As the first of what we hope will be a recurring feature on Onward State, we’d like to present the first mention of Joe Paterno in the New York Times. The article was published on November 7, 1943, and the headline was

POLY ELEVEN BOWS TO BROOKLYN PREP

Loses 13-0 Game to Brooklyn Foe for First Defeat in Series Since 1936

Find out how Paterno played after the jump.

He was a star even as a kid.

Paterno, as a member of the Brooklyn Prep team, scored one of the team’s two touchdowns. His was definitely the more exciting touchdown.

In the fourth period Paterno intercepted an aerial heaved by Ferdy Neurohr and raced ten yards to score. Ed Kelly converted.

Though Brooklyn Prep was victorious in their game against Poly, “it was the first success in six starts.”

Unfortunately, due to copyright restrictions, we cannot post the PDF of the file we obtained from the NYT archives. But if you have a Penn State ID, you can access the article itself through the library’s databases.