Irvington Author Revisits Roots With Book on Penn State Football

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Irvington resident Chris Raymond (photo by Andy Raymond)

October 10, 2024

By Tom Pedulla—

Author Chris Raymond has lived in Irvington for almost 20 years. He never forgets his Scranton, Pa. roots.

His time in Scranton helped him to understand how much Penn State football means to that region. His insight into the program deepened when he covered the Nittany Lions for The Daily Collegian before he graduated from the university in 1987.

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His passion and his knowledge served him well when he wrote “Men in White: The Gutsy, Against-All-Odds Return of Penn State Football.”

The oral history, published by St. Martin’s Press, details the team’s struggles and triumphs from 2012-2016 after the National Collegiate Athletic Association imposed devastating sanctions. The administration and athletic department had been rocked when former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of child molestation.

Raymond, 59, has enjoyed a distinguished career as an editor for ESPN, Esquire, GQ and now for Consumer Reports. Penn State’s determination to rebuild following the horrific scandal and what was deemed the university’s poor response to it provided him with a first book that became a labor of love through 60 player interviews and countless hours of online research.

“I saw the program in its heyday,” Raymond said. “So, when the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke, as you can imagine, I was gutted by that.”

Raymond had covered Penn State’s last national football championship, in 1986, for The Daily Collegian. He had seen first-hand the brilliance of late coach Joe Paterno, who emphasized the need to achieve “success with honor.”

Paterno’s legendary career ended with his dismissal in 2011, shortly before he died. A statue that had been erected in his honor was leveled. Recruiters from rival schools were permitted to pursue Penn State players. “Men in White” focuses on how challenging – and ultimately rewarding – it was for those who were left to pick up the pieces.

“Those football players, 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds, kind of stepped forward and said, ‘One man didn’t build this program. We’re not going to let one man tear it down,’” Raymond said. “As an alum, that just really struck me. I appreciated that so much.”

Readers will come away with a similar appreciation for coaches and players placed in a brutal position even though they had done nothing wrong. Sandusky had been an assistant coach at Penn State from 1969-1999, including the last 22 years as defensive coordinator.

“What we are talking about is not an on-field incident,” Raymond noted. “With Jerry Sandusky, these were crimes that happened off the field by a coach who hadn’t been involved in the program for a long time.

“Did the university make mistakes? Absolutely. They should have reported it to the authorities. They did not, so I’m not making excuses for the university.”

“Men in White” focuses on players who stayed loyal in an age of fleeting loyalties when the NCAA had opened the door for them to bolt. They instead dealt with various setbacks and paved the way for a return to national prominence.

It is virtually impossible not to cheer when reading about a four-overtime win against perennial power Michigan in 2013, a fourth-quarter comeback against rival Ohio State in 2016 and then a remarkable rally from a 21-point deficit to shock Wisconsin, 38-31, in the Big Ten championship game later that season.

“They rescued the program, there is no doubt about that,” the author said. “But, more than that, they rescued the ideals of the program.”

Raymond’s ties to Penn State continue. He and his wife, Lynne Palazzi, have two sons. Adam is a sophomore at Penn State. Will is a junior at Irvington High School.

Reviews of “Men in White” are overwhelmingly positive. While Raymond searches for his next project, he relishes the feedback he has gotten from players who are prominent in the book.

“You got it right,” they told him.

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