For Floyd Fisher, it was love at first sight. In fact, on the first Saturday of October, 1933, Fisher found two loves.

A freshman on campus attending his first Penn State football game, Fisher fell in love with Nittany Lion football. However, the fact that the Nittany Lions defeated Lebanon Valley 32-6 in the New Beaver Field was not the most important thing to Fisher on that Saturday afternoon.

Sitting two rows in front of him was his second love, freshman Naomi Anderson. Anderson, who attended her first football game at the age of 4 with her father, was also at her first game as a freshman.

"I was sitting in the east stands," Fisher recalled. "At that time, everyone had to wear name tags, and I saw these two good-looking gals. As a freshman, I was interested in meeting the girls, so I walked down two rows to try to get a look at their tags."

As he walked down, coincidentally, Anderson's name tag fell off. Fisher, seizing the opportunity, quickly rescued the fallen name tag and introduced himself.

"I always accused her of dropping her name tag to try and meet me," Fisher joked.

For the next four years, Fisher and Anderson continued to date and attend football games in the New Beaver Field. The couple married in July of 1937, shortly after graduation.

Millions of Penn State football fans have found love in Beaver Stadium. Perhaps not with their future spouse, but a love with a stadium, a team, a mascot and coach named JoePa. It is a love affair between a group of fans and over a century of tradition.

When Bellefonte lawyer James A. Beaver enlisted in the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War, he had little idea that the second largest on-campus college stadium would later be named after him. Likewise, in 1909, when Penn State named its new stadium after Beaver, the former Pennsylvania governor and Penn State Board of Trustees president, it had little idea of what the future would hold for this home of Nittany Lion football.

Even the most vivid imagination could not have predicted the tremendous growth of Beaver Stadium. Perhaps the best measurement of the maturity of Penn State football is the long history and the ever-growing capacity of Beaver Stadium.

Since the stadium moved from the west side of campus to its present location, more than 11 million fans have walked through Beaver Stadium's turnstiles. In the last three decades, the stadium has doubled in size to accommodate the growing number of fans. Entering today's game, the Nittany Lions boast a string of 77 consecutive Beaver Stadium sell-outs.

Today, the largest crowd to see the Lions play at Penn State will assemble in the expanded confines of the stadium. Lumbering up cement ramps as wide as a two-lane road, the 10,030 fans in the new deck will be treated to a view of much more than a game. From the tip of Old Main to the eastern-most field of the department of agriculture, the view is a constant reminder of the continual growth of Penn State and its football program.

"I'm amazed every time I look up there," Coach Joe Paterno said. "It is something that I never dreamed about. When I came here, there were 30,000 seats across from Rec Hall. (The addition) is fascinating and it is great that it has turned out so well. They are marvelous seats."

Originally, Penn State played its home games on the lawn of Old Main. On Nov. 6, 1893, the George Hoskins-coached Nittany Lions opened play on Beaver Field, the team's first home. The Lions celebrated the opening with a 32-0 shutout over Western University of Pennsylvania (now known as the University of Pittsburgh). Located at the site of the present day Osmond and Frear laboratories, a 500-seat grandstand and three flag poles highlighted Beaver Field.

In 1909, the Lions moved into their second lair. Appropriately called New Beaver Field, the field was situated on the site of the Kern Graduate Center adjacent to Rec Hall. Once again, the Lions baptized their new home with a shutout, this time a 31-0 victory over Grove City.

By the 1959 season, the capacity of New Beaver Field totaled 30,000. However, the limited space surrounding the field prevented further expansion. In lieu of constructing a new stadium, workers dismantled the stadium into 700 pieces and moved them one mile to the stadium's present site on the east side of campus.

Once transported, workers reconstructed the stadium with an additional 16,000 seats. The Nittany Lions, under the direction of coach Rip Engle, opened play in Beaver Stadium on Sept. 17, 1960. For the third time, the Lions shutout their opponent in the inaugural game in a new stadium, this time a 20-0 shutout of Boston University.

Additions in 1969 (2,000 seats), 1974 (9,000 seats) and in 1976 (2,667 seats) raised the stadium's capacity to just over 57,000.

The most innovative expansion of the stadium came during the winter, spring and summer of 1978 when the University added 16,000 seats. After cutting the stadium into sections, engineers employed hydraulic jacks to raise the stadium eight feet. Then, an inner circle of seats was constructed where the running track had previously existed.

In 1981, an addition of 7,131 seats raised the stadium's capacity to 83,770. In 1985, lights were added and a year later, entry ramps were added to the corners of the stadium.

