Dave Petersen Bio, Wiki

Dave Petersen is a 78-year-old retired speech pathologist. He is a Penn State football fan who sent a letter to Nittany Lions safety Jonathan Sutherland telling him to cut off his dreadlocks because they are “unprofessional.” Sutherland’s teammate, Antonio Shelton, shared a photo of the letter on Twitter and wrote, “One of my teammates got this. Explain to me how this isn’t racist.”

Dave Petersen Age

He is currently 78-year-old.

Dave Petersen Wife (Cindie)

Dave Petersen is married to Cindie. The couple have been married for more than 40 years. Like her husband, his wife is also a retired speech pathologist in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Petersen and his wife have twice been profiled in local newspapers about their travels and hobbies. The couple said in those profiles that they do not have any children or grandchildren and have focused their retirement years on traveling and going to car shows. They have traveled to more than 93 countries, according to the Tribune-Democrat.

Dave Petersen Education / Dave Petersen Penn State

He graduated from Penn State in 1966 and told the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat he is a former football season ticket holder.

Dave Petersen and his wife are listed as donors to the Penn State wrestling program. In his letter to Sutherland, Petersen wrote that he and his wife are fans of all of the sports at the university, including “football, wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics, basketball.”

Petersen added in the letter, “We love it all. I played all the sports in my younger days; still played full court basketball into my 50s; loved the competition but never had the size or the talent to reach your level; though the desire was there!”

Dave Petersen Letter

Dave Petersen sent a letter to Nittany Lions safety Jonathan Sutherland telling him to cut off his dreadlocks because they are “unprofessional.” Sutherland’s teammate, Antonio Shelton, shared a photo of the letter on Twitter and wrote, “One of my teammates got this. Explain to me how this isn’t racist.”

https://twitter.com/_groovy55/status/1181323210358480901

Petersen wrote in the letter that he and his wife are “older” graduates of Penn State. Petersen wrote, “Though the athletes of today are certainly superior to those in my days; we miss the clean-cut young men and women from those days. Watching the Idaho game on TV we couldn’t help but notice your — well — awful hair. Surely there must be mirrors in the locker room! Don’t you have parents or girlfriend who’ve told you those shoulder-length dreadlocks look disgusting and are certainly not attractive.”

Petersen further wroter that Sutherland should remember he represents all Penn Staters, “both current and alumni from the past.” He wrote, “We would welcome the reappearance of dress codes for athletes.”

Petersen also said, “You will certainly be playing ‘on Sunday’ in the future but we have stopped watching the NFL due to the disgusting, tattoos, awful hair and immature antics in the end zone. Players should act as though they’ve ‘been there before.’”

Petersen, who led the letter with “We Are Penn State Proud,” and several exclamation points, signed the letter, “For the glory,” with his name.

Dave Petersen Has a History of Writing Similar Letters

The letter to Nittany Lions safety Jonathan Sutherland is not the first one of  Petersen’s. He has a history of writing similar letters to newspapers in Pennsylvania, including criticizing people with tattoos, saying they should only be on people in prison or “drug gangs,”; saying that educating children about Muslim holidays is offensive to 9/11 victims and survivors; and that babies and young children should not be allowed in public if they make noise.

In a 2010 letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Petersen criticized an article the newspaper wrote about the stories told by tattoos.

According to the Tribune-Democrat, Petersen is a frequent contributor to its Readers’ Forum section of the newspaper. The Tribune-Democrat wrote, “He has written on topics ranging from blighted rental properties to the welfare system and how the courts handle violent offenders.

In February 2013, he challenged a Tribune-Democrat feature about hunting, and said shooting wildlife with a camera, not a gun, was his preference.”

In 2013, he wrote a letter agreeing with another reader who said black leaders dropped the ball. In the letter, he compared welfare to slavery.

Petersen wrote, “We cannot win if the social slavery of welfare continues unchecked by rewarding those who ignore their social responsibilities, continue to produce multiple children in expectation of even more rewards, have no desire or plans to seek employment and whose only true ambition involves collecting welfare checks, food stamps, and illicit drugs.”

Dave Petersen Statement

In an interview with the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, Petersen said, “It wasn’t threatening or anything. I was just disgruntled about some of the hairdos that we’re seeing. You think of Penn State as a bunch of clean-cut guys. And you do see so many who are clean cut. But the tattoos and the hair – there are a lot of guys with hair coming down their backs and it just looks awful. And it’s the same for the NFL and NBA, too.”

Petersen said he was not trying to make a racial or cultural statement, telling the newspaper, “I would just like to see the coaches get the guys cleaned up and not looking like Florida State and Miami guys.”

Penn State Statement

Penn State officials have not yet commented about the letter. However, the university’s official Twitter account did tweet back to Shelton and wrote, “While we don’t know the source of this letter or the authenticity, obviously its content does not align with our values. We strongly condemn this message or any message of intolerance.”

While we don’t know the source of this letter or the authenticity, obviously its content does not align with our values. We strongly condemn this message or any message of intolerance.

— Penn State (@penn_state) October 8, 2019