One Last Hurdle : After a Season Full of Trials and Tribulations, Richardson Leads Penn State Into the Fiesta Bowl

TEMPE, Ariz. — There he was, before God and 96,596 people, with the defining moment of his team’s season, perhaps of his own career, at hand, and his tongue was as frozen as the grass in snow-showered Beaver Stadium on the first Saturday of a Pennsylvania November.

“Uh, twins,” Wally Richardson stammered a formation in the huddle. “Twins . . . twins . . . uh, twins.”

Penn State has no “twins” formation. It has a “Robert” and a “Louis,” and fullback Aaron Harris and receiver Joe Nastasi had seen “Louis-55” signaled from the sideline. They helped Richardson get the word out, and somehow he was able to shout “hut” to get the ball snapped from Barry Tielsch.

From there, the memory of thousands of passes in practice, hundreds of passes in games took over, and he threw to Joe Jurevicius, who used all of his 6 feet 5 inches to pull the ball in, 51 yards away, to start a 34-9 victory over Northwestern that ended the Wildcats’ Big Ten winning streak at 13 games.

And to end the most frustrating period in Wally Richardson’s life.

It’s a good thing he didn’t have to call an audible.

“Yeah,” said tight end Keith Olsommer, laughing. “We’d have been in real trouble then.”

Richardson had been in real trouble most of the season, struggling with each passing game, throwing interceptions, something he had never done, and becoming the poster child for Nittany Lion football futility in the eyes of people with faulty memories, who measure success a game at a time.

He had more than paid his dues: a freshman season as a hero-by-necessity, leading victories over Cincinnati and Temple because everyone else was injured; a redshirt season with the scout team; an apprenticeship under All-American Kerry Collins and a junior season as the starter, winning four games with fourth-quarter drives for a team that finished 9-3, ranked 12th in the nation.

He had thrown for 2,198 yards and 18 touchdowns, with only six interceptions, as a junior, and his senior season was going to make memories.

But many of his weapons were gone, three linemen and his best receiver, Bobby Engram, to the NFL. The offense that lined up against USC in the Kickoff Classic in August was a hybrid of veterans and newcomers, and four games of injuries into the season, the mix tended toward youth.

And then there was Richardson.

“I thought I had to be the leader, to take everything on my shoulders,” he says quietly, as he does all things. “It’s not just because I was the quarterback. I was the veteran, and somebody has to have a level head when things don’t always go right.

“It was a role that I felt I had to fulfill, and it’s hard when you’re not having the success you should have.”

He wasn’t. The Nittany Lions had taken care of USC, then Louisville, Northern Illinois and Temple fell, as they should. Penn State beat Wisconsin, 23-20, and Richardson finally had a Richardson game, with 246 passing yards, his first 200-yard game of the season.

“I think I was worried about too much, trying to do too much on my own,” he says. “You can try too hard, you know?

“It’s up to those guys to do their job and I’ve got to do my job. When everybody does the job, everything will take care of itself.”

Nobody did their jobs in a 38-7 loss to Ohio State, and Richardson threw two interceptions in a victory over Purdue. He completed only 10 of 30 passes when Iowa upset Penn State, 21-20, in State College.

He had four touchdown passes and seven interceptions in eight games. Six were won, but punter Darrell Kania was wearing his leg out.

The chorus started.

No amount of practice, no apprenticeship or pep talk or experience can teach you not to hear boos from most of 96,000 throats in your own stadium.

“When it happens, you have to take it with a grain of salt,” he says. “It upsets you very much, but you can’t dwell on it and let it get you off what’s really important, and that’s helping your team find success.

“It hurt. It’s a sign of ‘what-have-you-done-for-me-lately?’ That’s the kind of world that we’re living in right now. People tend to forget when things are going bad the positive things that you have been a part of.”

It got worse, quickly.

Down, 10-3, in the second quarter to Indiana, Penn State Coach Joe Paterno pulled Richardson in favor of junior Mike McQueary, the people’s choice and a hometown boy from State College.

McQueary threw for 184 yards and two touchdowns, and the Lions came back for a 48-26 victory. The fans had a new hero.

Richardson was hurt.

And, as always, outwardly stoic.

“There’s a kid who hit rock-bottom, yet he showed up for practice with a good attitude every day,” says Olsommer. “Wally never complained, never blamed anyone else for what was happening to him. He carried all the weight on his shoulders, took all the blame and didn’t whine about it.”

Sunday after Indiana was difficult.

“I was mad I got pulled because I didn’t feel I had done anything wrong,” says Richardson, who had completed three of seven passes for 21 yards in his short stint.

Boos and benching. The rest of the season, even the NFL, which likes his 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame and strong arm, seemed to be sailing away without him.

