Random fun fact: Wally Richardson

[Tri-Power65]

All Wally did was win games. Dude was a stud. One of the bright spots in PSU's QB history.

 

[ApexLion]

Ripken and Jeter were totally different players. Jeter was a leadoff, slap hitter, Ripken was a middle of the order power guy. But look at major league rosters, who gets the big money deals, high average or sluggers? The fact that the Yankees will soon vastly overpay a .240 hitting Bryce Harper because he has a ton of power should show which is the more valuable commodity.
Ichiro and Jeter were the end of an era, in my opinion. Pure high average speedsters are gone, guys have to have 20-hr potential now.

Jeter was the captain of the Yankees who played the game the way it was meant to be played while elevating everyone around him. He won more than anyone in the history of the game. As a former player, I don’t give a damn about stat sheets. It’s about winning and Jeter did it better or as well as any of the truly great players.

 

[JWB389]

I forgot about Walter Alston, not that I sit around thinking about 60’s managers. I haven’t seen or heard that name in a long time. Alston had a lot of success due mostly, if not entirely, to Koufax, Drysdale, Osteen etc. The Davis brothers were good. Wills could hit for average and steal a whole lot of bases. Parker and LeFevre were all glove, no bat. Do you recall any other bats they had, Jim?

Funny you mention Koufax. I just bumped into him at a grocery store. He lives in Bethlehem.

 

[TheGLOV]

I had heard that the Pirates got rid of Maury Wills because he and Robert Clemente had a confrontational disagreement where Roberto jacked-up Maury, against a wall in the Pirates clubhouse, and basically want to kill him.

Anybody??

 

[wentzel25]

I happen to know Wally. Wally is a really good person. He is a gracious person who is easy to like. He is the Director of the Lettermen's Club, and the Lettermen I know think highly of him. They recently had their most successful annual Golf Outing ever, under Wally's direction. Wally also has a Master's degree, and is another great example of The Grand Experiment. As long-time PSU fans, we should feel proud of him and happy for his post-playing successes.

I don't understand why people like to make digs at past PSU players who were important parts of highly successful teams. (Not directed at the OP here). Remembering Wally for bad passes rather than his overall record and his steady hand at crucial times during games is strange, imo.

As a reminder for those who may care:

Wally came to PSU from South Carolina. He started as a true freshman in the 1992 season-opener on the road at Cincinnati (in their then brand-new stadium) and brought the team from behind to win 24-20. He backed up John Sacca and later Kerry Collins that season. He redshirted in '93, backed up Collins in '94. He started in '95 and '96, and was a Captain in '96. Those teams were 20-5 overall, including two big bowl wins over Auburn and Texas. He led the last-minute comebacks vs. Texas Tech at home to open the '95 season and at Michigan State in '95, hitting Bobby Engram with a TD pass in the final couple of seconds to win 24-20. The '96 team lost just 2 games, getting beaten badly at Ohio State and then losing by one point in an upset to Iowa at home.
His PSU stats: Wally had over 4400 yards passing and 27 TDs in 2+ seasons. Pretty good; not an All-American or an all-time 'greatest of the great' PSU QBs, but a very good college QB who also was (and is) a very good leader.

Wally was drafted by the Ravens in a late round in 1996, so he wasn't a sure thing to make the team. But he stayed for 2 or 3 seasons as a backup QB. It takes more hard work and talent than most of us can imagine to get there and to stay for any length of time. The fact that his stats are what they are is not the point - the point is, he got to the NFL and stayed for 2 or 3 seasons. I bet lots of ex-college players would take that.

I know you said it was directed at me, but just to clear the air for everyone, I just found it to be an oddity. Honestly, when I first thought about him in the NFL, I'd assumed he'd started maybe a game or two and tossed a handful of TDs (even thought I'd remembered one, funny how the brain does that). When I saw his total was one passing yard though, I thought for sure he was the only player to ever do that.

 

[Bob78]

I know you said it was directed at me, but just to clear the air for everyone, I just found it to be an oddity. Honestly, when I first thought about him in the NFL, I'd assumed he'd started maybe a game or two and tossed a handful of TDs (even thought I'd remembered one, funny how the brain does that). When I saw his total was one passing yard though, I thought for sure he was the only player to ever do that.

I'm guessing you left out a word in your response! It was NOT directed at you at all. That stat is an anomaly and noteworthy as a piece of trivia. You could win a bar bet or three with that fact in your back pocket.

A couple of later comments by some of our BWI family, while not really disparaging, were focused on a few of Wally's miscues rather than the overall, and I just wanted to balance it by highlighting the many more positives about his PSU career.

 

[wentzel25]

I'm guessing you left out a word in your response! It was NOT directed at you at all. That stat is an anomaly and noteworthy as a piece of trivia. You could win a bar bet or three with that fact in your back pocket.

A couple of later comments by some of our BWI family, while not really disparaging, were focused on a few of Wally's miscues rather than the overall, and I just wanted to balance it by highlighting the many more positives about his PSU career.

Ha, yep sure did leave out the "not." So my clarification made things convoluted.

 

[throw2oj]

I think that ranks him better than Kyle Boller.