As we mourn the loss of former Penn State football head coach Joe Paterno, one thought crosses my mind.
OK, hold the tasteless humor for later but serious, we’ve all seen stories of 90-year old couples living out their lives together, and then when one of them passes away, the other one goes within
about six months. It’s almost as if the survivor loses their will to live after their love of 60 years, their constant companion, is gone. Paterno’s love for the last 60 years was Penn State football. When it was taken from him, you wonder how much it affected his will to live. The cause of death is cancer, but I think it may have been hastened by the loss of his love.
Paterno died Sunday at a State College, Pa., hospital, suffering in his final days from lung cancer, broken bones and the fallout of a horrific scandal that not only cost him his job, but also his trademark vigor and a portion of his good name.
The question is, how will the 85-year old Paterno be remembered? For most of his life Paterno conveyed three basic messages (honor, ethics and education) but all of that changed on Nov. 5, 2011, when a grand jury indicted Paterno’s former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, of multiple counts of sexual abuse of children.
Many, including Penn State’s Board of Trustees, believed Paterno could have and should have done more to stop Sandusky, especially after allegations of misconduct arose in 2002. Within days Paterno was fired from the program and school to which he’d become synonymous.
People can say what they want about the scandal but you can’t take away the fact of how many lives he has touched and how important he was to college football. Paterno will be missed and the Penn State sidelines will never be the same.
Though I believe the powers that be at Penn State were justified in dismissing Paterno, I can’t help but feel bad for him on some level. He clearly made a huge mistake in not doing more when he found out about Sandusky and he was clearly negligent but I think overall he was a good man and coach. Sandusky deserves most of the blame and I hope he rots. Sandusky needs to have his ass kicked and fed to the vultures.
I may have rooted against Penn State more often than for them it was more from the understanding that Paterno was going to have his team ready to play. We have lost a true legend of the sport and a truly remarkable human being.
To say he handled the situation poorly would be an understatement; however, his accomplishments will be in the record books without an asterisk by them. Most will forgive him in time just watch. It might be a long time, but it’ll happen.
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