We are’— and they’ll smile and shout ‘Penn State,’ ” he said. “All those years ago… I don’t know how it happened and became what it is today — but I guess you could say the rest is history.”
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 03:52:21 +0000