There were a few differences at this year’s Karli Short Better Tomorrow Foundation Gala, which honors the legacy of Penn State legend Brandon Short’s daughter.
As had been the case for the first four years of the event, it took place on a June night in Short’s hometown of Pittsburgh.
The event also featured food, music, and past and present Penn State players.
But unlike past years, the 2026 gala was held 10 days after the man convicted of Karli Short’s 2021 killing was sentenced to life in prison.
“It’s been a nightmare,” Brandon Short told reporters Friday night. “I mean, just to say the least. And I couldn’t imagine that when they apprehended a suspect, it would take five years in order to come to a conclusion, to a conviction. But the great work of the Allegheny County PD, they got it done. I didn’t imagine that when we started this foundation, we would have raised over a million dollars, we would have given like nine scholarships, and had four graduates before the conclusion of the case. But it is a special, special night for me personally because of the conviction.
Since the last gala, the foundation has “grown tremendously.”
“We’ve raised more money,” Short said. “We’ve endowed two more scholarships, and in the past year, we’ve had three scholars graduate. So three and one of them will be here tonight. And that’s what we’re most proud of. Like our north star is making a positive impact on young people, and that’s what this is all about.”
A sign of the foundation’s growth is that the event moved from the Omni William Penn Hotel to Acrisure Stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
For Short, this was an opportunity to shake things up.
“The Omni William Penn is fantastic,” he said. “It’s old Pittsburgh. It’s opulent, and we loved it, but we thought that we wanted to have a change. You know, we went through doing something very similar each year, and the Steelers have been such a great partner with the foundation that we thought we would do it at their home field.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.So, what’s next for the foundation?
“Well, our vision is to continue to expand,” Short said. “We currently offer scholarships at Penn State Greater Allegheny and at University Park, but we want to expand to other universities in the Commonwealth. We started Penn State-centric because obviously, I know Penn State, and it’s closer to home.”
“If you’re going to do something, you’ve got to want to work to be the best. The biggest isn’t necessarily the best. But we want to make the largest amount of impact on young people as possible. But we want to do it in a smart way.”
This event also featured appearances from NFL Hall of Famer and fellow Pittsburgh native Curtis Martin, who was the event’s keynote speaker, and first-year Penn State coach Matt Campbell.
For Campbell, Short is the “epitome of excellence of what Penn State University and Penn State football is all about.”
“I think he has been almost a beacon for us to say we want to build a team that stands for what he stood for, not only during his time at Penn State, but certainly post-Penn State,” Campbell told NSN. “I think any opportunity that we can support who he is and what he’s about, let alone what he stands for and what this event stands for, is really powerful for myself and our players.”
Short’s Penn State teammate and close friend, LaVar Arrington, hosted the event for the second year in a row. Arrington said the night reflected Short’s ability to turn tragedy into purpose.
“I can’t imagine the pain of what he’s had to deal with and overcome,” Arrington told NSN, “but he’s handled it in such a graceful way, and I’m just happy to be able to support him and be a part of it because that’s something that’s gut-wrenching, and for him to turn something. So, turning negative into a positive is a beautiful thing.”
