Jerry Kellar (center) with Neil Rudel of the Altoona Mirror and Rich Scarcella of the Reading Eagle during Orange Bowl week festivities in January 2006.

In Memoriam: Jerry Kellar

The college football community lost a dear friend this offseason. Jerry Kellar, who covered Penn State for the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, passed away in May at age 46. Jerry, a former lineman at Temple, was a giant in the press box and media room — both in his physical stature and his metaphysical presence. He was a friend, a colleague, a comedian and a great person to be around. A few hours after Penn State's lost to Michigan in primetime at Beaver Stadium last season, Jerry arrived at the Penn Stater hotel just behind his dear friend Rich Scarcella, a reporter from the Reading Eagle. Rich was nearly finished checking in when Jerry was told his reservation had been switched to the Nittany Lion Inn, the university's other campus hotel. "I called you from the stadium and said I was going to be late," Jerry lamented, his voice a blend of irritation and comic deadpan. Pointing to Scarcella, he added: "This creep doesn't call and he gets a room?" Scarcella tried to accentual the positive, noting that he and Jerry had planned to eat breakfast at the Nittany Lion Inn the next morning, and that Jerry would already be that much closer to the brunch line by staying in the hotel. Perhaps, Scarcella said, the hotel could send breakfast to Jerry's room as compensation for the mix up. Jerry liked the idea, but added a condition: "I want a woman and an egg. When I get there, a woman... and an egg." A woman, an egg and a laugh. The front desk at the Penn Stater will never be the same at 1 in the morning. Neither will the Penn State beat. But, come each fall Saturday, the folks who cover the Nittany Lions know Jerry will still be there.