‘Paterno Field’ Campaign Gains Student Committee

A campaign asking Penn State to name the Beaver Stadium field for Joe Paterno is about to swing into a higher gear — with student support.

Penn State alumnus Warren Armstrong, a 1960 graduate, announced Wednesday the creation of a Students for Paterno Field Committee. University undergraduate Megan E. Hill is chairing the student committee, which will complement Armstrong’s overarching Committee for Joe Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium, he said.

Armstrong, of the Allentown area, has been lobbying the university since summer 2009 to name the field for the longtime football coach. He was looking to get more students engaged in the effort when he randomly met Hill last month, he said. They crossed paths during tailgate festivities outside Beaver Stadium.

Hill said she recognized Armstrong from earlier news reports and admired his approach. She thought his biggest challenge “would be to get students involved,” but that it would be “one of the wisest things he could do,” she said.

A junior from New Freedom, Hill is well versed in event planning and agreed to lead student outreach for the field-naming campaign, she said.

“The usual reaction from students, alumni and fans in general has been ‘Why hasn’t this been done? Why hasn’t this idea been proposed before?’” Hill said. She has been producing fliers, setting the groundwork for the emerging student committee and otherwise promoting the campaign, she said.

It will gain more visibility this month with supporter-backed advertisements in area publications, Armstrong said. (An image of the planned print advertisement appears in the gallery to the right of this article.) 

Likewise, before the Penn State-Michigan game on Oct. 30, student supporters are planning to carry and display 28-inch signs outside the stadium, near the entry areas. The signs will call attention to the field-naming idea, which has already gained more than 300 advocates through a separate Facebook group.

Armstrong said he does not know how many people have followed his suggestion and written letters to lobby university President Graham Spanier and other Penn State leaders. He has made the pitch to hundreds of people in various venues, arguing that “Paterno built that stadium and did a wonderful job,” he has said.

When Armstrong communicated recently with a top athletics office, he said, he was told it had been “overwhelmed” with correspondence on the field-naming subject.

“We appreciate the input and will certainly want to consider all possibilities at the appropriate time,” Curley noted in an e-mail in August. “The process will be an internal one with the appropriate university approvals required at the time.”

Hill said any students interested in participating in the student portion of the campaign may reach her via e-mail at meh5384@psu.edu.

Earlier coverage

• Penn State Will ‘Want to Consider All Possibilities’ for Honoring Paterno, Curley Says (Aug. 30, 2010)