After their marriage, the Fishers lived throughout the state, including Allentown and Philadelphia. In 1945, the couple returned to State College and renewed their love with Penn State football. While living in State College, the two dedicated fans worked for the University -- Floyd Fisher was vice president of continuing education until retiring in 1980 while his wife worked part time as an office manager.

From their return to State College in 1945 until the present, the couple has only missed a combined three games. Braving rain and snow for victory or defeat, this football-crazed couple has endured 58 years of Penn State football.

"I have missed two games and my wife has only missed one," Fisher said. "One time I was sick and my wife still went to the game by herself."

A lack of seats for students and alumni prompted the stadium's most recent addition, a $12.1 million, 10,033-capacity seating deck suspended over previously existing seats in the north end zone. The expansion, funded entirely by bond issues, began in the summer before the 1990 season.

"The number of alumni we have and the lack of seats was the driving force behind the expansion," said Beaver Stadium Ticket Manager Bud Meredith. "The unfortunate part is that as a student, they can see a game, but once they graduate, they do not have access to a ticket."

Meredith explained that 5,000 of the 10,033 new seats have been given to new season ticket holders. Because 1,000 people originally sitting in lower levels requested to sit in the new deck, there will be 1,000 more student tickets in lower levels. The 4,000 remaining tickets have been added to the single game pool.

The initial plan for expansion entailed adding 9,200 bleacher seats above the existing stands on the east side. This plan, however, was dropped in favor of adding an elevated deck of the existing seats in the north end zone. James A. Wagner, assistant vice president for business operations, told the Board of Trustees in July 1989 that the addition of a new deck would be more cost efficient and balanced than adding the seats to the sidelines.

The new deck, constructed of 8,163 cubic yards of concrete and 2,300 tons of steel, towers seven stories above the field. The first five rows contain 820 chairback seats, which were sold on request for $30 per game, while the remaining rows consist of metal bleachers.

The latest addition, which spans previously existing seats in the north end zone, covers 20 rows. To support the increased numbers of spectators, the addition houses four concession stands, a first aid station, and six bathrooms.

This year's expansion to the stadium did not come without its problems.

During the winter of 1991, a 50-ton concrete section supporting an access ramp had to be replaced. In early July, a routine inspection of the concrete cantilevers supporting the access ramp to the addition revealed cracks. A Pittsburgh-based laboratory employed ultrasound testing to measure the depths of the cracks. By the last week of July, construction workers constructed supportive scaffoldings under all 12 of the cantilevers.

The scaffoldings were only a temporary measure, however, as University and construction officials discussed plans for repairs. Before the end of the month, officials decided on a plan to retrofit the cantilevers. Retrofitting, as defined by Louis Geschwinder, an associate professor in the College of Architecture Engineering, is any work done to a structure after the initial construction had been completed.

While the Beaver Stadium situation was unique, officals elected a common procedure which is often used in the re-decking of bridges to repair the cracks. In the first week of August, workers began attaching several steel rods to the outside of the cantilevers. The rods were then connected to metal plates on the vertical concrete support columns.

Three weeks after the repairs were started, University officals announced that the repair work had been completed ahead of schedule. To test the repairs, cranes lifted approximately 50 concrete highway barriers on to the ramp. After two days, Norm Bedell, assistant vice president of the Office of Physical Plant, announced that the repairs had passed the test.

"We appreciate the way everone pulled together -- the contractor, design firm and our outside consultants -- to address this problem shortly after it was discovered and to provide Penn State with a safe new addition," Bedell said in a written statement after the completion was announced.

Finally, a summer of uncertainty for University and construction officials came to a successful ending as workers began dismantling the supportive scaffoldings. For the first time in nine months, the cranes, trucks and trailors that had dotted the Beaver Stadium parking lot hit the road. In their wake, they left an expanded Beaver Stadium.

The true measurement of a stadium, however, goes beyond the capacity and design, but lies in the people within the stadium. For Penn State fan Obie Oberholtzer, a season ticket holder since 1951, the only bad days in the stadium are the days the beloved Lions lose.

"There have been so many great memories, it is hard to just pick one day as the best day," Oberholtzer explains. "Every time we lose, though, it is a bad day."

For the Fishers, no memories of the stadium are bad memories. Floyd Fisher has fond memories of all the Penn State games he has attended, he points to Penn State's 20-18 loss to Syracuse on Nov. 7, 1959.

"It was really a tremendous game," Fisher said. "After the game was over, there was a lady behind me complaining that Penn State had lost. I turned and said to her, 'You have probably just seen the best college football game ever played.' The memory of that game just stays with me."

The future for Beaver Stadium is uncertain. Currently, their are no plans for other expansions, Bedell said. But, just as the framers of the original Beaver Field could not have imagined the growth of Penn State football, who knows what lies ahead.