Like many sports fans, I admired Joe Paterno (JoePa as he was affectionately called), the
late Penn State Head Football coach.
He was the epitome of everything that was right in college
sports. His teams excelled, players graduated and negativity avoided “Happy Valley”- a Penn State slang term that doesn’t seem as
appropriate in 2012. In addition,
former players, opposing coaches and business leaders often shouted his praises
from the mountaintops.
I grew up in Central Pennsylvania
and could get to the university in less than two hours. My state was CRAZY
about Penn State Football! I’ve also known alumni and visited the campus on
many occasions. The topic of football
frequently came up during those times and nothing but positivity emanated from
any conversation about the program or the Head Coach.
Paterno was viewed as a Great Coach, Man and Leader. And since
he never had any serious scandals (unlike many other college programs), the
term “Class Act” and “Man of Integrity” was often applied to him.
That was then.
Most opinions (including my own) of Paterno have changed dramatically
since a damaging report was revealed to the world Thursday. After hearing Louie
Freeh (former FBI Director) talk about his independent 8 month Penn State
investigation of the
Jerry Sandusky Case, I doubt anyone would use
words like classy or integrity in the same sentence with JoePa.
Here’s what Freeh said:
"Our most
saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and
welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most
senior leaders at Penn
State," Freeh wrote
in his summary of his report. "The most powerful men at Penn State
failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized.
Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley never demonstrated, through
actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky's
victims until after Sandusky's
arrest."
Even those who staunchly defended Paterno are changing their
tune. Nike CEO Phil Knight – a long-time friend of JoePa, spoke at his memorial
(before this report) and gave a passionate speech defending Paterno. Below are Phil’s recent words and the
immediate changes at Nike speak volumes about how they feel now.
“Other than my
parents, my college coach, Bill Bowerman, was the biggest influence in my life.
Bill Bowerman and Joe Paterno shared some great qualities. Throughout Joe
Paterno’s career, he strived to put young athletes in a position to succeed and
win in sport but most importantly in life. Joe influenced thousands of young
men to become better leaders, fathers and husbands.
According to the investigation, it appears Joe made missteps that led to
heartbreaking consequences. I missed that Joe missed it, and I am extremely
saddened on this day. My love for Joe and his family remains."
Nike also announced that the child-care
center at its corporate headquarters would no longer be named after Paterno.
Nike president and CEO Mark Parker announced the move in another statement.
"I have been
deeply saddened by the news coming out of this investigation at Penn State.
It is a terrible tragedy that children were unprotected from such abhorrent
crimes. With the findings released today, I have decided to change the name of
our child care center at our World Headquarters. My thoughts are with the
victims and the Penn
State community."
I can’t fathom how Paterno and the other three men could
have shown such disregard for the lives of those innocent boys and their
families. Even Bobby Bowden of Florida (2nd
most wins in college football after Paterno) said that he would have wanted to ask
Joe WHY he concealed a monster like Sandusky.
I played Division 1 basketball so I’ve seen what attention
and adoration can do to the egos and mindset of players and coaches. Often,
it’s not positive. Also, I can understand (yet not condone) other acts that
have been done (cheating, paying players ,etc) in collegiate sports
although I never thought in my lifetime that I would be reading about 4
grown men at one of college football’s most prestigious programs, covering up
for a suspected paedophile.
More facts from the Sports Illustrated column:
"But combine that fact
with what we already knew. In 2001, graduate assistant Mike McQueary told
Paterno he saw Sandusky raping a boy in a shower
at Penn State's football complex. Paterno,
Spanier, Curley and Schultz -- already aware of suspicions that Sandusky was a child
molester -- did absolutely nothing. The two most powerful men on Penn State's
campus (Spanier and the late Paterno) and two more on the upper end of the
totem pole did nothing to help the child involved in 2001, nothing to stop Sandusky."
The
janitors at Penn State
also bear some responsibility as one of them witnessed Sandusky raping a young boy and did NOTHING.
A few details are described in Mike Lupica’s (Daily News) article below:
“They (the janitors)
witnessed what I think in the report is probably the most horrific rape that’s
described,” Freeh said Thursday.
“And what do they do? They panic. The janitor who observed this said it’s the
worst thing he ever saw. This is a Korean War veteran who said, ‘I’ve never
seen anything like that. It makes me sick.’ He spoke to the other janitors.
They were alarmed and shocked by it. But what did they do? They said, ‘We can’t
report this because we’ll get fired.’ They knew who Sandusky was. They were afraid to take on the
football program."
I almost
wrote about Paterno, his three conspirators and Sandusky in late 2011 when the scandal was at
its boiling point but decided to wait as all the facts weren’t out yet. As the
most powerful man at Penn
State, I (like many)
suspected that Paterno knew more than what he was saying although at that time,
there wasn’t any evidence to prove it. There is now.
Their
acts to protect Sandusky
and lack of action for these boys were disgraceful and inexcusable.
One final
passage from the Sports Illustrated article:
"The real downside, as
anyone with a soul knows, is that more children were abused. That is the
ultimate tragedy, but Spanier, Paterno, Curley and Schultz weren't worried
about children. They were worried about themselves."
Regarding
the victims and their families, let’s let all our hearts go out to them with
the hope that they are beginning to heal and find a bit of peace now that Jerry
Sandusky will go to prison for the rest of his life.
Because
of this case, I’m hopeful that other colleges/schools will be more diligent and
forthcoming when suspicions arise or they are confronted with similar issues as
only a naive person would believe that this type of abuse is not happening
elsewhere.
“Success
with Honor” was a Paterno motto and often used to describe his program. What a joke
his words seem like now.
His famous quote is below:
Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good.
(Joe Paterno).
His
legacy is forever tarnished and can be described in one five letter word.
SHAME.
Shame on
Joe Paterno.
Shame on
Spanier.
Shame on
Curley.
Shame on
Schultz.
Joe Paterno Statue - I can't imagine that Penn State would keep this standing.
Picture Link
