JoePa Passes

[Lord Jim]

I wonder how many people will want to put his corpse on trial....

Fired Penn State coach Joe Paterno dead at 85

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Happy Valley was perfect for Joe Paterno, a place where "JoePa" knew best, where he not only won more football games than any other major college coach, but won them the right way: with integrity and sportsmanship. A place where character came first, championships second.

Behind it all, however, was an ugly secret that ran counter to everything the revered coach stood for.

Paterno, a sainted figure at Penn State for almost half a century but scarred forever by the child sex abuse scandal that brought his career to a stunning end, died Sunday at age 85.

His death came just over two months after his son Scott announced on Nov. 18 that his father had been diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer. The cancer was found during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness. A few weeks later, Paterno broke his pelvis after a fall but did not need surgery.

Paterno had been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation after what his family called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Not long before that, he conducted his only interview since losing his job, with The Washington Post. Paterno was described as frail then, speaking mostly in a whisper and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was conducted at his bedside.

His family released a statement Sunday morning to announce his death: "His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled."

"He died as he lived," the statement said. "He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."

Paterno built a program based on the credo of "Success with Honor," and he found both. The man known as "JoePa" won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.

"He will go down as the greatest football coach in the history of the game," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said after his former team, the Florida Gators, beat Penn State 37-24 in the 2011 Outback Bowl.

Paterno roamed the sidelines for 46 seasons, his thick-rimmed glasses, windbreaker and jet-black sneakers as familiar as the Nittany Lions' blue and white uniforms. He won 409 games and two national championships.

The reputation he built looked even more impressive because he insisted on keeping graduation rates high while maintaining on-field success.

But in the middle of his 46th season, the legend was shattered. Paterno was engulfed in a child sex abuse scandal when a former trusted assistant, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of molesting 10 boys over a 15-year span, sometimes in the football building.

Paterno at first said he was fooled. But outrage built quickly when the state's top cop said the coach hadn't fulfilled a moral obligation to go to the authorities when a graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, told Paterno he saw Sandusky with a young boy in the showers of the football complex in 2002.

At a preliminary hearing for the school officials, McQueary testified that he had seen Sandusky attacking the child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 percent sure it was intercourse. McQueary described Paterno as shocked and saddened and said the coach told him he'd "done the right thing" by reporting the encounter.

Paterno waited a day before alerting school officials but never went to the police.

"I didn't know which way to go ... and rather than get in there and make a mistake," Paterno said in the Post interview.

"You know, (McQueary) didn't want to get specific," Paterno said. "And to be frank with you I don't know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it."

When the scandal erupted in November, Paterno said he would retire following the 2011 season. He also said he was "absolutely devastated" by the abuse case.

"This is a tragedy," he said. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

But the university trustees faced a crisis, and in an emergency meeting that night, they fired Paterno, effective immediately. Graham Spanier, one of the longest-serving university presidents in the nation, also was fired.

http://news.yahoo.com/fired-penn-state- ... --spt.html

[Guinevere]

Success with honor? Oh please. Too bad he couldn't have lived up to his own credo.

[dgs49]

I am neither a Penn State supporter (other than through mandatory taxes) nor a Joe Paterno fan, but what happened to him over the past six months was a travesty. They took one questionable error of judgment and sought to nullify a lifetime of exemplary conduct in an arena where deviousness, lying, cheating, and criminal conspiracy are the NORM.

A pox on those who condemn him.

[Rick]

I am neither a Penn State supporter (other than through mandatory taxes) nor a Joe Paterno fan, but what happened to him over the past six months was a travesty. They took one questionable error of judgment and sought to nullify a lifetime of exemplary conduct in an arena where deviousness, lying, cheating, and criminal conspiracy are the NORM.

A pox on those who condemn him.

If it had happened the day before he was fired I might agree.

Bye...

[rubato]

He failed an important test of leadership and that failure allowed children to continue to be victimized and abused. He was supposed to protect them, and he didn't.

Leadership is an obligation more than a gift.

