FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2000 file photo, trainers examine Penn State cornerback Adam Taliaferro after he was injured in the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game against Ohio State, in Columbus, Ohio. Taliaferro inspired the schools alumni after he recovered from a spinal cord injury on the football field so serious that doctors once feared he would never walk again. More than a decade later, it's Taliaferro now trying to help his alma mater through a challenging period as he assumes his new post as a trustee at the school rocked by the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Chris Putman, File, Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. Former Penn State defensive back Adam Taliaferro inspired fans and alumni after he recovered from a spinal cord injury on the football field so serious that doctors once feared he would never walk again.

More than a decade afterward, it's Taliaferro who is now trying to help his alma mater through a challenging period.

The football player-turned-lawyer is one of three new alumni-elected members of the university's Board of Trustees officially taking their seats when the board holds its next meeting Friday in Scranton. Taliaferro, financial services executive Anthony Lubrano and retired Navy SEAL Capt. Ryan McCombie assume the posts at a crucial time for Penn State: as the school awaits the findings of an internal investigation, led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, into the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Of the three trustees, Taliaferro is the most well-known by virtue of his motivational recovery from a severe neck injury after his helmet hit the knee of Ohio State tailback Jerry Westbrooks on Sept. 23, 2000, in Columbus. He has since written a book and started a foundation to help athletes recovering from similar injuries.

"It's not just something I'm doing to put it on my resume," Taliaferro, now a lawyer in suburban Philadelphia, said in a recent phone interview. In November, Taliaferro also won election as a Democratic member of the Board of Freeholders in Gloucester County, N.J.

"It's a great opportunity to help a place that's really given me a lot over my whole life," he said of Penn State.

Name recognition turned Taliaferro into an early favorite in the race for three alumni trustee seats up for election this past spring. Nine of the 32 seats on the board are filled by alumni; the rest are filled by various means, including appointment or by university or state officials.

Taliaferro came in first with more than 15,600 over 37,000-plus votes cast a record turnout sparked by criticism by many alumni over the board's actions in the frantic weeks following Sandusky's arrest in November.

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New trustees seek to help Penn State heal

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