On November 9th, 2011 the life of Joseph Vincent Paterno was suddenly and unceremoniously was changed forever. On this night the man known in the annals of college football as “JoePa” was removed by the Penn State Board of Trustees as a nation was only beginning to learn about where then allegations against former Paterno assistant Jerry Sandusky. What would happen in the coming weeks and months would shock a nation, a sport as well as rock a town and a university to its core.
JoePa first came to State College, Pennsylvania in 1955 when his college coach and fellow College Football Hall of Famer Rip Engle convinced Paterno to join his staff after taking the job at Penn State. After 15 years of coaching under Engle Paterno took over as the Head Coach of the Nittany Lions in 1966. Paterno went on to have an illustrious coaching career during his over five-decade coaching career, all spent at Penn State. During his 55 and a half years with the Nittany Lions, Paterno went on to win a NCAA record 409 wins, multiple Coach of the Year awards, three Big Ten Titles
(1994, 2005, 2009) and two National Championships (1982, 1986) as well as being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007. The athletic profile of the University and especially the football program, going from an independent to a major Big Ten Conference player and having to expand Beaver Stadium six times, more than doubling the capacity.
After playing at Penn State under Engle, Jerry Sandusky was a Graduate Assistant Coach with the Penn State Football team during the 1966 season, Paterno’s first year as Head Coach. After spending the following two seasons at different coaching jobs, Sandusky returned to Penn State as the Defensive Line Coach in in 1969. The following season Sandusky moved to Linebackers Coach, a position which he held until he was promoted to Defensive Coordinator in 1977. Also in 1977 Sandusky founded “The Second Mile” a non-profit organization that prior to 2011 was a widely celebrated organization across the area. Honorary Board Members for the organization included former Pittsburgh Steelers Jack Ham and Franco Harris, Former Philadelphia Eagles Coaches Dick Vermeil and Andy Reid, Actor Mark Wahlberg, and Golfer Arnold Palmer among others. The Second Mile also received political recognition, former President George H. W. Bush who in 1990 called the organization a “Shining Example” of charity work. In 2002, then Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum presented Sandusky with the “Angels in Adoption” Award”. It was not until November 2011 in which the region and the world learned what was really happening with The Second Mile foundation.
It was revealed shortly after Sandusky’s arrest that he had used the foundation to select and groom victims for sexual assaults. Due to his high profile with the university, The Second Mile and Penn State University were closely connected with the foundation having a place on campus until 2011. Due to this close connection, it was not uncommon for the children from the foundation to be around the football team or football facilities. In 2002 then Graduate Assistant Mike McQueary states that he heard slapping noises coming from the showers of the Louis and Mildred Lasch Building and testified that he saw Sandusky, who was no longer on the football staff, directly behind a young boy known in court documents as “Victim 2” whose hands were against the shower wall. McQueary testified that he reported what he had seen to his father John McQueary, J. McQueary’s boss Dr. Jonathan Dranov and Paterno. It has been reported that Paterno from there told PSU Athletic Director Timothy Curley as well as Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz. From there the incident was reported to University President Graham Spanier.
All parties spoke multiple times in the following days and it was labeled to be “horsing around” which is the exact wording that Sandusky used when publically asked about the situation. No public action was taken at this time or at any leading to Sandusky’s indictment on November 4th, 2011 on 63 counts including 40 counts of sex involving a young boy. On November 11th Paterno and Spanier were relieved of their duties respectively. This came days after Curley and Schultz were indicted for perjury and failure to report in relation to the previous incident involving McQueary. Shortly after being removed as head coach Paterno’s son Scott Paterno announced that his father was suffering from lung cancer. Paterno was hospitalized due to complications on January 13th, 2012 before passing away nine days later on January 22nd, months prior to the beginning of the Sandusky trial.
Following the release of a report headed by former FBI Director Louis Freeh and commissioned by the Penn State Board of Trustees, the NCAA began to consider how it would punish the program. The report stated that Paterno and other University officials mentioned above had knowledge of not only the for mentioned incident involving “Victim 2” but also a separate incident which took place in 1998. Freeh cited a file showing not only that Schultz was aware of the incident but actively tried to conceal it from becoming public. The report also showed that officials including Paterno failed to report the incidents to law enforcement and did not limit Sandusky’s access to the Lasch Building despite having knowledge of incidents taking place there. The Paterno Family along with supporters have denounced the Freeh Report, with the Family releasing its own report rebuking conclusions made in the report as well as the manner in which the report came to be. The NCAA did not rebuke the claims made in the report, despite avoiding the “Death Penalty” which would cancel the upcoming season, most notably handed down to the Southern Methodist University Football team in the late 80s; the punishments were groundbreaking. Among the punishments handed down by NCAA President Mark Emmert: Penn State was placed on probation for five years, banned from postseason play for four years, and fined $60 Million Dollars with the money to an endowment to prevent child abuse. The NCAA also vacated all 112 wins from the football program from 1998-2011, or all time after the event highlighted in the Freeh Report. The NCAA has since reinstated the wins, returning Joe Paterno’s to the top of the Division I win’s list.
On June 22nd, 2012, 11 days after the beginning of the trial, reporters ran out of the Centre County Courthouse to report that Sandusky had been found guilty on 45 of the 48 counts of the indictment. On October 9th he was sentenced to 60 years with his first chance at parole not coming till he had served half of that sentence, meaning he will be 98 when he sees a parole board for the first time. This was not the end of Sandusky’s legal troubles as since his imprisonment, three more men have come forward claiming abuse as early as the 1970’s. It has also been reported that Sandusky is being investigated by the United States Postal Service for possibly sending Child Pornography through the mail. Earlier this year Philadelphia County judge Gary Glazer revealed that in a lawsuit opinion that Paterno and others may have known of abuse by Sandusky as early as 1976.
After all, of this Schultz, Curley, and Spanier are facing trial for their part in these incidents. Since Paterno is deceased he is unable to stand trial, although it is unclear if he would be facing charges. Paterno is still held in high esteem among the Penn State faithful. There was outrage in July 2012 when Paterno’s statue outside Gate F of Beaver Stadium was removed and there are calls by many to put the statue back. Penn State recently honored Paterno prior to its September 17th game against the Temple Owls, celebrating 50 years since his first year as Head Coach. Lauren Davis an editor for The Daily Collegian has received threats since writing an editorial criticizing the university’s honoring of Paterno.
At this point of this ever changing and far from over situation it appears that the Penn State community is at a crossroads as to what to do with the legacy of Paterno. Although his statue is gone, his name is still on the library, as he and his wife paid for much of the building. At the end of the day, Paterno is still the winningest coach in NCAA Division I History. A distinction that He will likely hold for many more years with no active coach within 200 wins of his mark. He is still a two-time National Champion and a Hall of Famer. No matter what happened in the Sandusky case you cannot take away from what Paterno teams did on the field, just like taking away Reggie Bush’s Heisman for of the field violations does not take away from his spectacular play on it. Also at the end of the day, however, Paterno was not celebrated solely for his on the field accomplishments. JoePa becoming a revered figure for demanding greatness of his players on and off of the field. For being a man that benched players for things like missing class a man who put doing the right thing first. Many people have said that the statue should go back up for what he did as a coach. But to separate the man on the field from his actions off of it go against the reason that JoePa was known for. Had Paterno only focused on things on the field then he would not have been as widely celebrated as he was. It is wrong for us to celebrate Paterno the coach while ignoring the faults of Paterno the man when we were so quick to connect the two prior to 2011.
