409 wins. Two-time national champion. 1986 Sportsman of the Year. College Football Hall of Fame class of 2007.
Father. Grandfather. Family man. Role model. Hero.
Accessory to sexual abuse. Enabler. Hypocrite.
All words that can describe Joseph Vincent Paterno. A legend in his field, Paterno has won more collegiate football games than anyone ever has. He built a football program out of nothing and turned it into one of the most popular sports teams in the world. As we watch the end of Paterno’s career play out, the question must be asked, how will you remember JoePa? I’ll tell you exactly how I’ll remember him.
Paterno is arguably the most successful football coach in the history of the sport. More wins than any other coach, ever. He has been a fixture in the sport since before my parents could even read. That’s all well and good, but another 409 wins could not erase what has transpired in the last week out of my mind.
We all know the story, the relationship between Paterno and Jerry Sandusky. The details have been read and talked about to the point that saying the former defensive coordinators name makes my stomach curl. Paterno’s role in all of this is not nearly fully uncovered, not yet. What we do know is that at some point, Paterno was made aware of the relationship and sexual abuse that Sandusky had forced onto a 10-year-old boy in 2002 in a Penn State facility. A Joe Paterno facility.
What Paterno did next is the most quetionable part to all of this. Paterno did not call the police. He (presumably) did not confront his friend and former colleague. Paterno simply told his superiors what had happened.
At this point I want to address Paterno’s legacy, pre-scandal, at Penn State. The man is a God at Happy Valley. His face is on everything; from t-shirts to coffee mugs. I go to a school where the men’s basketball coach has brought three national championships to a state with no professional sports team. Jim Calhoun’s popularity can’t hold the jock of Paterno’s popularity at Penn State.
Paterno has been coaching at PSU for 61 seasons, 45 of them as the head coach. Joe Paterno does not have any superiors at Penn State, not really. In name, Paterno is just the football coach at Penn State. In terms of power and control when it comes to sports, Paterno IS Penn State.
Legally, Joe Paterno did the minimal amount of action after learning of Sandusky’s indiscretions. According to the law, Paterno, based on chain of command, did nothing wrong. To me, however, what Paterno did morally is the equivalent to seeing a murder and just saying “Stop.”
Yesterday, Paterno stepped out onto his front lawn and addressed the hoards of media members and fans who had been camping out at his doorstep. Paterno, after canceling his weekly press conference, did not address the allegations against Sandusky or the legal proceedings that were going on. Paterno simply said that he would say a prayer for those victims, eloquently stating, “it’s a tough life when people do certain things to you.” The past couple of days, I started to wonder how I would remember Joe Paterno after he leaves Penn State. Today I made my decision.
I read the 23 page grand jury report on the Sandusky victims. I actually read it five times. I know how old Victim 1 was when he first went to The Second Mile charity and found himself a role model who took the boy to football games, let him sleep at his house, and forced the boy to give him oral sex (11). I can tell you the details of the encounter then graduate assistant Mike McQueary had as a 28-year-old when he walked into the locker room at the Lasch Building at Penn State and witnessed Sandusky pinning a naked 10-year-old against a wall and raped him. I can also tell you how McQueary told Joe Paterno about the incident, and that neither men called the police.
I’ve put myself in McQueary’s position and wondered what I would have done as a 28-year-old former football player if I witnessed a man twice my age taking advantage of a boy. Would I be so shell-shocked that I ran out of the room crying as McQueary did? Or would I beat the **** out Sandusky until the police showed up?
I’ve also put myself in the shoes of Paterno, wondering what i would have done if given this information about a friend. I’ve had some of the greatest friends in the world, and I can tell all of you that if I ever was given information like the information Paterno was given, I wouldn’t sleep until my friend was behind bars. What did Paterno do? The bare minimum.
Joe Paterno will forever be immortalized as one of the greatest coaches ever to many people. If they want to celebrate Paterno the coach, then that’s fine by me. However, I’m not going to remember Joe Paterno as a football coach. I’m going to remember Joe Paterno as a coward. Paterno’s “by the book” actions have forever turned him into a moral demon in my eyes. As you read this, think about how you want to remember Paterno. If I ever got a chance to speak to the coach myself, I’d simply ask him one question. “Do you ever wonder if you had said something, done anything more than what you did, that you wouldn’t have to pray for as many victims as you do tonight?” Paterno’s silence helped take the innocence from children at the hands of a monster. Paterno is not alone in this, don’t get me wrong. But as we watch PSU senior vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley step down, it’s only fair that Paterno to be treated the same.
409 wins, two national championships, Hall of Fame. Those words can all be used to remember Joe Paterno the coach.
Only one word can ever help me describe Joe Paterno the man.
Coward.
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