It’s been three years this month since I returned to Happy Valley, my boyhood home. And those have been among the happiest three years of my life.

That’s no exaggeration. No sentimentality. Just the simple truth. Rather than enjoy the pastimes of communities where I once lived in California, Maryland or Texas, I would rather take my wife, Kathy, for a stroll along College Avenue… or an ice cream cone at the Creamery… or a Rec Hall celebration of championship athletics.

You might think we were crazy for leaving Austin, Texas, our home for the previous seven years. After all, Austin is a stellar place that shows up on all the lists — Third Best City for Business Investment, Fourth Healthiest American City for Women, Sixth Healthiest American City for Men. It’s home to “Austin City Limits,” the Texas State Capitol, the University of Texas and, best of all, the mouth-watering beef brisket from Franklin Barbecue. As for natural wonders, Austin boasts a chain of gorgeous lakes, and each summer the city hosts a whopping 1.5 million bats that squeeze into crevices under the Congress Avenue Bridge.

Austin is the place where talents are readied for the big stage. Willie Nelson perfected his “outlaw country” sound there in the early 1970s; George W. Bush prepped for the presidency as Texas governor from 1995-2000; Jordan Spieth polished his putting as a UT golfer in 2011-2012.

Austin is cool, but it’s not cold. I met some of the kindest people I’ve ever encountered while living there. Yet as I entered my 60s, I knew the appeal of a place called “Happy Valley” was surpassing that of a city with the slogan, “Keep Austin Weird.” Fortunately, Kathy grew up in New Jersey, so she was OK with a move to the northeast.

Although it’s been three full years since we settled into our Ferguson Township home, I’m still rediscovering the things I always loved about Happy Valley and finding some new ones. With apologies to Julie Andrews, here are a few of my favorite things — State College style.

The Creamery & Meyer Dairy. I don’t care to join the debate over which is best. Are you kidding me? State College has two incredible suppliers of ice cream… an embarrassment of riches!

America’s Sweetest Smelling Alley. If you don’t know what I mean, take a morning walk through the alley that emerges onto College Avenue between Citizens Bank and CVS. Tell me what you smell. That’s right, grilled stickies. Obviously, the exhaust from The Diner’s ovens is directed into the alley. Can “exhaust” really smell so good?

Penn State Wrestling. Fortunately, I returned to State College just in time to help say goodbye to Ed Ruth and David Taylor, both multi-year national champions. And in plenty of time to say hello to Zain Retherford, Jason Nolf and Bo Nickal, all destined for greatness. But this has always been a wrestling hotbed. I’ll never forget rooting for State College High School greats like Dave Weber and Dave Joyner in the late 1960s. Or watching PSU football star Mike Reid unleash pandemonium in Rec Hall by winning his bout to clinch a 1967 upset over Lehigh.

Jeff Byers. It wasn’t easy to be a wrestling fan in the Lone Star State. Do you know the number of NCAA wrestling programs in Texas — D-1, D-2 or D-3? The answer is D-0. There ain’t none. But I could sometimes pick up the PSU wrestling radio network on the web, and Jeff Byers became my Lion lifeline. Byers is incredible, and now I can hear him more often. Who else could convey such pride in Penn State wrestling while being entirely fair to opponents? Who else could move seamlessly from a low-key chuckle to a thundering exclamation? Consider Byers’ call when Nico Megaludis captured his hard-earned national title: “He’s not just a ludis. He’s a Mega-ludis!”

Penn State Womens’ Volleyball. Coach Russ Rose is the man, and his volleyball players are the women! Maybe you’ve begun to take them for granted, but if so, shame on you. Six national titles in the last 10 years might cause complacency for some fans, but Kathy and I plan to fight such temptation. After all, Penn State didn’t even have women’s intercollegiate volleyball when I graduated in 1974. Tom Tait, long-time men’s coach, founded the women’s team in 1976, and now the program is legendary. Fight on!

International Students. Of course, I’m biased. I’ve been reaching out to international students since 1984 at the University of Maryland — assisting them with cultural adjustments, language struggles, social needs and spiritual guidance. But regardless of my own involvement, I’m certain that Penn State’s international students and faculty members have enriched this community with an added vitality and variety. Only a sprinkling of internationals studied at the old Penn State, but the last I heard, nearly 9,000 internationals from more than 130 countries now attend PSU. If you haven’t done so already, spend a moment to talk with a new friend from China, India or Saudi Arabia.

State College Evangelical Free Church. No, my pastor didn’t pay me to plug the church. But I couldn’t help it. What a joy it is to worship at this little gem of a church that’s located on a road — Blue Course Drive — that didn’t even exist in 1974. (That’s right, no Blue Course Drive meant a very clogged Atherton Street.)

THON. I’ve often wondered why most people across America have heard of the Sandusky scandal but so few have heard of THON. Folks love a scandal, that’s for sure. But I think it’s high-time that “60 Minutes” came to Happy Valley to cover another kind of story. THON began as the “IFC Dance Marathon” during my junior year at Penn State when it raised about $2,000. The yearly total has since reached a peak of $13.3 million, and the grand total for all these years stands at more than $137 million. As you know, all of that is “For the Kids.” I’m an old softie now, and I don’t mind saying that tears come to my eyes almost every time I think about THON and those kids who battle cancer.



And that’s where I’ll stop for now. Many other comparisons could be made between the State College of the 1970s and today’s State College, but nothing would be more remarkable than the growth of THON.

A native of Happy Valley, Bill Horlacher left State College in 1974 and returned here in 2013. His column -- appearing several Thursdays each month -- focuses on changes that came to State College during his absence of nearly 40 years. He can be reached at [email protected].