There's More to the Story
The first time I ever heard of Joe Paterno was 1987. I was 8 years old, and that was the year I became a SU football fan, and what a year to become a fan. On an unforgettable October day in the Carrier Dome, JoePa brought his defending national champion Penn State team in to play the Orange. We hadn't beaten the Nittany Lions in 17 years. Well on this particular day, Don McPherson threw an 80-yard strike to Rob Moore on the first play of the game, SU scored the first 41 points of the game, and crushed Penn State en route to a 11-0 season. Then for good measure, Coach Mac's Orange went into Happy Valley the next year and spanked PSU on its home field.
Then suddenly, Paterno didn't want to play us anymore... well he tried to extend the series, but he wanted 6 games at State College and only 4 at the Dome. The story goes that JoePa wasn't happy with Penn State not being invited to join the Big East. One of the local radio stations urged us to send chicken bones to Paterno because he was too "chicken" to play us. Soon enough he would guide the Lions into the Big Ten, and after 1990, it would be 17 years before SU played Penn State again. Surprisingly, when we did, there was Paterno, still coaching the Nittany Lions. We never beat Paterno again after 1988. All told, he went 23-4 against the Orange. Suffice to say, people in Central New York didn't like him much. Local sportswriters like Bud Poliquin would paint Penn State as the college football equivalent of the Evil Empire in black shoes. And they always pointed out Paterno's familiar high-water pants. But you had to know there was always respect behind the snark.
Obviously, I'm not a Penn State person, but I've spent much of my life in Pennsylvania, so I know a lot of people who bleed Blue and White. If you don't know anyone who went to Penn State or hails from Central PA, you probably don't understand what Joe Paterno meant to that part of the world. Yeah, I know, he was a college football coach, and those who don't like college football or sports in general probably don't see the big deal or think it shouldn't be such a big deal, but college is a place where young people go to be molded into adults, and in that sense, Paterno was among the best there was at doing just that. Of course, the events of this past November forever changed the way we look at Paterno, Penn State football, Penn State University, and Central Pennsylvania. The molestation charges against Paterno's longtime assistant Jerry Sandusky shattered the image most had of the program. Far worse than the damage to the "legacy" and the "program" was the way these kids who were allegedly abused by Sandusky were scarred for life. But we should not let the events of the past two months completely overshadow 85 years of a good life that contained one sorry episode in which the coach didn't do enough to follow up on an eyewitness report of Sandusky's horrible behavior.
Yes, there are people out there today who continue to tell us that what happened to Sandusky's victims is more important than Joe Paterno's legacy. I am not overlooking what happened to these victims, by any stretch... these alleged events are why my stomach did a nice dip and roll to the right when I saw that Sandusky had the stones to put out his own statement (through his attorney) expressing his grief about Paterno's passing. Thus showing that the Worst Legal PR Strategy Ever continues. If there is someone, ANYONE, who should be completely silent today, in order to let the Paterno family and the Penn State community grieve in peace, it is Jerry Sandusky. So yes, I am well aware, constantly aware, of what happened to these victims of unspeakable abuse.
Media portrayals of Paterno's life are aware of these things as well. The theme, for the most part, has been that Paterno has his legacy of 409 wins, thousands of players, and millions of dollars of support for Penn State University, but he also has the stain of scandal on his record, and to some extent that will always be the case. But to judge a man's life solely and completely on his failure to do more when he learned about a heinous sexual act occurring in the football building is to ignore the big picture. Some people will always do this, however... some will always conveniently label a person by the most awful thing he/she ever did. For instance, President Clinton will always be seen by some as a man who lied under oath about a lurid affair with an intern in the White House, and nothing more than that.
On the other side, you have people, both within the insular community that is Happy Valley and within the greater sports community, who think that the Sandusky scandal and Paterno's removal as coach ultimately contributed to his swift decline. People today on ESPN stated that he "died of a broken heart," which is a nice way of saying, "the scandal - and firing - killed him." I'm sure there was restraint on display, and I'm glad there was, because in light of the myriad overreactions of a lot of people when the scandal first broke, it would be pretty easy for people with lingering anger to vent it at people like the PSU Trustees. They certainly have in the last couple of weeks, as PSU higher-ups seeking to do damage control faced angry donors making implied threats that their money would not be going to State College anymore. As of a few nights ago, the PSU faculty was about to deliver a vote of no confidence in the Board of Trustees, forcing all of them to resign. So there are still a lot of raw nerves in the PSU community, but in the last 24 hours, the anger of recent weeks has been replaced by grief. As it should be.
