The President’s Corner

Dear Friends,

We are Penn State! Isn’t it great to look forward to another winning football season in 2009? While we all know that Penn State represents so much more than a successful athletic program, it is fun to cheer the Blue and White on to victory in the fall.

Our Greater Cleveland Chapter is gearing up for our calendar of events for the 2009-2010 year. One of the highlights of the past year was the event we had at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was so much fun to hear six members of Penn State football teams, spanning three decades, discuss what it was like to go the play football AND be a student at our alma mater. Jay Paterno shared with us the insight that while many aspects of the game have changed the fundamental values of the Penn State football program remain the same.

What do we have in store for Chapter activities for this coming year? Preliminary discussions are in progress to have a nationally known individual from an unnamed (at this time) Penn State athletic program come to Cleveland for a HUGE event. We are not able to disclose additional information at this time, but let me assure you...you will not want to miss it!! By the way, we anticipate returning to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 to honor one of the Penn State inductees. (There are currently five Penn Staters inducted in the shrine in Canton.)

We look forward to you joining in on the fun. This newsletter includes information about activities that are planned for the upcoming months.


At a recent Chapter leadership meeting we committed our Chapter to a new goal of increasing the amount of our scholarship endowment to $100,000! No PSAA alumni chapter has an endowment of this amount. We could become one of the first chapters to do so. Some of you may recall that the last time Joe Paterno visited Cleveland for an event we were able to increase the amount of our endowment by about $30,000. We are well over half way to our goal of $100,000, but we need your support.

We need your help! We need your participation at our activities. No one has a schedule or interests that make it possible to participate in all activities, but frankly we want to see you at as many activities as possible.


This newsletter includes information about the many great things that members have done to support our alma mater, particularly through the recruitment of new students from our area. Daron Boyce continues to do a great job in heading the Alumni Admissions Committee and organizing the student send off. We likewise can take a great deal of pride in providing scholarships for four students from our area who attend Penn State. Many thanks for Mark Eakman’s work as head of the scholarship committee.

We could use your assistance in planning upcoming activities and helping make our chapter more successful and fun. Please contact me or another officer if you are interested in joining the fun.


We look forward to your participation as a member of our local chapter. Please join by paying the small annual dues that we are soliciting as part of this newsletter. Keep in mind that although many of us have paid our dues to be a member of the Penn State Alumni Association, that payment does NOT cover the cost of membership in our chapter in the Greater Cleveland area. Note: This mailing is being sent to most Penn State alumni in the area. You need to pay your chapter dues to stay on the Greater Cleveland chapter mailing list for the July, 2009 through June, 2010 period. By paying your dues you will be able to ensure that you will be able to participate in the HUGE event we are planning for the first part of 2010.

Finally, we encourage you to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Chapter Scholarship Fund.

We want your suggestions and comments on how to meet your needs and our chapter objectives to promote and enhance the stature of Penn State and higher education by any means open to us.


Join us now for some fun and to support our alma mater! We hope to see you soon!


For the Glory,
Dave Repko ‘73