A member of the Nittany Lions' athletic staff from 1986 to 2001, L. Budd Thalman supervised Penn State's communications, media relations, and external relations initiatives during his tenure, including the administration of the sports information, publications, Internet, marketing and promotion, and radio-television operations. A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, Thalman is a 1957 journalism graduate of West Virginia University. He worked for one year in the Associated Press (AP) bureau at Huntington, West Virginia, before entering the Army where he served from 1958 to 1960 as Public Information Officer for Fort Jay, on Governor's Island, New York. Thalman returned to the AP in 1960, transferring to the Annapolis, Maryland., bureau. He joined the U.S. Naval Academy athletic staff as Sports Information Director in January 1962. His Navy football handbook was twice honored by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as "Best In The Nation" and in 1963 he provided assistance to the national media during Roger Staubach's Heisman Trophy-winning season. In 1973, Thalman was named Vice President for Public Relations with the National Football League's (NFL) Buffalo Bills. During his 13 years there, he worked on the NFL public relations staff at seven Super Bowls and twice served as the American Conference public relations director at the Pro Bowl. He is a former member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Communications Committee. Thalman wrote his first book, Quotable Joe: Words of Wisdom by and About Joe Paterno, released in September 2000 with multiple printings. Thalman was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame in 1998, receiving the most votes for the organization's highest honor that year.
From the description of L. Budd Thalman papers, 1985-1999. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 751990118
