Penn State Football Set to Wear Patch and Helmet Sticker to Support Social Unity

Penn State football will wear a patch, helmet sticker as well as branded warmup shirts in support of social unity the program announced on Tuesday afternoon. An NCAA ruling earlier this summer permitted programs to to change various aspects of their uniform in favor of messaging related to social issues.

‘Penn State football student-athletes will wear a logo in competition this year to symbolize our journey for unity,’ The program said in a statement. ‘Our goal is to construct a culture of respect, appreciation, and empathy for all differences. We are a country, state and institution rooted in diversity, shared experienced and hope. We believe now more than ever, we can help create a better society by publicly and peacefully acknowledging our pursuit to move beyond simply tolerating differences to recognizing these differences can enrich our commonwealth.’

No additional initiatives have been announced at this time.

‘The education and the learning that was taking place in those meetings from so many different perspectives has been great,’ Coach James Franklin said of the decision-making process on a message. ‘Then obviously our players watching other teams, other leagues, other conferences, as well as professional basketball. We felt like we wanted to do something that showed our unity and I think that’s the important thing for us is that this is a topic that you have to be careful about because the last thing you want to do is take part in things that are divisive.’

On Tuesday morning Penn State men’s basketball coach Pat Chambers indicated that while the program had yet to decide on its own potential branding or message, that those were discussions were ongoing and it was very likely the program would work in conjunction with football with its messaging.

Penn State athletics announced its overarching Penn State United campaign during Franklin’s weekly press conference.