After much debate, the control tower finally gave the pilot the go-ahead.

The go-ahead to buck a 40 mph cross wind and land the airplane on the airstrip. This was the same airplane that was harboring the Penn State football team. Luckily, the landing -- a shaky, one-wheel landing -- was a success.

That was the scene Friday, Oct. 2, 1972 in Champaign, Ill. It was the night before the Nittany Lions battled Illinois on the gridiron. A memorable night, right?

Not for John Hufnagel.

"I didn't even realize that happened," the former Lion said. "But I'm sure I was white-knuckling it."

Tomorrow, Penn State and Illinois will matchup for the first time since Hufnagel called the plays 21 years ago. Although his memories of the contest are vague, Hufnagel does remember the final score: 35-17. A Penn State victory.

A victory to which Hufnagel contributed. He connected on nine of 20 passes for 202 yards. However, the quarterback also threw two interceptions.

"I know that we played with a Rawlings football, which was a different football," Hufnagel said. "I had never played with that football before. That's probably the reason why I threw the two interceptions."

These days, Hufnagel is teaching quarterbacks how not to throw interceptions in the Canadian Football League. The 41-year-old is the offensive coordinator for the Calgary Stampeders, a position he has held the past four years. Last season, the Stampeders won the Grey Cup, the CFL's version of the Super Bowl.

"It was a great experience," Hufnagel said. "As a coach it's very satisfying to see the players getting it done on the field."

Hufnagel started getting it done as a football player at Montour High School in Pittsburgh. Jayne Hufnagel said her son always had the desire to play with the pigskin.

"We didn't have to pressure him or push him into it," she said. "It was something Johnny wanted to do. We had coaches telling us he was a very good athlete."

The coach that ended up getting Hufnagel was Joe Paterno. During his career in Happy Valley, "Huffer" passed for 3,545 yards and 26 touchdowns, also earning All-America honors at Penn State.

"One thing that really impressed me about the coaching staff was how well they prepared for each and every game," Hufnagel said. "I learned a lot about the game of football at Penn State."

Hufnagel took that knowledge to Denver, where he played for the Broncos over a three-year period. However, the quarterback wasn't given a lot of playing time, and before the start of his fourth year in the Mile High City, Hufnagel was released.

So he waited for a call. A call from another team in the NFL. The call finally came. Not a call from an NFL franchise, but rather from Calgary.

"It was an opportunity for me to play right away, so I took it," Hufnagel said. "Not playing for three years in a row, you kind of get itching to get back on the field."

Hufnagel spent the next 12 years on fields all across Canada, amassing 21,594 passing yards in his career. A Canadian career that has been kind to the former Penn Stater.

"Calgary has been a great place to live and raise a family," he said. "The only thing is, my son puts a puck in the net instead of throwing a football."