Its tough to catch Steve Manuel in his Penn State office. He teaches courses on Crisis Communication and Public Relations. He’s been a photographer for Penn State athletics, and the alumni association for 25 years. He’s had more than 10 thousand pictures published in places like USA Today, Sports Illustrated and the New York Times. He owns the rights to his photos, but shares royalties with Penn State.
His most popular photo by far is of Joe Paterno, jogging into beaver stadium. It took Manuel 15 years to get this photo, because Paterno was normally swallowed up by the players and the band.
“Players parted like the red sea. I called it parting of the blue sea. They parted and Joe in full gallop up the middle of the football player, puts up finger, number one, and it all fell into place,” says Manuel.
Before his job at Penn State, Steve Manuel worked for 28 years as a marine. He was first a combat photographer, then became a spokesman for the Marine Corps. He then worked for the department of defense at the Pentagon.
Two years after he got out of the marines, in 1998, the U.S.O. called him up.
Manuel says, “I get a call from her, saying do you want to go to Bosnia? I said no. I retired less than two years ago. Why would I do that? [She said] you’re going to go with 15 Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. Oh, that changes everything.”
Nearly 20 years later he has a love for the U.S.O. and how it supports the troops.
“They’re hard trips, really hard trips, but rewarding. If you could see the troops faces, you’d appreciate that. That’s why a lot of them go back, the troops do appreciate it.”
He does two to three U.S.O. tours each year. When he’s not doing that, he’s either teaching or taking photos of Penn State athletes.
To see some of his famous photographs, click here.
“It really keeps me busy, but it keeps me young, keeps me going.” He continues, “if I’m going every night, I’m ok with it, because its not a job. It’s fun. If you’re not doing what you like to do, you’re doing yourself a disservice.”
This past weekend, Steve got back from his most recent U.S.O. trip to Guantanamo bay and Hawaii. It was his first trip away from a combat zone in 15 years.