Heroes Just for One Day

Only an exhibition, Penn State’s Blue-White Game sometimes serves as a grand stage for many soon forgotten one-hit wonders.

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So I was asked to write about some noteworthy Nittany Lions whose standout success in the Spring game never translated to the regular season, players who shined brightly on Blue-White Saturday, never to be heard from again. Before we get to it though, please indulge me in a brief digression.

Here’s a hypothetical I love using as a conversation-starter: What kind of band would you rather be a part of: a one-hit wonder that bursts onto the scene with blinding brilliance before quickly flaming out, or a critical darling with a devoted cult following that never becomes a breakthrough commercial success? Would you choose one turn under the brightest lights at the expense of longevity, ending up an occasional punchline, but also the author of one undeniably great work that entertained the masses? Or would you take the path of the steady, but less spectacular, contented with exchanging household name status for a lengthy career? Would you rather play in Dexy’s Midnight Runners or the Tragically Hip?

It’s a great discussion. God bless my dear friend and great Penn Stater Chris G. Miller, who has the wisdom to choose the Hip and their lauded discography. There’s a lot to be said for decades of contentment. If I’m being honest, though, I want that one brass ring. If I can make one thing that lives on through frat parties and wedding receptions long after I’m worm food, I’m taking that shot.

I bring this up because a piece like this can come across as snotty and disrespectful to its subjects, as if merely being good enough to make the Penn State roster and only outplaying some of the best athletes in America a single time are somehow unworthy of recognition. Quite the contrary, this is a tribute; these heroes deserve celebration and remembrance. Given the choice, I’d much rather have one brush with excellence at the highest level of college football than spend a longer tenure toiling at its periphery, and I bet you might too. Think about it.

Would you cherish one moment of minor glory, admittedly insignificant yet nevertheless seared into the annals of a great program’s hallowed history, clad in the same simple uniform worn by All Americans and Hall of Famers, playing on the same hallowed ground where championship seasons were decided, to the cheers of 75,000 die-hards? Nearly everyone who plays the game eventually ends up in a job other than football, why not take that memory with you when you leave it?

Most bands stink and then break up. You can do a hell of a lot worse than “Come On, Eileen.”

With that in mind, here are some of this century’s top one-hit heroes of Blue-White Weekend:

April 15, 2000: Rod Perry (WR) 

The early 2000s did not earn the nickname “The Dark Years” in the annals of program history without good reason. The Lions averaged a meager five victories per season during the miserable five-year slog from 2000 to 2004, and that staggering fall was as sudden as it was precipitous. Heading into the 2000 season, Penn State was coming off three seasons of 9+ wins that may have fallen short of national title expectations, but also featured a long list of highly-drafted superstars. The latest and greatest of these – Courtney Brown and LaVar Arrington – were taken with the first two selections of the NFL Draft on the same day the Lions who dreamed of following in their footsteps played their annual Spring exhibition. Hindsight tells us that Coach Paterno and staff had fallen woefully short in replacing the top talent, and the losing seasons to come would tell that tale.

But ignorance is bliss, and in the optimistic April sunshine, fans had no reason to believe a team that had experienced all of two losing seasons since 1938 (only one with JoePa at the helm) had anything to do but reload. With the departure of ‘99 Miami game hero Chafie Fields, a long-time playmaker for Penn State at the receiver position, much attention was focused on the battle to replace his reps. Into that void stepped Rod Perry, who’d transferred in from USC after starting out at Cal State-Fullerton. “Perry should move to top of depth chart” argued a column on the front page of the following Monday’s Daily Collegian sports section, praising Perry’s five catches for 59 yards, including impressive acrobatics on a 13-yard scoring play. In all likelihood, it was the last time this sentiment was expressed outside the Perry household. The highlight of Perry’s Fall, in which he caught two balls for five yards, was a 28-yard kickoff return, his only one of the season (he also returned 14 punts, averaging 4.5 yards per attempt).

April 20, 2002: Aric Heffelfinger (RB)

For Penn Staters of a certain age, the name Aric Heffelfinger (a good Pennsylvania name to stir the heart of any native Coal Cracker) is synonymous with the fleeting, ephemeral glory of April stardom. So much so, in fact, that a pre-Blue-White Daily Collegian column in 2005 asked, “Who will be the next Heffelfinger?” (in other words, “who’s the next one-hit wonder?”), and in 2010, prolific columnist Mike Poorman caught up with Aric for a piece on StateCollege.com predicated on his status as a Spring game shooting star. When memory of your exhibition exploits echoes so long and loudly that it’s still content fodder nearly a decade later, you know you’ve hit a nerve.