“Once I thought about it the next day, that’s one thing that crossed my mind,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s the lowest point in my life, but I know it’s something I can’t forget. It definitely hurt.”

He prayed. He talked to Irene Richardson, his schoolteacher mother, who had taught him life’s values and insisted on academic achievement.

On the Monday before the Indiana game, he had sent her a half-dozen roses, with a card that read: “Just thinking of you.”

He talked to Wallace Richardson, once a defensive back at South Carolina State and twice in NFL training camps before he became a high school principal and then superintendent of schools in Sumter, S.C. And who is now a Methodist minister and able to offer wisdom and guidance, based on experience.

Wallace and Irene had imparted discipline that enabled him to balance the classroom and football field, and to develop a strong-but-silent demeanor that he has continued to carry through a season of trials.

And on Monday, Richardson talked with Paterno.

“He told me why he did it,” Richardson says. “Whatever he would have said wouldn’t have made much sense to me because I didn’t think I should have come out. But he’s the coach, and he’s got to make the decisions. I knew I still wasn’t playing very well, and I had to bounce back.”

Paterno wasted no time in letting everyone know that Richardson was his quarterback.

“We knew after the Indiana game that Wally was still the quarterback,” Olsommer says. “Joe told the team that it was just like a baseball game. We needed to find a relief pitcher for this one game, and the relief pitcher did the job and now we’re going to go back to our starter next week. . . . We all knew after the game that Wally would start the next week.”

Still, doubts remained, and Richardson knew his leash was getting shorter.

Success wasn’t instantaneous.

His first pass against Northwestern bounced off the chest of Wildcat cornerback Mike Nelson, who had an open field in front of him.

After a running play, there was “Louis-55,” called in concert with teammates who genuinely like their quarterback and were concerned about him.

At game’s end, Richardson had thrown for 201 yards and two touchdowns and Northwestern’s Cinderella ride had ended.

“Wally became the old Wally again,” says Jurevicius, who caught three passes for 131 yards in the Northwestern game, one for a 63-yard touchdown.

The old Wally was welcomed.

“He’s got that quiet, John Wayne-type leadership, never having to say much,” says offensive coordinator Fran Ganter. “I remember early in the season we were running some plays in practice and everyone--coaches included--was gabbing, not paying attention when Wally turned to us and yelled out: ‘Hey, would everyone just shut up? We’re trying to get better here.’ ”

The Lions got better, quickly, winning at Michigan, 29-17, with Richardson throwing for 183 yards; and against Michigan State, 32-29, with Richardson throwing for 281 yards and a touchdown and leading a fourth-quarter comeback to the game-winning 30-yard field goal by Brett Conway.

They were 10-2, ranked seventh in the polls and good enough for an alliance bowl invitation here, to face Texas tonight in the Fiesta Bowl.

Says Paterno: “He’s a kid you would want for your son.”

The weeks since the end of the regular season have been full, with Richardson graduating on Dec. 15 with a degree in criminal justice, a 3.25 grade-point average, law school ahead and $35,000 in scholarships to help him pay for it.

Texas remains the one last hurdle before he settles back in State College, working out, studying for the Law School Aptitude Test and waiting for the NFL to call.

He’s ready.

“I’m excited about playing football again,” says Richardson. “The last three games I’ve been real relaxed, making things happen and doing things with real enthusiasm.

“All this different stuff that’s happened has really helped me grow up, to teach me not only about football but life in general. Life is hard, it’s hard.

“It was tough. I had a rough time. I think it made me stronger, going through something like that. A lot of people can’t handle that kind of spot. I feel it made me stronger.”

Stronger, and still the quiet man at Penn State.

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Wally Richardson by the Numbers

1996

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Opponent (Result) Att Com. Yds TD Int USC (W, 24-7) 18 10 102 0 2 Louisville (W, 24-7) 33 11 118 1 2 Northern Illinois (W, 49-0) 8 5 87 1 0 Temple (W, 41-0) 16 9 123 1 0 Wisconsin (W, 23-20) 28 17 246 0 1 Ohio State (L, 38-7) 30 14 105 0 0 Purdue (W, 31-14) 22 14 105 0 2 Iowa (L, 21-20) 30 10 106 1 0 Indiana (W, 48-26) 7 3 21 0 0 Northwestern (W, 34-9) 22 11 201 2 1 Michigan (W, 29-17) 34 20 183 0 0 Michigan State (W, 32-29) 31 21 281 1 0 Totals 279 145 1,732 7 8 Other Seasons 1995 335 193 2,198 18 6 1994 33 16 177 0 0 1992 45 24 312 2 0 Career 692 378 4,419 27 14

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NOTE: Richardson was a redshirt in 1993.