Penn State has long taken pride in its understated football helmets, which are solid white with just a single blue stripe. The school announced Friday that those helmets will carry a special decal honoring Wally Triplett when it faces Memphis in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on Saturday.
Triplett and Nittany Lions teammate Dennie Hoggard were the first African Americans to play in the Cotton Bowl when Penn State squared off against SMU on Jan. 1, 1948. Despite segregation policies in Dallas at the time, SMU's administrators allowed the Nittany Lions to take Triplett and Hoggard and arranged for the team to stay at a local Naval Air Station since both players were barred from hotels in Dallas.