Why “We Are” | Renee C. Compasso-Quinn & Morgan Connell

Renee C. Compasso-Quinn and Morgan Connell are proud Penn State University alumnae who helped make IPWatchdog, Inc recent conference and 25th anniversary celebration a resounding success. Renee shared the deeply meaningful origin behind the phrase “We Are.”
It dates back to 1946, when “when the Nittany Lion football team made history for refusing to play in a game against then-segregated University of Miami. When told they must leave its Black players at home, the Penn State team instead voted to cancel the game.
The following season, Penn State was invited to the Cotton Bowl but was again asked to leave the team’s two Black athletes — Wally Triplett and Dennie Hoggard — at home. The Nittany Lions refused that request, with captain Steve Suhey reportedly saying, “We’re Penn State,” indicating that they were a unified team.
The full team ended up going to the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1948, in a matchup against Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. With Dallas still operating under Jim Crow laws at the time, it was a game that would become symbolic of desegregation in athletics. Triplett and Hoggard became the first African Americans ever to play in the Cotton Bowl.”
Antiracist Development Institute at Penn State Dickinson Law