Diethorn excited for Virginia Tech role
When Mark Diethorn graduated from Belle Vernon Area in 2004, little did he know that his future path would lead him to his current position as the Director of Player Personnel for the Virginia Tech football program.
The journey started when Diethorn took a visit to Virginia Tech as a high school senior.
“I didn’t have a very good plan as a high school senior and while I knew I wanted to go to a reputable academic school, preferably out of state, I submitted a few applications and one of the schools I got into was Virginia Tech,” he said. “I didn’t know much about it, so I planned a visit in the spring of my senior year and the campus was beautiful.
“I thought, if you had to draw up a perfect college campus, this was it. I decided that Virginia Tech was going to be my school and it was the only college I visited.”
Diethorn majored in Business Information Technology and graduated a year early in 2007, but his journey into the football world was unique.
“I never worked in football as a student at Virginia Tech and I was a student in the crowd at Lane Stadium,” he said. “After my first semester there, I was hooked on college football.”
After graduating, Diethorn began working at PNC in downtown Pittsburgh and about six months into his job, he started writing six or seven letters a day to NFL and college teams on his lunch break.
“I received no responses and I was naïve to how hard it was to break in,” he said. “I decided it would be easier to get my foot in the door at the college level.”
Much to the disapproval of his parents, Diethorn put in his two-week notice and applied to the University of Florida for graduate school.
“They were the best team in the country at the time, so I thought if I am going to leave this job during the recession to chase this dream, I better go big,” he said.
After Diethorn was brought on as a volunteer with the Florida program where he stuffed envelopes, he learned from some of the best coaches in the business.
The connections he made there led him to Pitt in 2012.
Diethorn was promoted to Assistant Director of Player Personnel in 2014 and then was the Director of Football Recruiting at Pitt from 2015 until last month when he was hired to return to Virginia Tech.
“It is rare to get to return to your alma mater, and Virginia Tech is where I fell in love with college football,” Diethorn reiterated. “To come back 10 years later and lead the recruiting efforts is surreal.”
Burke was the ultimate Penn State fan
When Bob Burke was hired in 2001 as the new managing editor of The Valley Independent newspaper, I was working for it as a freelance sports writer for Brian Herman, the sports editor there.
One night, I stopped down to see Brian and I happened to be wearing a Penn State polo. Bob, seeing a new face for the first time, came over to introduce himself and upon seeing my shirt, he lit up and a bond was born that day.
A graduate of Penn State University, Bob paid attention to all of the sports teams, but make no mistake about it, the football team was his pride and joy.
Bob had season tickets for decades with his wife Lani and was looking forward to another solid season during the 2018 campaign.
However, the 14-game home winning streak that the Nittany Lions will carry into their home opener against Appalachain State on Sept. 1 will forever be how the team ended Burke’s tenure as possibly the most knowledgeable PSU fan I have had the pleasure of knowing.
This past Saturday, I received a text from Lani around 5:30 a.m. that Bob had passed away the prior hour. Bob had been battling health issues as of late, and things took a turn for the worse about a month ago.
There was a beautiful memorial service Monday night at the Parzynski Funeral Home in Belle Vernon for Bob. He is being buried today back near his hometown of Scranton.
Having had season tickets for a while myself, I would leave early from my normal tailgating spot with Perryopolis mayor Mark Plewniak and our countless friends to stop by and see Bob and Lani.
They would often head into the game early, as they loved watching the pregame warm-ups, and sometimes I would be too late to catch them at their tailgate.
The last few years, Bob and Lani would have me and others over for dinner, to swim or watch Penn State road games on Saturdays.
Bob loved to show off his amazing collection of Penn State football memorabilia on his game room in his cellar, artifacts from numerous games including the two Penn State national titles games.
Any time I would ring the door bell, their dog Nittany would instantly start barking until I was let in.
I stopped over at least once a week to see Lani since Bob’s health took a turn for the worse about a month ago.
Nittany wasn’t the same, and she sensed the void that I know Lani was feeling, and will feel, and that those of us Bob considered friends will feel.
Actually, Bob considered me a friend from the first time we met and would scold me when I called him Mr. Burke until recent years when I finally relented and started calling him Bob.
But along the way, Bob and Lani became family, and that is how I will always remember him.
After the service Monday night, Joe Grata mentioned how a million stories would now be taken with Bob, but I was fortunate enough to hear quite a few and they will forever stay with me.
No, the games won’t be the same moving forward, but there is no doubt in my mind that Bob will be cheering as loud as ever and he will have the best seat in Beaver Stadium from here on out.
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