Adam Taliaferro will be the guest speaker at the Penn State Alumni Association Southern NJ Chapter Fall Social Dinner at Tavistock Country Club
Penn State Alumni, family and friends are invited to an evening of fun on October 21, 2012 at the Tavistock Country Club from 5 to 9 pm. The cost is 36.00 dollars per person.
The evening includes a program featuring guest speaker Adam Taliaferro. In 2000, Taliaferro joined the Penn State Nittany Lions football team as one of the top-rated freshmen of their 2000 recruiting class. On September 23, 2000, while playing in only the fifth game of his college career, Taliaferro sustained a career-ending spinal cord injury while tackling an Ohio State running back. He was paralyzed on the hit, which left him with no movement from the neck down.
Taliaferro had surgery which was deemed successful but left him with a 3 percent chance of ever walking again. He began his well-publicized rehab at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia and after eight months, Taliaferro had learned to walk again. Taliaferro returned to Penn State less than a year after his injury. He led the Penn State Nittany Lions football team onto Beaver Stadium’s field for the first game of the 2001 season against the Miami Hurricanes in front of a crowd of 109,313. Taliaferro skipped, then jogged onto the field in front of an emotional Penn State crowd. He remained part of the football team as a student-assistant coach under Joe Paterno. Taliaferro earned a Bachelor of Science in Labor and Industrial Relations from Penn State in 2005.
Taliaferro enrolled in the Rutgers School of Law – Camden. He earned his J.D. in May 2008 and is currently a lawyer at Duane Morris in the firm’s Cherry Hill office. Taliaferro also runs his own foundation which helps student athletes with head or spinal injuries and is a motivational speaker.
On November 8, 2011, he was elected to serve on the Gloucester County Board of Chosen Freeholders. In the spring of 2012, he was elected to the Board of Trustees at Penn State.
Dinner choices are Breast of Chicken Stuffed with Sage Bread Stuffing, Filet of Salmon with Sauce Beurre Blanc or Veal Parmesan with Tomato Coulis. Reservations can be sent to Southern NJ Chapter, 704 Sweetwater Drive, Cinnaminson, NJ 08077 indicating dinner choice and including a check payable to Penn State SNJ Chapter.