Bowl Halls of Fame
Orange Bowl Hall of Fame—
Elected 1987—Mike Reid DT (played in 1969 & 1970 Orange Bowl wins over Kansas & Missouri/Co-MVP in 1970) & Joe Paterno, Head Coach (4-1 record at this Bowl—winning in 1969, 1970, 1974 & 2006 over Kansas, Missouri, LSU & Florida State respectively/loss in 1986 to Oklahoma)
Elected 1989—Franco Harris FB (played in 1970 Orange Bowl win over Missouri)
Elected 2005—John Cappelletti TB (played in 1974 Orange Bowl win over LSU)
Elected 2023—Chuck Burkhart QB (played in 1969 & 1970 Orange Bowl wins over Kansas & Missouri/Co-MVP in 1970)
Rose Bowl Hall of Fame—
Elected 2014—Ki-Jana Carter RB (played in 1995 Rose Bowl win over Oregon/Co-MVP)
Elected 2022—Hugo Bezdek, Head Coach (2-1 record at this Bowl with 3 different teams—winning with Oregon in 1917 & the Mare Island Marines, a WWI military team in 1918—lone loss came with Penn State at the 1923 Rose Bowl to USC—Bezdek was honored with the other 2022 enshrinees at the 2023 Rose Bowl Game which ironically featured Penn State on the 100th anniversary of its 1923 Rose Bowl appearance)
Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame—
Elected 2005—Lydell Mitchell TB (played in 1972 Cotton Bowl win over Texas/Co-MVP)
Elected 2018—Wally Triplett RHB (played in 1948 Cotton Bowl tie with SMU—Triplett broke the Bowl’s color barrier and scored tying TD—PSU honored him at 2019 Cotton Bowl with special helmet stickers)
Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame—
Elected 2019—Todd Blackledge QB (played in 1983 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia/Bowl MVP)
Gator Bowl Hall of Fame—
Elected 1996—Dave Robinson End (played in 1961 Gator Bowl win over Georgia Tech & 1962 loss to Florida/PSU’s Bowl MVP in 1962)
Elected 2000—Joe Paterno, Head Coach (0-1-1 record at this Bowl—tying Florida State in 1967 & losing to Notre Dame in 1976—was also PSU assistant coach at 1961 & 1962 Gator Bowls)
Nittany Notes:
The Six Degrees of Hugo Bezdek—The Hall of Fame Penn State Head Coach from 1918-29 is the answer to one of the great trivia questions of all-time, “who is the only man to be a head coach in major college football, a head coach in the NFL, and a Major League Baseball manager?”
Bezdek was the head football coach at Arkansas, Oregon, Delaware Valley, and Penn State over several years in the first half of the 20th century. He was also the head coach of the NFL’s Cleveland Rams in 1937 & 1938. And, he managed baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates from 1917 to 1919 (almost like a summer job wedged in between football seasons).
Bezdek is also credited with some other firsts—He was Penn State’s first official Athletic Director (1918-1936). He’s the only man to coach 3 different teams in the Rose Bowl (Oregon Webfoots in 1917, Mare Island Marines in 1918, and Penn State Nittany Lions in 1923). And, that 1923 Rose Bowl was the first one ever played in the stadium we now call the Rose Bowl.
Bezdek was also Penn State’s baseball coach (1920-30) and briefly its basketball coach (1918-19). He played Fullback at the University of Chicago for legendary coach Amos Alonzo Stagg (1904-05), and he was an assistant under Stagg in 1907. During his 1908-1912 tenure at Arkansas, he is reputed to have created the nickname “Razorbacks”. And according to the book “The History of American Football” by Allison Danzig (1956), Bezdek is credited with the invention of the “fake” reverse, the screen pass, and for the development of the “Roving Center” on defense (now known as the Middle Linebacker).
Bezdek also coached Hinkey Haines in baseball and football at Penn State. Haines is the only man ever to play for both a World Series championship team (New York Yankees in 1923) and an NFL Championship team (the 1927 New York Giants). In both cases, it was the team’s first ever championship.