The historic snowfall that blanketed Happy Valley in mid-October couldn’t dampen the spirits of Penn Staters gathered for Homecoming 2009. This year’s Homecoming Weekend featured the traditional Friday evening parade, guarding the Lion, and a shutout of Big Ten foe Minnesota. And some special guests were on hand for the festivities.

Former CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson ’85, stopped by the Hintz Family Alumni Center and braved the chilly temperatures riding in a convertible as the Homecoming Parade’s Grand Marshal.

The weekend’s other special guests were 10 members of the undefeated 1947 football team that helped break the color barrier in college football. Wally Triplett ’49 and Dennie Hoggard ’49 were the only African-American players on the squad when the team bumped up against segregation in the South. During the 1946 season, the University of Miami cancelled a regular-season game with the Nittany Lions rather than allow black players in the Orange Bowl, their home stadium. Penn State had voted as a team that everyone would play or no one would play.

The undefeated 1947 team faced segregation again when Penn State was invited to play Southern Methodist University in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1948. Triplett recalls rumors that SMU wanted to meet with Penn State to discuss the team leaving its black players at home. In a Collegian interview, Triplett credits Steve Suhey ’50 as saying, “We are Penn State. There will be no meetings.” All of the Nittany Lions ultimately traveled to Texas for the game. Because Dallas hotels were segregated, the team chose the only place they could stay together—a military base outside of town. The game ended in a 13-13 tie, preserving the undefeated season of what is considered one of the best teams of the pre-Paterno era.

Sixty-one years after their historic stand, team members graciously posed for photographs and signed copies of their team photo during Friday afternoon’s ice cream social in the Hintz Family Alumni Center and waved to the crowds along the parade route Friday evening. On Saturday, they watched the 2009 team dominate Minnesota from President Graham Spanier’s box and were introduced to the Homecoming crowd in Beaver Stadium during halftime.

Attending were Triplett, Joe Sarabok ’50, William “Rip” Scherer ’49 (in his original letter sweater), John Finley ’49, Tom Smith ’49, Bob Hicks ’50, Elwood Petchel ’49, Lee Henry ’50, Bob Ross ’50, and Bob Williams ’49. Family members stood in for other players: Ed Czekaj ’48 was represented by his daughter Leanne and wife, Ginny; the late Steve Suhey ’50 was represented by his son Matt Suhey ’80; Raymond Hedderick ’50 was represented by his wife, Ruth, and son Todd.

Next year’s Homecoming Weekend—including the game against Illinois—is Oct. 8-9, 2010.