Wallace “Wally” Triplett, of the La Mott section of Cheltenham Township, was an outstanding student, multi-sport athlete, and a 1945 graduate of Cheltenham High School. He was recently highlighted in an article by DC News Now titled “Before Jackie Robinson, Penn State took a stand for equality”.
The article runs through a brief history of his college football career, which began in the fall of 1946 when Penn State rostered two Black players: Triplett and teammate Dennie Hoggard.
The La Mott native had been accepted to Miami University, but Penn State historian Lou Prato said his offer was revoked when the school learned he was Black. Triplett instead earned a Senatorial Scholarship for his academics and chose to attend Penn State University in the fall of 1945.
Penn State’s last game of the season was against Miami in 1946. The school told Penn State—who were a perfect 7-0 at the time—they could compete only if Hoggard and Triplett weren’t involved. Penn State’s team took a vote and ended up boycotting the invitation. They later turned down a trip to the Orange Bowl and finished the season 7-2.
The following year—1947, the same year Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier—Penn State was again undefeated and invited to play Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas), sans Triplett and Hoggard. The Nittany Lions boycotted again, with captain Steve Suhey reportedly saying, “We’re Penn State,” indicating that they were a unified team.
On January 1, 1948, Penn State played Southern Methodist in the Cotton Bowl and the second-ever integrated college football game in the south. Triplett and Hoggard became the first Black athletes to play in the bowl game.
“It didn’t reflect greatly on the Cotton Bowl when the fact that Penn State had to kind of force things to happen,” Cotton Bowl Communications Director Scottie Rodgers told DC News Now. “Because the South still wanted them to leave their Black players behind. And Penn State said, ‘no, we’re not doing that.’”
Penn State and Southern Methodist tied 13-13, with Triplett scoring a game-tying touchdown. Various college bowls, including those in the south, gradually repealed their limitations on Black athletes.
Triplett was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame in 2018. He’s also in Cheltenham High School’s Hall of Fame and his portrait hangs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. ESPN chronicled Triplett’s story and its ties to Penn State’s “We are!” chant in 2018:
He went on to become the third African American chosen in the 1949 NFL Draft and was the first of the draftees to take the field in a league game. The 5’10”, 173-pound running back and return specialist played for the Detroit Lions from 1949 to 1950. He set the league’s single-game record with 294 yards on four kickoff returns, including a 97-yard touchdown against the Los Angeles in 1950. His 73.5-yard kickoff return average is still the NFL single-game record.
Following the 1950 season, Triplett became the first NFL player drafted into military service for the Korean War. When he returned from active duty, the Lions traded him to the Chicago Cardinals. He retired from professional football in 1953. After his playing days, Triplett worked as a teacher, in the insurance business, and in management for the Chrysler Corporation.
According to USA Today, his life is (or was) being made into a feature-length biopic as of 2021. The project includes co-producers Mandi Hart and Mark Rodgers, and co-screenwriters Craig Detweiler and Camille Tucker.
Born April 18, 1926 in La Mott, Triplett died November 8, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 92. For more on his life and impact, you can watch the videos below:
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Photos: Penn State University Archives, Getty images,