Miami football trolled by racist Penn State fan

A Penn State alum who wrote a racist letter about one of the Nittany Lions’ players dug himself in deeper when he said he did not want the player “looking like Florida State and Miami guys.” It is another racist reference to the Miami football program.

Penn State graduate David Petersen wrote a letter to Nittany Lions player Jonathan Sutherland stating his “shoulder-length dreadlocks look disgusting.”  When trying to explain himself Peterson said he didn’t want the player “looking like Florida State and Miami guys.” The comment about the Miami football team is not surprising.

Peterson’s statement only dug himself deeper into what was perceived as a racist statement by Penn State football player Antonio Shelton who posted to twitter about the letter regarding Sutherland’s dreadlocks. The rebuttal by Petersen regarding the Florida State and Miami football teams is an old trope.

The 1968 Penn State graduate in Speech-Language Pathology might have as well called the Florida State and Miami football players thugs. That goes back to the Penn State Miami football game in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl. Miami gained a lot of enemies when the Hurricanes came off the plane in Phoenix in fatigues.

Miami Hurricanes Football

It’s a disturbing narrative coming from a fanbase that supported Joe Paterno up until his death despite the legendary coach’s cover-up in the Jerry Sandusky molestation case. The Miami football program will likely never break away from the negative images that much of the public has of their football program.

The Catholics versus convicts narrative are reawakened whenever Miami and Notre Dame play a football game. Shelton rightfully called out Petersen as being racist. Despite Petersen’s age (calculating he graduated from Penn State in 1966 he is about 75), there is no excuse in this era for any comments like that.

Shelton was right to bring it to the forefront. Petersen is not a Penn State season ticket holder. There is not much the Nittany Lions athletic department can do other than denouncing the letter which they have done. Shelton posted the entire letter from Petersen to Sutherland on Twitter.

Petersen proved exactly where he stood when he spoke to Chip Minemyer of the Johnstown (Pennsylvania) Tribune-Democrat. Penn State has since issued a statement correctly denouncing the letter. Petersen stated the letter was not meant to be racist. Minemyer quoted the alum.

"“Was not the intent at all. I would just like to see the coaches get the guys cleaned up and not looking like Florida State and Miami guys. It wasn’t threatening or anything. I was just disgruntled about some of the hairdos that we’re seeing. You think of Penn State as a bunch of clean-cut guys.And you do see so many who are clean cut. But the tattoos and the hair – there are a lot of guys with hair coming down their backs and it just looks awful. And it’s the same for the NFL and NBA, too.”"

Penn State head coach James Franklin who is black issued a heartfelt statement stating one the greatest things about football (and sports in general) is that it brings communities together. Miami is no different. Two of the Hurricanes’ greatest fans on Twitter are a democrat and a republican, as Franklin stated about Penn State.

Neither Franklin or a press release from Penn State spoke about the follow-up comment that Petersen made about the Florida State or Miami football programs. The Seminoles and Hurricanes are not owed an apology from Penn State, but it would be nice to get one and denounce Petersen’s rebuttal.

The official Penn State Twitter account issued a response to Shelton’s tweet of the letter.

This was not the first time Petersen penned a racist letter. He wrote a letter to the editor of the Tribune-Democrat after the newspaper ran an article on Islam. Petersen stated it was a slap in the face of 9-11 victims and survivors. Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour issued her own statement.

While the Miami football program was only cursorily mentioned by Petersen, it still once against brought them into the conversation regarding a racist statement by a fan. It is not the first time, nor is it likely to be the last a racist statement involved the Miami football team.

Everyone involved with the Miami football program from fans to the president of the university, the players, football staff, athletic director and media all need to work to condemn the racist statement about the Hurricanes. Miami was barely involved and yet they were mentioned as an example of how not to look.