Bobby Engram is considered the greatest clutch pass receiver of the Joe Paterno era, if not the best in the 124-year history of Penn State football.

When he graduated in 1996, Engram held 12 team receiving records, and he is still the owner of the records for receiving yards in a career (3,026) and a single season (1,084 in 1995) and most touchdowns in one game (four against Minnesota in 1993) and in a season (13 in 1993). Engram also is tied with O.J. McDuffie for most receptions in a season, with 63 in 1995, while his former record of 167 career receptions was broken by Deon Butler with 171 in the 2009 season.

However, statistics only tell part of what Engram meant to Penn State. He was not only a three-time All-Big Ten and 1994 First Team All-American, but as a junior in 1994 he also was the recipient of the first Biletnikoff Award given annually to the best receiver in college football. That was the season he was a crucial part of one of the greatest offensive teams in college football history, the undefeated Big Ten and Rose Bowl champions that finished No. 2 in the country. Those Nittany Lions set two NCAA records for total offense with 520.2 yards per game and scoring offense with 47.8 points a game.

But it was the receptions that Engram caught under pressure in late fourth quarter game-breaking situations that made him so valuable to the Lions. Perhaps his best known all-time clutch reception was against Michigan in 1994, when with less than 3minutes remaining in 24-24 tie he caught a 16-yard pass from quarterback Kerry Collins for the winning TD in game that propelled State to #1 in the polls.

Despite his heroics in 1994, he may have been more valuable and crucial to Penn State's offense in his senior season. Without his fellow All-Americans Collins, tailback Ki-Jana Carter and tight end Kyle Brady in1995, Engram prevented many defeats with his fourth-quarter catches for touchdowns, often beating double and triple coverage. It happened in back-to-back games at Purdue and lowa, and again ni the final game of the regular season at Michigan State, when a national TV audience watched as Engram took a pass in a crowd from quarterback Wally Richardson on the 5-yard line with 8 seconds left and no time outs and squirmed past two defenders for the winning TD, 24-20. And to put a crown on his Penn State career, in his final game as a Nittany Lion, Engram was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the 1996 Outback Bowl as he led the Lions to a 43-14 victory over Auburn with four receptions for two touchdowns and 113 yards, and a No. 13 finish in the final national rankings.

When Engram was drafted No. 2 in 1996 by the Chicago Bears, even he would not have believed he would spend the next 15 years playing in the National Football League. That NFL longevity is matched or surpassed by only a handful of other Penn State players in NFL history. It is even more remarkable when one realizes Engram was just 5-foot-10 and 188 pounds. In that span, Engram played for the Bears, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns, and started for the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL in 2005

This spring Engram began a new career in coaching as an assistant offensive coach with the San Francisco 49ers. He also wil continue devoting time to the Bobby Engram Foundation that he created several years ago after his daughter, Bobbi, developed sickle cell anemia. The foundation strives to make more people aware of the disease and to help and support families that also are suffering with the disease.

A native of Camden, SC, Engram now makes his permanent home in the Pittsburgh area, along with his wife Deanna, also a Penn State grad, and his three children, Bobbi (13) and sons Dean (11) and Trey (6).

This biographical story of Bobby Engram is adapted in part from The Penn State Football Encyclopedia by Lou Prato.