Hary Hamilton and his younger brother Lance are the personification for everything that is right about college football.

They were not only exceptional players on the field but equally outstanding in the classroom.

And now, almost 20 years after the Hamilton brothers left Penn State, both aer successful in their chosen lifetime careers.

"It's not so much what you do on the football field but what you do in life that is important," Hamilton said. "I first heard that from my father (Dr. Stan Hamilton) and then from (my coach) Joe Paterno. I strongly believe in that, too."

Harry and Lance are both attorneys. Harry resides in his hometown of Wilkes-Barre but travels extensively because of his law practice. Brother Lance lives in Austin, TX. Both Hamiltons pursued their law degrees with financial assistance from awards they won for their academic achievements as Penn State undergraduates.

Harry's route to law school was more indirect. He had a nine year stint in the National Football League, carving out an All-Pro career as a defensive back with the New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While playing, he started at the Cardozo Law School in New York city and graduated cum laude in 1992 from Stetson University College of Law near S.t Petersburg, FL. Part of the money for law school came from a prestigious post-graduate scholarship given by the NCAA.

His brother Lance, who left Penn State two years after Harry, bypassed pro football and went to law school with help from the National Football Foundation and College Footbal Hall of Fame. Lance received one of the foundation's $18,000 scholar-athlete graduate fellowships in 1985.

During their Penn State playing days, both Harry and Lance were two-time Academic All-Americans. They also played on some of the best teams in Penn State history, including the Nittany Lions' first National Championship team in 1982. Their brother Darren, who earned a PhD and is now an assistant athletic director at Bowling Green University, also was on that team.

"My dad still likes to tell people how three of his sons were together on the same National Championship team (in 1982)," Hamilton said.

Harry was a starting defensive back for the '82 team and again in 1983. He may be best remembered as the "hero" back on the national championship team. His ten tackles and a sack in the 1983 Sugar Bowl helped propel the Lions to the 24-21 victory over Georgia. The next season Harry led the Nittany Lions in tackles with 53 solos and 47 shared and was honored as a third-team All-American. Lance was a starter on the 1984 team and the once beaten 1985 team that lost the national championship game to Oklahoma.

"Athletics is very important in shaping an individual," Harry Hamilton said, "but young people need to know there is more to life and living than just participating in athletics. Football is very much in my system. I loved the experience in college and playing professionally. But more than playing, the parallels to life experiences is what I took most from the game in terms of dedication, discipline, development of mind and body and all of those things that become very essential in life's pursuits. As my father and my coach said, 'It's not so much what you do on the football field but what you do ni life that is important.'"