Mark Wimmer ’94 drove from Boston. Seven hours each way.
Brian Laird ’89 and Steve Brown ’90 came from Pittsburgh.
Steve Balkey ’88 was the local. The boots-on-the-ground logistics lead. The quiet cruise director who knew where to go, when to arrive, and how to make the weekend work.
All four were student-athletes under legendary Penn State coach Harry Groves. Distance runners with three competitive seasons; Cross Country, Indoor Track and Outdoor Track and field. Full school year competition, full commitment. They learned delayed gratification, time management, and how to show up when your body tells you to quit.
That was 35+years ago.
Thirty-five years later, their bodies were talking again. Stay home. You are nearly 60. It is eight degrees. Fifteen inches of snow from the previous weekend is still everywhere.
Their hearts remembered something else; morning runs. That individual morning run that builds mileage, perseverance and a character of resilience — all to get better and show up ready for your teammates.
They secured a local Airbnb as home base. the weekend was packed. Dinner Friday at Brothers on Allen Street, where a waitress from Mifflinburg who drives up for weekend shifts made them feel like family.
Then Friday night hockey at Pegula Ice Arena, followed with the Federal Tap House for a pizza and beer post game. Saturday’s outdoor spectacle at Beaver Stadium. Pickles for nostalgia post stadium.
Saturday night at Hi Way Pizza, sitting with these distance runners over pizza and beer, the laughter came easily. The kind that happens when men who have known each other for 35 years do not need to explain the jokes or edit the stories.
Earlier that day at Beaver Stadium, bundled in multiple layers, they had discovered the real challenge was not the cold.
It was the bathroom!
“Navigating all those layers,” one said. “The gloves. The zippers. Trying to find what you are looking for. That was the real adventure.”
The table erupted. Real laughter. The kind earned over decades.
Distance runners do not typically talk about love. But sitting there at Hi Way Pizza, listening to them riff on old Pedro’s stories; Taco Tuesdays and Thirsty Thursdays, now the home of Bubba’s Diner, and Nick Skoff, the State High graduate, now a Penn State Sophmore, who had just run a PSU team record Indoor 3:54.90 mile at the track meet the day before, watching them finish each other’s sentences and build on each other’s jokes, you could see it plainly.
This is what it looks like.
Thirty-five years of showing up. Of choosing the harder, colder, longer option because being together matters more than being comfortable.
75,000 Votes for the Same Thing
They were not alone in honoring October promises through January reality.
At 8 a.m. Saturday, with thermometers reading eight degrees and six-day-old snow still blanketing everything, tailgaters fired up grills across campus. Some had to shovel just to make room.
By afternoon, 75,000 people filled Beaver Stadium. Predicted sub-zero windchills. Snow-packed ground. A hockey game played outdoors.
Seventy-five thousand people who said yes in October.
Seventy-five thousand who did not bail when January arrived.
Logic lost. Heart won.
This is the metric AI cannot compute. The algorithm can tell you it is irrational. It can prove staying home is smarter, cheaper, warmer, and safer.
What it cannot tell you is why 75,000 people were right to honor their October selves.
Science can. Strong social connections reduce the risk of premature death by more than exercise or healthy eating. When those 75,000 people chose connection over comfort, they were not being foolish.
They were choosing to live.
What Happy Valley Makes
Penn State was their host 35 years ago. Harry Groves was their guide. They arrived as eighteen-year-old guests with potential. They left knowing how to show up, how to build connection, and how to choose commitment over convenience.
Three decades later, they are still choosing it. Still laughing at Hi Way Pizza. Still driving seven hours because being together matters.
They transformed from guests into hosts, for each other.
Similarly they participated with 11 other PSU T&F alum. And their former assistant coach, Bill Whitaker, for a 4-day float trip down the Green River, UT in July 2025. Again, a commitment made 14 months in advance to bring together the brotherhood from all points around the nation; Boulder, Seatle, Boston, Stanford,Richmond, Albuquerque, Pittsburgh, Durango, State College, D.C., Sisters,OR, Philadelphia.
That is the product Penn State made. Not just graduates with degrees. People who show up. People who make each other laugh. People who navigate frozen bathroom challenges because 35 years of friendship is worth every inconvenience.
They might not use certain words to describe what they have. Distance runners are not built that way.
But sit with them at Hi Way Pizza. Listen to the stories flow and the laughter build. Watch how they show up for each other across decades and weather conditions.
You will know exactly what it is.
This weekend revealed what Happy Valley really is. A place that turns guests into people who become hosts for each other across decades.
Our economy is not about what we manufacture or extract. It is about experiences that create bonds strong enough to survive 35 years and eight-degree cold.
The Verdict
In the age of AI, when machines can compute better than humans ever could, we are left with one essential task. Judgment.
Choosing what matters when data does not capture it. Honoring October promises when January tests them.
Mark, Steve, Brian, and Steve made that choice. So did 75,000 others.
Not because it was logical.
Because after 35 years of showing up for each other, they know what the algorithm will never understand.
This is what matters. This is what lasts.
Sitting at Hi Way Pizza, listening to them laugh, you could not help but think: this is what Happy Valley makes.
Not distance runners who use flowery language about their feelings.
People who show up. People who stay. People who choose each other, over and over, for 35 years.
That is the economy. That is the product. That is why 75,000 people stood in the cold.
That is Happy Valley.
