I can’t imagine the grief around State College right now. I just can’t.
Joe Paterno passed away today. He was 85.
If this had happened last year, we would have read obituaries with words like “longtime coach” and “icon” and “Nittany Lion pride” and “hardscrabble” and “unstoppable” and “national championships.”
And today, the obituaries read “scandal” and “blind eye” and “lack of action” and “shame.”
It’s incredibly simplistic to assume that a man who achieves 409 college football wins is a saint, just as it’s incredibly simplistic to say he’s a sinner. He was a man, he had good points and he had bad points. He won football games and he turned Pennsylvania State University into a football power when he took over the program from Rip Engle.
Even though I’m personally not a college football aficionado, I did respect what Joe Paterno did on the court, and I was upset at what happened to him in the past year – the Sandusky scandal, the health concerns, the cancer that eventually took his life. His last year of his life has certainly polarized those who still shout “WE ARE PENN STATE” at football games, and who still refer to him as “JoePa” and equate him with Bear Bryant and Amos Alonzo Stagg.
His passing today is now wrapped in a moment of controversy and pain among everyone who follows college football – as well as everyone who has ever suffered from child molestation, who wondered if thee was anyone out there who could have stopped it – and either didn’t report it in time, or reported it too late, or reported it without enough authority.
Today starts a new day at Penn State. A new head coach and a new season of college football. And when that new class of recruits takes to Joe Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium, let them – and let all the fans who attend, and let all the fans who watch on television – remember that it isn’t just wins and losses that define a man. There’s also content of character. No one is perfect.
But maybe within all that is the true legacy of Joe Paterno. The will to win, the motivator of men, who even in his proudest moments could not undo the failure that forever stained his coaching career.
Rest in peace, JoePa.
Chuck The Writer 
Joe Paterno is another example of someone great who stayed a few years too long. I was a long time teacher and when 55 came, I retired “while I was ahead of the game”. While teaching I saw too many really good teachers stay 3 or 4 years beyong retiremnet age and in those years they wore out. I found that there was nothing more depressing then when a teacher retired you would hear the phrase, “You know, she use to be a good teacher.”. If you can financially do it, retire before people will have to say: ‘He/ she use to be a great….’.
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If you look at JoePa’s career, it is truly remarkable. No one can deny that. Yes it is unfortunate that the scandal has tarnished Paterno and PSU, what did he know, when did he know it, what did/didn’t he do about it. I would hope people could seperate the two, and respect what JoePa did on the field.
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The guy knew his assistant got away with raping little kids…from disadvantaged backgrounds. I like sports as much as anybody, but he’s probably going to hell. That’s not something you can overcome. It’s a shame, and should be a lesson to everyone.
I’m sure Sandusky did a lot of great things for people, too. I’m sure he was a great guy in many ways…but he ruined the lives of little boys. Get real.
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I just came from an event where a PennState librarian said, “We just lost a great friend and benefactor to the library. He will be missed.” I think most of the audience felt that while that is definitely true, to not acknowledge that perhaps he was flawed and made some undeniably serious mistakes was to gloss over the harm he did in favor of the good.
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Chuck wrote “Even though I’m personally not a college football aficionado, I did respect what Joe Paterno did on the court,”
Even though I’m personally not a T-U blogger, I don’t respect writers who think football is played on a court.
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