He did many good things and deserves credit for them. But if the example of his life is to be of value we have to remember the bad as well.

yrs,
rubato

[Jarlaxle]

I am neither a Penn State supporter (other than through mandatory taxes) nor a Joe Paterno fan, but what happened to him over the past six months was a travesty. They took one questionable error of judgment and sought to nullify a lifetime of exemplary conduct in an arena where deviousness, lying, cheating, and criminal conspiracy are the NORM.

A pox on those who condemn him.

Horseshit! Paterno is EVERY BIT AS RESPONSIBLE as Sandusky! He acted to cover it up.

[Crackpot]

How?

[BoSoxGal]

He should have called the police. Telling his superiors first was fine, but if they didn't call the police, he should have.

As to his statements that he didn't know anything about men and rape; I don't buy that an 85 year old man could live that many years in this culture, in the culture of sports, and not have some sense that anal sex happens between males and that it isn't always consensual.

He was a great, winning coach who held his athletes to a high standard and he deserves kudos for that. But his actions re: Sandusky exhibit a great moral failing.

[Crackpot]

There is a huge difference between "should have" and "cover up"

[BoSoxGal]

True enough; we can't fathom what his intentions were, or if his course of action was compelled by a desire to cover up anything or protect anyone.

I think the failing on the 'should have' is bad enough to taint what otherwise might have been a near perfect legacy.

So sad.

[Rick]

There is a huge difference between "should have" and "cover up"

I'm sure that distinction means a great deal to the victims...

[dgs49]

During the course of Jerry Sandusky's life as a sexual predator, there must have been scores of people (adults) who at the very least were aware of danger signs that he was engaging in this sort of conduct. He had, presumably, many other victims who had passed into adulthood and could have, one way or another, called attention to what was going on.

None of them did, in any meaningful way.

But there is one person and one person only who is responsible for Sandusky's conduct, it that is Jerry Sandusky. NO ONE is responsible for what someone else does.

Footnote: When I was playing basketball for my Catholic grade school team in the early 60's, there were a few occasions when our coach - a lifetime bachelor, then in his 30's - showered with the boys on the team. This occurred when he was perspiring heavily from a workout and had to go someplace later, so needed to shower and couldn't wait until we were gone. Usually he showered alone after we were all gone.

We survived.

[Joe Guy]

But there is one person and one person only who is responsible for Sandusky's conduct, it that is Jerry Sandusky. NO ONE is responsible for what someone else does.

No one is claiming that anyone else is responsible for Sandusky's conduct. But knowing about it and not reporting it to the police is no different than saying you're okay with what Sandusky does as long as the public doesn't find out about it.

[dgs49]

One of our compatriots posted above that, "Paterno is EVERY BIT AS RESPONSIBLE as Sandusky!" This is what I was responding to.

Knowing about it - or having justifiable suspicions - is just that. It is not "saying you're OK with it." Paterno declined to take actions that would have been personally difficult, embarrassing to both himself and the football program, and would likely have ruined the life of someone with whom Paterno was undoubtedly close.

The people here and elsewhere who are pontificating about how Paterno's course of action should have been easy and definitive are like people who watch a professional boxing match and whine that one of the boxers should have done something differently. Nobody knows how THEY would react until they get into a comparable situation. Would you call the police on a favorite uncle if somebody told you they THOUGHT they saw him doing something bad? Knowing that the uncle's life could be ruined, and the family exposed to embarrassing publicity by the mere accusation?

Easy choice, right?

[Joe Guy]

It does matter how the act was reported to Paterno, but shouldn't he have at least followed through to find out what really happened?

Not just drop it like he did.

I don't see it as any different than if Paterno was told that someone saw Sandusky kill somebody and then doing virtually nothing about it.

[Long Run]

He did a lot of great things in his life, and he had this great failure that also has to be considered. Can't ignore either if you want to fully evaluate him. Good article on his legacy: http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7492 ... rue-legacy

[BoSoxGal]

It's like a Greek tragedy, isn't it?