Legacy: anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor. It is what you make of it. It is not the culmination of events that happen in one’s life. Instead, it is what you learn from those events and decide to give to those coming after you.
Joe Paterno, a man small in stature, but mighty in power and influence. He was known to students, fans and the rest of the nation as simply ‘Joe Pa;’ a short name that carries one of football’s greatest legacies.
Joe Pa lived for football, something he lost in Nov. 2011. Then on Sunday, Penn State’s perennial football coach and Division I football’s winningest coach died of lung cancer at the age of 85.
Since his death there has been a petition made to name the stadium he spent most of his life after him.
Though he had been battling lung cancer for an unknown amount of time, the rest of the world had no idea until just a few months ago.
Paterno graduated from Brown University in Rhode Island in 1950. Paterno played quarterback and cornerback.
Known as Joe Pa to fans and students, Paterno would spend 62 years, 46 as head coach, at Penn State and produced records that won him an entrance to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007. The hall of fame initially had a rule that a coach must be retired to enter but that was changed for Paterno.
In 1963, Paterno turned down the position of general manager and coach of the Oakland Raiders to remain at Penn State. Three years later he became head coach.
In his 46 years as head coach Paterno coached 548 games, more than one-third of the games played by the Nittany Lions in their 125-year history. Under Paterno’s guidance Penn State averaged 8.9 wins per season.
The on-field success of the Lions was matched with off-field success, something Paterno stressed.
Paterno coined the term “grand experiment” to explain his philosophy of maintaining success on the field, as well as, graduating more players. Under Paterno, the Nittany Lions were ranked among the best Big Ten schools in terms of graduating players. As of this past season the Nittany Lions boasted 49 academic All-Americans, only two of which did not play under Paterno.
Paterno was known to stress “success with honor,” and he frequently spoke on ethics in sports. During his career as coach of Penn State the NCAA never cited any major violations within the program.
Paterno and his family were Penn State to most students. All five of Paterno’s children graduated from Penn State as did his wife, Susan. His son, Jay Paterno, was the quarterback coach under his father. Paterno even lived close enough to campus to walk to home games.
Paterno won 409 games, the most wins in Division I college football. He owns the record for most bowl game appearances with 37 and most bowl game wins with 24.
Paterno led Penn State to five undefeated seasons in 1968, 1969, 1973, 1986 and 1994.
The Lions went on to win their first Bowl Championship Series in 2005, beating Florida State 26-23 in the Orange Bowl. That same year, Paterno was named national coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association for the fifth time. He was 78 at the time.
In 2010, the Big Ten announced the trophy that went to the winner of the Big Ten championship would be named the Stagg-Paterno Championship trophy. Amos Alonzo Stagg holds the record for most time coaching one school at 57 years compared to Paterno’s 46.
In March of 2010, the Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia announced it was renaming its Coach of the Year award to the Joseph V. Paterno College Coach of the Year Award.
On Oct. 26, 2011, Paterno won his 409th game, which would also be his last. In the following month the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal engulfed Penn State. Sandusky, an assistant coach, was charged with 40 counts of sex crimes against children. Paterno announced he would step down as head coach at season’s end, Nov. 9. His departure was ultimately decided by the Board of Regents, who announced his firing the same day of Paterno’s announcement.
Many would now argue Paterno’s legacy has now been overshadowed by the Sandusky sex scandal that erupted. Despite reporting the incident correctly in 2002, Paterno was still under heavy scrutiny for not doing more.
This sex scandal was yet another event that occurred in Paterno’s life that had an impact on the entire nation. Paterno had made a name for himself and many still believe that name fell along with his dignity. But you cannot rob a man of his dignity for it comes from within and manifests itself outwardly.
Joe Pa stood for more than just football and Penn State. He stood for the difference he could make in the world and used football as his outlet. That is where legacy comes into play. Joe Pa admitted that he could have done more and that his decision not to was something he will never be proud of.
“I didn’t know exactly how to handle it … ” he said. “So I backed away.”
Paterno added, “I’m sick about it.”
But Paterno equipped numerous young men with the tools they need to never make the same mistake. You can’t change the past but you can use the past to change the future. A good leader will do his job but a great leader will help the next to do a better job.
That is the legacy of Joe Paterno. That is what he left behind. Not a sex scandal, not a lost battle to cancer. He left a chance to do more than what he did and to take his life, mistakes and accomplishments as lessons for our own lives.
