It’s a new week and that means we are one day closer to the college football season and exactly 47 days until the Nittany Lions opener on September 4th against the Wisconsin Badgers. Penn State currently leads the series 10 wins to nine, dating back to 1963.
And with Penn State’s most recent bowl game being played in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 2019 season, today is a good day to look back on another Cotton Bowl.
When fans think of 47 in Penn State football history, one might think of the 1947 unbeaten team that went to the Cotton Bowl 74 years ago under head coach Bob Higgins. They went on to tie Southern Methodist in a 13-13 shootout by the standards of the time. The game took place in Texas, which at the time was a racially segregated state.
The 1947 team will always be remembered as one of the most successful teams in Penn State football history. They consisted of players like Dennie Hoggard and Wally Triplett, two of the first black players to put on a Nittany Lions uniform. Hoggard was a humble and charismatic person on and off the field, earning awards for his academic excellence and extracurricular activities. Triplett was the first African-American starter for Penn State dating back to the 1945 season.
Wally Triplett, halfback, Detroit Lions is pictured in 1950. AP photo.
Both Hoggard and Triplett changed the game, as their debuts worked to desegregate college football.
1947 was a memorable year in sports. Just nine months earlier, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the MLB, according to the York Daily Record.
Triplett went on to play two seasons for the Detroit Lions, where he set an NFL record for 294 return yards in a single game, according to the McLendon Foundation. He then left the league in 1950 and enlisted in the Army.
The Penn State Nittany Lions have had historic players come through State College. From players like Hoggard and Triplett to current NFL players like Saquon Barkley and Micah Parsons, this program has recruited tremendous talent.
The Nittany Lions will open their season at Camp Randall against a hungry Wisconsin Badgers lead by quarterback Graham Mertz on Saturday, September 4th at 12:00 pm ET.
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