I go back to the early 1970s with my guest this week, Ray "Buddy" Tesner. Buddy came to Penn State from Warren G. Harding High School, north of Youngstown, OH. He played for the Nittany Lions from 1971-1974 during the "heyday" of Penn State football. The Lions qualified for 4 major bowl games during his tenure at Penn State (1971 - Cotton, 1972 - Sugar, 1973 - Orange and 1974 - Cotton). Penn State ended up undefeated in 1973 after their Orange Bowl victory over LSU. Buddy competed at the linebacker position with a group of great Penn State players; John Skorupan, Bruce Bannon, Ed O'Neill, Doug Allen, Chris Devlin and Greg Buttle to name a few. He became an orthopedic surgeon after his college football career, along with teammate Jim Bradley. This testifies to the type of individuals that Joe Paterno recruited when two players in the same class became orthopedic doctors.
Talking Penn State Football History: Ray “Buddy” Tesner