Chuck Fusina, Penn State Quarterback

November 13, 1978

He almost carried Penn State to the mountaintop. As the quarterback of No. 1-ranked, 11-0 Penn State, Chuck Fusina marched the Nittany Lions from Happy Valley to the 1979 Sugar Bowl, where they hoped to become kings of the hill. "It would have been a perfect ending to a perfect season," says Fusina, 42, "but I guess perfection can only go so far before you fall like everyone else."

Fall they did. In one of the tightest defensive games ever to determine a national champion, No. 2 Alabama held Fusina, the steely passing machine from Pittsburgh, to 163 yards through the air and intercepted him four times in a 14-7 victory. "It's a shame because after that we became known as the team that couldn't finish," says Fusina. "Fifteen years after that game, all that people remember about that season is that we didn't win the championship."

Fusina ended his Penn State career as the school's career passing yardage leader (a record since broken by Tony Sacca), and his future in football seemed bright. However, he played in only seven games in his three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and in August 1982 the Bucs traded him to the San Francisco 49ers, who released him a week later. Then, in three seasons with the newly formed USFL's Philadelphia and Baltimore Stars, from '83 to '85, Fusina led his team to three league championship games and two tides. In '84 he was voted USFL Player of the Year and MVP of the championship game. He had finally made it to the top of a mountain—albeit a smaller one—but his stay there would be brief. The league folded in '86, and Fusina was again out of a job. NFL coaches questioned his athleticism and ability to win in their league and, after one bench-warming season with the Green Bay Packers, his football career was over.

Since receiving an M.B.A from LaSalle in 1987, Fusina has been a salesman for Advanced Medical Systems, of Philadelphia. "The sales business is similar to football," says Fusina. "To be on top you have to have a winning attitude and a successful game plan."

When he's not working or sharing quiet time at home with his wife, Jackie, and their children Matt, 15, and Shannon, 11, Chuck organizes after-school and weekend activities for longtime Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's Second Mile program (SI, Dec. 20). And now and again the old lion in him roars. "Sometimes on a crisp fall day," Fusina says, "the smell of football in the air puts me right back on the field."