I am not out to change minds here. I know full well that people will continue to equate someone who didn't do enough to ensure that an abuser was put to justice with the abuser himself. But just try to consider that Joe Paterno meant more to a lot of people than most of us will ever be able to understand. That he passed away before this scandal fully played out is unfortunate. I don't think most of us were looking for him to be vindicated, but rather that he at least regain some measure of our respect. I hope that in the end, that comes to pass. Rest in peace, JoePa.
Then suddenly, Paterno didn't want to play us anymore... well he tried to extend the series, but he wanted 6 games at State College and only 4 at the Dome. The story goes that JoePa wasn't happy with Penn State not being invited to join the Big East. One of the local radio stations urged us to send chicken bones to Paterno because he was too "chicken" to play us. Soon enough he would guide the Lions into the Big Ten, and after 1990, it would be 17 years before SU played Penn State again. Surprisingly, when we did, there was Paterno, still coaching the Nittany Lions. We never beat Paterno again after 1988. All told, he went 23-4 against the Orange. Suffice to say, people in Central New York didn't like him much. Local sportswriters like Bud Poliquin would paint Penn State as the college football equivalent of the Evil Empire in black shoes. And they always pointed out Paterno's familiar high-water pants. But you had to know there was always respect behind the snark.
Obviously, I'm not a Penn State person, but I've spent much of my life in Pennsylvania, so I know a lot of people who bleed Blue and White. If you don't know anyone who went to Penn State or hails from Central PA, you probably don't understand what Joe Paterno meant to that part of the world. Yeah, I know, he was a college football coach, and those who don't like college football or sports in general probably don't see the big deal or think it shouldn't be such a big deal, but college is a place where young people go to be molded into adults, and in that sense, Paterno was among the best there was at doing just that. Of course, the events of this past November forever changed the way we look at Paterno, Penn State football, Penn State University, and Central Pennsylvania. The molestation charges against Paterno's longtime assistant Jerry Sandusky shattered the image most had of the program. Far worse than the damage to the "legacy" and the "program" was the way these kids who were allegedly abused by Sandusky were scarred for life. But we should not let the events of the past two months completely overshadow 85 years of a good life that contained one sorry episode in which the coach didn't do enough to follow up on an eyewitness report of Sandusky's horrible behavior.
Yes, there are people out there today who continue to tell us that what happened to Sandusky's victims is more important than Joe Paterno's legacy. I am not overlooking what happened to these victims, by any stretch... these alleged events are why my stomach did a nice dip and roll to the right when I saw that Sandusky had the stones to put out his own statement (through his attorney) expressing his grief about Paterno's passing. Thus showing that the Worst Legal PR Strategy Ever continues. If there is someone, ANYONE, who should be completely silent today, in order to let the Paterno family and the Penn State community grieve in peace, it is Jerry Sandusky. So yes, I am well aware, constantly aware, of what happened to these victims of unspeakable abuse.
Media portrayals of Paterno's life are aware of these things as well. The theme, for the most part, has been that Paterno has his legacy of 409 wins, thousands of players, and millions of dollars of support for Penn State University, but he also has the stain of scandal on his record, and to some extent that will always be the case. But to judge a man's life solely and completely on his failure to do more when he learned about a heinous sexual act occurring in the football building is to ignore the big picture. Some people will always do this, however... some will always conveniently label a person by the most awful thing he/she ever did. For instance, President Clinton will always be seen by some as a man who lied under oath about a lurid affair with an intern in the White House, and nothing more than that.
On the other side, you have people, both within the insular community that is Happy Valley and within the greater sports community, who think that the Sandusky scandal and Paterno's removal as coach ultimately contributed to his swift decline. People today on ESPN stated that he "died of a broken heart," which is a nice way of saying, "the scandal - and firing - killed him." I'm sure there was restraint on display, and I'm glad there was, because in light of the myriad overreactions of a lot of people when the scandal first broke, it would be pretty easy for people with lingering anger to vent it at people like the PSU Trustees. They certainly have in the last couple of weeks, as PSU higher-ups seeking to do damage control faced angry donors making implied threats that their money would not be going to State College anymore. As of a few nights ago, the PSU faculty was about to deliver a vote of no confidence in the Board of Trustees, forcing all of them to resign. So there are still a lot of raw nerves in the PSU community, but in the last 24 hours, the anger of recent weeks has been replaced by grief. As it should be.
I am not out to change minds here. I know full well that people will continue to equate someone who didn't do enough to ensure that an abuser was put to justice with the abuser himself. But just try to consider that Joe Paterno meant more to a lot of people than most of us will ever be able to understand. That he passed away before this scandal fully played out is unfortunate. I don't think most of us were looking for him to be vindicated, but rather that he at least regain some measure of our respect. I hope that in the end, that comes to pass. Rest in peace, JoePa.
Labels: Joe Paterno
posted by Dave | 10:50 PM
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