Fourteen years ago, he stood in the crowd watching jets fly over Beaver Stadium before a football game, dreaming he would be the pilot in one of those jets some day.

Now, Saturday, former Penn State Icer Charles Joe Bassett III will be.

Before the Penn State Nittany Lions kick off their clash with the Ohio State Buckeyes, Bassett will lead one of four F-16 jets over the stadium.

"Ever since my first football game in 1995, I thought it'd be really cool to do that," he said.

And his former coach Joe Battista can vouch for that.

Battista said he remembers having a conversation on a team bus trip with Bassett when he was just a freshman.

He asked Bassett what he wanted to do after college, and Bassett told him he wanted to be a pilot. He wanted to fly jets.

"I just remember thinking how much self-confidence you must need to be able to fly a $30 million jet," Battista said.

"And I found out Joe [Bassett] had that. He was a blast to have on the team."

But if Bassett had taken the original advice from his coach, he wouldn't be flying one of those jets Saturday.

Battista admitted that when Bassett came to him about joining the Air Force ROTC the coach had his doubts.

He told the young college student it wouldn't be a good idea, saying it would be too much to handle.

But Bassett stayed with it.

And after graduating with a 1998 national championship in hockey and a degree in civil engineering, Bassett spent time in Afghanistan, Iraq and Korea with the Air Force.

While in Iraq, Bassett made sure to remember the Penn State hockey team.

He had a United States flag, which was flown over Iraq, dedicated to the Penn State hockey team.

"When I was in Iraq for the first time, a lot of people asked for us to fly flags in the jet for them," Bassett said.

"So I came up with the idea to fly one for the Penn State hockey team and thought it would be a great gift for them since they gave me so many opportunities in the four years I was there."

Aside from the flag, which still hangs in the Penn State hockey offices, Battista said there is one other lasting memory of Bassett.

It came in a game against Michigan-Dearborn in which the Icers were leading the game "handily" with less than 10 seconds left, when Bassett delivered a hit that sent a Wolves player into the Icers' bench.

The Michigan-Dearborn players poured onto the ice in defense of their teammate and the crowd was going wild, Battista said.

"I didn't like that sort of stuff," Battista said, "but that was Joe. And from there, he really matured and became a big part of our 1998 championship team. I couldn't ask for more out of a player than what we got from him."

Now Bassett, who moved back to Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Ariz., in March, will lead three other members of his squadron over Beaver Stadium Saturday -- Michigan grad Maj. Eric Parker, USC grad Capt. Cesar Orozco and fellow Penn State alum Capt. Tamerlane Kangas, Class of 2001.

It will be the second game in recent weeks the men watch together, as Bassett and Kangas watched the Penn State-Michigan game with Parker a couple weeks ago.

"That was definitely nice," Basset said, with a laugh, "being able to rub that in his face a little."

So instead of being a student Saturday looking up at the jets as the national anthem comes to an end like he was in 1995, Bassett will have a much different view this year.

"I'm trying not to get too excited yet," he said. "I'm just hoping nothing goes wrong for now. But this is something I've wanted to do for a very long time now."