H. Jesse Arnelle — a groundbreaking student and athlete at Penn State, university trustee emeritus, attorney and activist — has died at the age of 86.
Arnelle, who also served in the U.S. Navy and Peace Corps, died of heart disease on Oct. 21 in San Francisco.
“Jesse had an abundance of experience and much success throughout his life, but he always remained strongly connected to Penn State,’ Penn State President Eric Barron said in a statement. ‘His impressive contributions as a student-athlete are only surpassed by the positive difference he made for the people within our University community and in many others.”
Arnelle arrived at Penn State in 1951 and became a two-sport star in football and basketball. While he earned honorable mention All-America in football, he made his athletic mark as one of the greatest basketball players in Penn State history.
He led the Nittany Lions to their first and only appearance to date in the NCAA Final Four and was named an All-American. He ended his college career with 2,138 points, a school record that stood for 56 years.
Arnelle also was the school’s first Black student body president and worked to promote equality on campus.
In 1955, after graduating with a degree in political science, Arnelle was drafted by both NFL and NBA teams, becoming Penn State’s first NBA player when he chose to play for the Fort Wayne Pistons. He helped the Pistons to the 1956 NBA finals and later played for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Jesse Arnelle was an All-American and led Penn State basketball to the NCAA Final Four in 1954.
After leaving professional sports, Arnelle served in the U.S. Air Force and Peace Corps. In 1962, he graduated from Dickinson Law School and later moved to California where he became a public defender.
He co-founded the law firm of Arnelle & Hastie in 1987 and was senior partner until his retirement in 1997. The firm was one of the nation’s first minority-owned corporate law firms and represented major clients such as Ford Motor Company, Chrysler and Coca-Cola.
In 1968, during a speech at the Penn State football awards banquet, Arnelle famously denounced the university’s record on social progress and recruitment of minority students and faculty in the 1960s. He turned down the inaugural Alumni Association Award in protest.
“Let no one doubt that I love this Pennsylvania State University deeply, but freedom is dearer to me,” Arnelle said.
A year later, Arnelle was elected the first Black member of Penn State’s Board of Trustees, a role he would serve in for 45 years before being named trustee emeritus in 2014. In 1996 became the first Black president of the board.
“With his range of life and professional experiences, Jesse brought a unique perspective to the board,” Penn State Board of Trustees President Mark Dambly said. “Jesse was a pleasure to work with, and his forward vision and insight will be missed, as will his good nature and generosity.”
Arnelle maintained a deep devotion to the university outside his board service, receiving the Lion’s Paw Medal for notable contributions to Penn State in 2000.
He co-founded the Penn State Renaissance Fund, which provides scholarships to academically talented students with financial need, and helped organize the affiliation between Penn State and the Dickinson School of Law.
With his wife Carolyn Block-Arnelle, he established scholarships for students in the colleges of the Liberal Arts and Health and Human Development, and at Dickinson Law.
In addition to his wife, Arnelle is survived by his daughter, Isis Bastet Arnelle, and his son, Michael Arnelle, as well as a niece, nephew, and grandnephew.
