GoFundMe Created for Penn State Legend Wally Triplett

ESPN published a 30 for 30 Short on Tuesday titled ‘We Are.’ It simultaneously tells the story of Wally Triplett’s impact on Penn State and football and the process of creating the 2013 Class Gift, the We Are statue. Inspired by Triplett and the 1946 football team’s response to racism: “We play all or we play none. We are Penn State,” the statue symbolizes the community that exists in Happy Valley and all over the world for Penn Staters.

Triplett’s daughter, Nancy Triplett-Edmunds, created a website and GoFundMe campaign to rally support for the Penn State legend as he battles ailments. The end of the 30 for 30 video reveals Triplett’s trip to Penn State in November was his last trip from home due to his health problems and his family is struggling to figure out his longterm care.

“I wish that our family had the resources to give him everything he needs,” Triplett-Edmunds wrote on the site. “But unfortunately we simply do not. That is why we have launched this campaign.”

The GoFundMe page has accumulated almost 60 donations totaling more than $3,000 in its first day, significant numbers considering the page’s $24,000 fundraising goal. Triplett’s family createdWeAreWally.com to share the alum’s story and the GoFundMe page, which you can find here.

At 90 years old, Triplett’s days as the university’s first African American letter winner and the first African American drafted to the NFL are long behind him, but his pride for Penn State and his status as one of the most influential and celebrated alumni lives on.

“Just those few words,” Triplett says in the video. “It’s always that case where it’s just a couple of words and you say to somebody with pride, ‘We Are Penn State.’”

Check out the ESPN 30 for 30 video below: