Remembering Joe Paterno

However, this is a day to celebrate, and perhaps even be jealous of a life exquisitely lived on its own terms.

I hadn’t really been able to articulate this inkling of a feeling I’ve been feeling. But jealousy is close. I’m looking at my life and looking at Joe’s life and feeling a mixture of pride and almost, I wanna say, shame. I have done so little. I want my life to be like his, but it’s so hard. We can all do more, but so few of us consistently manage to do so. So I am sort of jealous, but tinged with a resolve to keep getting better and do away with those things that are holding me back. This is how I want other people to feel about me some day.

mainly because JoPa and the Bear were friends. But I loved Joe’s class, his old school teams (and y’all got screwed out of a few championships), and the fact that he stayed with an institution for so long. There is much good that can and will be said about him…I am sorry for y’alls loss PSU.

I’ve heard a lot of people asking “What will be the lasting legacy of Joe Paterno?”

As if that’s a question that anyone could answer. A legacy isn’t something that you discuss. There can be no official determination. The only people who can possibly care about this discussion are the people who have never had their lives influenced by the man. The discussion is abstract and academic, and almost wholly worthless.

His real legacy won’t be determined by words, spoken or written.

It is when I work a little harder on the details to make the brief I’m writing not just good enough, but perfect.

It’s when I meet someone new, look them in the eye while I’m shaking their hand and commit myself to actually listening and being interested in them, because that’s how one shows respect.

It’s when I walk a little further to the sidewalk to avoid cutting through someone’s yard, because you don’t cut figurative or literal corners.

It’s understanding that you can live up to some ideal and be driven by more than just personal self-interest, and then striving to live in such a way and help others in their quests as well.

It’s Adam Taliaferro going from being paralyzed to becoming an elected government official and (hopefully) Trustee within the span of 12 years.

It’s Paul Jones, who committed to Penn State as a 4-star recruit, and has nothing but respect and admiration for his former coach, even after being prevented from playing for his first two years.

It’s the hundreds of former players who credit their old coach for making them into the men they are today.

It’s listening to Urban Meyer and Mike Ditka and Coach K talk about what he’s meant to them, and hearing something much deeper, realer and more genuine than you usually hear when people give respects to an icon.

It’s every current and former player understanding that a scholarship has more to do with class and grades than football, that you run to the whistle (in both football and life) and internalizing the maxim “if you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.”

The idea that a legacy is an encapsulation or a summary is silly. A legacy is influence, and exists at a subconscious, ineffable level as much as it does as an actual idea. I am a better person because Joe Paterno was my role model. My life was enriched by the places and people that he influenced and improved during his life. And there are hundreds of thousands like me. That is his legacy.

Paterno was especially proud of his 2005 squad that put Penn State back in the national spotlight with an 11-1 record, a Big Ten title and a triple-overtime win in the Orange Bowl.

That team featured the same coaching staff as the previous season and a group of dynamic freshmen giving an extra spark to some talented seniors.

It was one of those seniors, Tamba Hali, who popped into Paterno’s head while telling stories before that 2007 Hall of Fame induction. A meeting with Hali from two months earlier was still fresh in his mind.

Hali had walked into Paterno’s Lasch Building office, prompting a smile and a playful jab from his old coach.

"What the devil are you doing here?" Paterno asked.

Hali, a first-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, replied simply that it was his team’s bye week.

"Whaddya want?" Paterno joked. "Every time I see you, you want something."

"I don’t want anything," Hali answered. "I just want to tell you I miss you."

Paterno finished the story, pausing to compose himself.

"Now," he said finally. "Does that mean something?"

His voice cracked. He drifted off.

I came to this site back in November because I was ashamed of what I was reading online and in the news and seeing on ESPN and other media outlets. I could not believe the judgmental vilification of an older man who seemed so above such treatment. Why were the media and those who commented on the forums and articles so vicious in their criticism of a man who coached so well for so long? I was not a particular fan of Penn State or Joe Paterno when I arrived at Black Shoe Diaries in mid-November

Joe Paterno was no highly skilled money-seeking mercenary. Joe had never been the big gun for hire playing the success of his teams into a compensation war for a bigger paycheck. Joe didn’t court the media or update his style. He was the antithesis of slick and was "cool" because he did not try to be. Joe’s power at Penn State wasn’t about racking up championships and awards or money, it was about making players into better men and education. He seemed to be more impressed by the academic success of his players than their professional football careers. Joe seemed to me to be the last person in the world who would put the image of his or any football program above the well being of any child.

So why were so many inclined to describe Joe as something he seemed so unlikely to be?

Over the past 75 days of constant attention to the worst days in the history of Joe Paterno’s media image I’ve come to a conclusion in seeking an answer to that question. The media – particularly the sports media – hated Joe Paterno for what he was to them. Joe was simply a better human being than they could ever hope to be. Sports writers are so impressed by big money contracts. Their answer to every problem is to open up the checkbook and buy the solution. They pay a little lip service to academic excellence but it’s way down the list of what they value. When a good man has continued success measured by academic success and success in life instead of their measure of more money, more impressive stats, and more wins they took the opportunity offered by the attorney general to try to bring Joe down.

I understand why life long Penn State fans would prefer to forget the past 80 days and focus right now on the 61 years that preceded November of 2011. I am sorry I don’t have that history to share so I have to speak from my limited experience.

Even under the extreme duress of the past 80 days Joe Paterno was an inspiration. His first act after the story broke was to offer what he thought would be the easy way out for the University he loved. He did not lash out in anger or disgust when the Board of Trustees refused his offer and dumped him over the telephone. He did not blame the media that vilified him but took responsibility for a hindsight that none of us have. His deepest concern was for the kids who were harmed by a man he thought was too involved with a charity to be his successor. He believed the job of guiding the academic and football lives of the young men who played for Penn State was the job of any coaching staff and that was a 24/7 job along with caring for a family. Joe could not believe such evil could have existed in a man who cleverly pretended to be a great friend and supporter of disadvantaged children.

Joe Paterno has moved on to a better place leaving behind lesser men who have chosen to judge him by their own mercenary moral standards. I feel blessed to have made some friends here on BSD because I have been inspired by Joe Paterno and the good people of Penn State to write in defense of his actions. I am convinced the ill-advised words of the prosecution contributed greatly to the vilification he was made to suffer and likely hastened his departure from life.

I will not dwell further on this subject in order to honor the many great and uncontroversial years of Joes exceptional life and I beg your forgiveness for this abbreviated eulogy based on perhaps the worst days of a life so well lived. I feel I have earned the limited right to express my feelings about Joe because the way he handled the worst thing in his life is so indicative of how he handled everything he did. Joe was a man who cared about his players, the students, the great university he helped to shape and the children who were victimized through no fault of his. Joe Paterno was a good man who led an exemplary life and he was the last person to deserve the treatment he received in his final days. My sympathies are with the Penn State family.

What I loved most about Joe Paterno was that he was so different from every other football coach. Every other football coach is so annoyingly intense and so obviously meant to be a football coach. They are football 24/7. They speak in cliches, wear their headseats, and read off their sheet of plays. Meanwhile, Joe would quote Socrates in his press conferences Every time he spoke he’d surprise me because his perspective on things was so….Joe.. He was one of a kind in his profession and as much as he frustrated me at times, I’m going to miss that the most.

Bill O’Brien may be really successful at Penn State. I’m excited about the new chapter. But, having Joe Paterno as our football coach was always really cool just because of who he was. And it’s sad that such a unique, amazing man is no longer with us.

5 deaths in my life have brought me to tears. Joe Paterno’s was one of them. I’ll miss you. Rest in peace JoePa.

I remember when I was 8 and seeing him on TV. He seemed special and different from other college coaches. Maybe I hadn’t been told yet why his glasses were “uncool” (and I’ve long since stopped caring.) The more I saw and read of him, the more impressed I was. I was excited when Penn State joined the conference as I hoped I’d get to see Purdue play Penn State and Coach Paterno.

I know I found it hard to get mad even when Penn State football kept beating Purdue, even when Purdue was favored—I was at the crushing ‘99 game. And I remember when Purdue finally won a tough game at Penn State in 2004, I wanted to hear what he had to say. Not to gloat, but because I knew he’d be thoughtful and interesting, and maybe I knew Purdue might not be able to do it again for a while. It may be an unusually ugly loss for Penn State fans, but it’s a special memory for Purdue fans.

I’m sad right now. I tried to avoid sports news and thought maybe I’d read up on who won the championship games, etc., because they don’t really matter. And with news like this—they really don’t really matter.

just wanted to say I’m sorry for your loss. I’d like to say that it’s our loss as well, but the truth is – when you have someone who does so much for a university and in understand emotional ties to a university – it’s only a loss for me as much as I understand how much it could hurt to lose someone like Joe Paterno.

Shit. I wish I could be more eloquent than that.

Put it this way – after all the years, the games, the mutual hatred and respect, I hope that you guys find someone who can be your next Joe Paterno (as if that’s even possible).

Good luck, God Bless You All.

As your designated new rival WE ARE PENN STATE (TOO)