1926-2012

Two months after being relieved of his head coaching duties at Penn State University, Joe Paterno died at the age of 85 from complications of lung cancer.  His family announced the passing early Sunday morning.

Speculations had been swirling for hours, mainly on Twitter, about the coach’s death.  But his family knocked down rumors that he had died Saturday night.  But did state he was in serious condition after his lung cancer was exacerbated by a pelvic injury in early January.

Joseph Vincent Paterno was a coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions for 62 years, spending the last 44 years as head coach.  As the winningest coach in Division I football history, Paterno built up a reputation as a man who not only coached football but a man who also created men from the boys he was trusted to coach.  He was widely known to be a second father to many of his players, and gave extensively to the community of Happy Valley where Penn State was located.  However during the 2011 college football season, his legacy would soon include a portion many never expected to connect to the great Coach Pa.

When his former right-hand man, ex-PSU defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, was arrested on child molestation charges, the PSU campus and coach would never be the same.  It was learned that as far back as 2002 the university and Coach Paterno himself had been made aware of complaints about Sandusky’s behavior with young boys, including an incident where graduate assistant Mike McQueary informed Paterno of a possible rape incident he witnessed.  Paterno simply passed the news on to his superiors and the cops were never notified.

Though many would love to leave this part out of his legacy, still some would rather its all that was mentioned.  Yet nothing is that simple.  Joe Paterno can never simply be one or the other.  It must all be included in our memories of him, the good and the bad.  Yes he made a poor decision in putting PSU ahead of children in danger, but for years he gave to the community through the lives he changed and the generosity he displayed.  In all honesty, it’s a very human story.  We can all never just be the good or bad deeds we commit.  We are EVERYTHING…in totality.