1896 was a big year for the United States. Utah officially became a state, William McKinley was elected president, and author F. Scott Fitzgerald was born. But most importantly, Penn State men’s basketball played its first game.

More than 12 decades later, the Nittany Lions are coming off of one of the best seasons in school history. As Penn State begins its 125th season, it’s time to reflect on how this program got to where it is. It wasn’t always pretty, but there were some good times along the way.

The Beginning (1896-1919)

The 1896-97 season was the first season where the Nittany Lions played basketball. The team went 1-1, but there’s no record of who they played against, likely because basketball was still a relatively new game. After all, James Naismith had just invented it in 1891.

The evolution of the game’s popularity showed as the years went on, as the following season the team went 2-1, and the following year the team went 2-3. As the 20th century began, more universities added basketball programs and the Nittany Lions played more opponents.

Interestingly enough, there is no coach on the record for most of the seasons during this era. Penn State went 162-73 oeveerall without a coach in a relatively new sport. As World War I ended, the program continued to expand.

The Dutch Hermann Era (1919-1932)

Dutch Hermann is largely considered the first head coach for Penn State men’s basketball. He coached for two seasons from 1915 to 1917 but left after the 1916-17 season. He later returned two years later and stayed with the program until 1932.

During his time as head coach, he posted a 148-73 record competing as an “independent” team, meaning the Nittany Lions did not belong to any conference.

The Nittany Lions often went up against teams such as Syracuse and Cornell during this era. Scores would have teams barely going above 30 points, as the game continued to evolve with new rules and strategies. Overall, it was a successful era for Penn State even though it had no championship to mark it.

The First Conference Era (1935-1939)

Penn State joined its first conference, the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference, in 1935. The league consisted of Carnegie Mellon, Pitt, Temple, West Virginia, and Georgetown.

In the first season in the conference, the Nittany Lions went 0-10 in conference play. As the years went on, they got better against conference opponents but never won the conference championship.

Even though the Associated Press called the EIC “one of the best [conferences] in the nation,” the leagues disbanded in 1939 due to geographical challenges for scheduling, sending Penn State back to playing as an independent program.

The Jesse Arnelle Era (1951-1955)

Between 1939 and 1951, there wasn’t much to note for Penn State. Former head coach John Lawther led the team to 150 wins during that span before departing in 1949. That season, Elmer Gross stepped in and took charge of the program. He spent just five seasons as head coach before becoming a professor of physical education at Penn State. However, he left a lasting impression on the program.

The first was breaking the color barrier. Gross recruited Hardy Williams to play for him in Happy Valley, and he became a captain in the 1951 and 1952 seasons. He paved the way for many future Nittany Lions, including one that would become a Penn State legend: Jesse Arnelle.

Arnelle is one of the best players in Penn State history and holds many records. He leads the program in rebounds with 1,238 and is third in school history for points with 2,138. He also led the Nittany Lions to the best postseason finish in school history.

The 1953-54 season was when the Nittany Lions made it all the way to the Final Four. Arnelle, averaging 21 points, led the team over Toledo and upset Louisiana State and Notre Dame. They ended up losing to eventual national champion La Salle in the Final Four, though they beat the University of Southern California in the National Third Place Game.

The Nittany Lions were ranked three times during Arnelle’s four years in Happy Valley. They also made it to the NCAA tournament in those same three years. After Arnelle left, he was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Fort Wayne Pistons but led an incredible life by joining the Air Force, becoming a lawyer, and serving as a Penn State trustee.

Penn State men’s basketball, however, would make only one more tournament appearance as an independent team before settling into years of mediocrity.

The Atlantic 10 Era (1982-1991)

Once Arnelle graduated, the Nittany Lions embarked on a spiral down. While the football team constantly competed under Joe Paterno, the basketball team seemed to never repeat previous successes.

In 1982, Penn State joined the Atlantic 10 Conference. The league included notable teams such as Rutgers, Temple, and West Virginia, all of which were highly competitive.

During this period, coach Bruce Parkhill led the team. Parkhill did not achieve spectacular results while the Nittany Lions were in the conference, as they were not good in almost every year they were members. It was their final season in the Atlantic 10 when Parkhill shined as a coach.

Under Parkhill’s guidance, the Nittany Lions went 21-11 and 10-8 in conference play. DeRon Hayes led the team in points with 15 points per game. He had 1,570 career points that place him ninth all-time in school history.

Hayes led the team to win the program’s only conference championship and an automatic birth in the NCAA Tournament. The Nittany Lions were given the No. 13 seed and matched up against UCLA. They went on to upset the Bruins but lose to No. 12 seed Eastern Michigan in overtime the next round.

After that season, Penn State left the Atlantic 10. It spent one more season as an independent before joining the Big Ten in 1992.

The Jerry Dunn Era (1995-2003)

Parkhill coached the Nittany Lions for the first three seasons they were in the Big Ten and then handed over the reins to longtime assistant Jerry Dunn. Dunn took over a team that featured Pete Lisick and Calvin Booth, both of whom are in the top-20 point scorers in program history.

With this talented team, the Nittany Lions went 21-7, ranking as high as No. 9 in the AP Poll and finishing the season at No. 18. They were given a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament before enduring a heartbreaking loss to Arkansas that ended their season.

Dunn would get one more chance to lead the Nittany Lions in the NCAA Tournament and make the most of it. Led by seniors Joe Crispin and Titus Ivory, Penn State went 21-12 and got the coveted NCAA Tournament bid.

As a No. 7 seed, Penn State won against No. 10 seed Providence in the first round. In the second round, the team went up against No. 2 seed University of North Carolina and future NBA player Brendan Haywood (as well as future NFL player Julius Peppers). Against all odds, the Nittany Lions pulled off the upset and beat the Tar Heels.

In the Sweet Sixteen, the Nittany Lions were up against No. 11 seed Temple. That was where the Cinderella story ended, as the Owls upset the Nittany Lions to end a great run.

Dunn coached the team for the next two seasons, going 7-21 in both before getting fired. It wasn’t the end for Dunn’s coaching career, as he has bounced around as an assistant and even made it to the NBA. But for Penn State, a new decline would begin.

The Modern Era

There isn’t much to celebrate with Penn State since 2001. However, the team did win two NIT Championships in 2009 and 2018 that both happened in their respective head coaches’ third-to-last seasons with the team.

Ed DeChellis took over immediately after Dunn, and the high point for him was when he coached a Talor Battle-led team to the NCAA Tournament in 2011. The Nittany Lions lost to Temple before DeChellis left to become the head coach at Navy, where he remains today.

Pat Chambers took over as head coach following DeChellis. And while he did not make it to any NCAA Tournaments, he’s responsible for bringing Lamar Stevens to Penn State, who is arguably the program’s best player of all time.

This leads us to the 2020-21 season — No. 125! Interim coach Jim Ferry is at the helm with most of the players from the previous season returning to try and make it to the tournament. The team reached a milestone in crossing 1500 all-time wins this year by beating Virginia Tech. It is also playing in a pandemic, something that certainly hasn’t been a regular occurrence in 125 years of Penn State basketball.

While Penn State is no Duke, it has its fair share of spectacular moments and players who have left a legacy on the program and the game at large. John Amaechi became the first former-NBA player to come out as gay. Calvin Booth became the general manager of the Denver Nuggets. Lamar Stevens, Josh Reaves, Tony Carr, and Tim Frazier all became NBA players after a long drought of Nittany Lions going pro.

There is a lot that fans should be proud of when it comes to Penn State basketball. Here’s to 125 more seasons!