Carrying a tune Clydebank crooner Marti Pellow has been recalling the Christmases of his youth. One occasion stands out, when his mother took him and his brother round the Barras, choosing presents for friends and family. At one point Marti and his sibling spotted a Hi-Fi. They immediately started pestering their mum to buy it, which she did. This tender memory goes some way towards explaining Marti’s early love of music. Though the purchase could easily have led to him becoming a champion weightlifter instead. As the family didn’t own a car, Marti’s brother had to carry the stereo home on the train. Marti, meanwhile, took the same long journey, with a hefty speaker bulging under each of his straining arms.
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.