Certainly, the 2002 Spring game belonged to Heffelfinger, who carved up whatever vanilla defense Tom Bradley and Co. had schemed up to the tune of 92 yards on only five carries, including a 51-yard scamper that brought a stadium(ish) full of happy revelers to their feet. Perhaps part of the reason folks remembered Aric’s big day more so than the others mentioned here or the countless other Nittany Lions like them is because of the guy who would actually end up carrying the bulk of the load at his position. Though his 29 yards on the day wouldn’t suggest it, senior tailback Larry Johnson was on the cusp of a record-setting 2,000-yard campaign that earned him a plethora of postseason awards. Maybe that contrast of single-serving Spring game hero and all-time program legend stuck with folks.

April 12, 2014: Cole Chiappialle (RB)

Any attendees at 2014’s Blue-White Game will no doubt at least vaguely recall this young man’s distinctive moniker, as his 63-yard, two touchdown performance caught the attention of wary fans wondering what State’s team might look and play like under new head coach James Franklin. Unlike the other entrants on this list, Cole’s outing carried an extra dash of intrigue. Given the uncharted waters of roster sanctions, there was a non-zero chance this April hero might be called upon to duplicate his feats when it mattered. This was an era that saw State’s roster creatively held together with position-switching paperclips and run-on chewing gum, a time when lightly-recruited defensive tackles passed for starting offensive linemen because, well, at least they were on scholarship.

In addition to his stat line, Chiappialle’s exhibition star turn also stands out for the debut of the Wildcat as a feature of the Franklin/Donovan offense. Thankfully for Cole, he avoided any guilt by association with the overused and underpowered formation that went on to universal derision among the beleaguered fanbase that Fall. All that invective was reserved for offensive coordinator John Donovan. After seeing light duty throughout the 2014 season (22 carries for 68 yards, still good enough for fourth on the team in rushing) and battling a serious injury sustained in the season’s final game, Chiappialle opted for the best of both worlds (stints with the Midnight Runners and the Hip), ending up at Shippensburg to finish out his career.

April 22, 2017: Tommy Stevens (QB)

Some might take umbrage at the inclusion of Stevens on this list. Some might even suspect that Tommy’s appearance is owed in no small part to which photos the site administrators have rights to use alongside this article, given the IP-obsessed landscape of the modern internet. Who’s to say? I couldn’t possibly comment. There can be no question that Tommy Stevens made critical regular season contributions to the Lions, capably managing the offense in those rare instances when Trace McSorley was unavailable and bringing another wrinkle to a dynamic attack out of the triple-threat “Lion” position.

That said, when Tommy flipped his commitment from Indiana to Penn State (a move itself precipitated by Brandon Wimbush spurning the Lions in favor of Notre Dame), I’m sure he imagined himself as much more than a single-wing throwback, to say nothing of future roles in Starkville, Mississippi or the New Orleans Saints tight end room. As the Lions geared up to follow their surprise Big Ten title of 2016, Stevens looked very much in play for a bright future as the top signal caller. Playing a full half of football, he exploded for 214 yards and three scores on 17-for-24 passing. Though there was no doubt he was the backup following Trace’s breakout campaign the year before, Tommy’s sparkling effort in relief suggested his eventual ascendancy was a fait accompli and that he possessed more than enough talent to keep even the dynamic McSorley honest. Ultimately, it was not to be. He finished out his time in Blue and White with a total of four passing TDs before joining his former coach Joe Moorhead at Mississippi State for the 2019 season.

There are plenty of others from the recent and deep past. High school superstars who arrived in Happy Valley dreaming of hearing their names mentioned among the program’s greats, and perhaps even in another April event that marks the pro game’s Spring ritual. Instead, they had to settle for a mere passing acquaintance with glory. No doubt they made many unseen and thus unappreciated contributions to their respective teams. They are all, like many of us, now part of a global alumni network unlike any other, and perhaps we can even find them more relatable for their struggles. Maybe another will unknowingly join their ranks this Saturday. The one-hit wonders of Penn State football – I salute them all and hope you will too.

FTB contributor Chris Buchignani hosts The Obligatory PSU Pregame Show, with Brandon Noble, Mike the Mailman, and Kevin Horne.