4/28/2023 0 Comments San diego dentist patternoMoore and NFL great and social icon Rosey Grier, players barely younger than Paterno, attest to his influence in that area to this day. Joe wanted to be a teacher of men, and he figured there was no better way to reach so many than to coach football.Įach year there would be new young people to mold.Įven as a forceful, confident assistant, he helped push for the equal treatment of African Americans on the football field and in the classroom in the early 1950s. This life lived and coached began, in a way, only after he graduated from Brown University and decided to turn a temporary assistant coaching opportunity into something much more permanent. 01%,” Darren Rovell, CNBC Sports business reporter, tweeted. “From what we know, Joe Paterno lived 99.99% of his adult life as a noble person. The constant, however, has been the heated back-and-forth from supporters and critics, those who maintain that he should have done more to stop Sandusky. Turns in the saga have come almost daily, at times. They reportedly have given more than $4 million to the university over the years, much of it to build a campus spiritual center and a library that is named for him. In December, he and wife, Sue, gave Penn State another large donation. Paterno was diagnosed with lung cancer less than two weeks after being fired. The last game he coached, coincidentally, was his 409th victory, passing Eddie Robinson for the all-time Division I record. Paterno was replaced by defensive coordinator Tom Bradley for the final three regular season games and the TicketCity Bowl loss to Houston. Paterno admitted that, in hindsight, he wished he could have done more to have prevented the alleged abuses, though he maintained that he never knew of Sandusky’s alleged behavior. ![]() They did not believe he would be to lead his program, or his university, through the situation. Though he was not a legal target in the ongoing investigations, the Penn State Board of Trustees terminated him amid increasing media pressure suffocating the university over the scandal. 9, only a few days after his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, was indicted on charges of sexually abusing several young boys. Of course, Paterno, a hall of famer himself, also ended up in the middle of what many are calling the largest scandal in the history of college athletics. “You told me, ‘Do the small things, and you will be great.'” “You taught me one of the toughest lessons of my life thus far,” Newsome tweeted Saturday. Take quarterback Kevin Newsome, a highly prized recruit who transferred out of Penn State before last season. No matter if players did not see eye-to-eye with him and left the program. “Paved the path for where I am today,” Adam Gress, a backup junior offensive tackle, tweeted on Saturday evening. Or if the players were stars, such as Moore or Franco Harris, or current backups who may never see meaningful time on the field. It didn’t seem to matter how many years passed. “How I appreciate him and all that he did for me … that I never ever will forget.” On that day 14 months ago, “The main thing was hugging each other and letting each other know what we think of each other,” Moore said. Paterno helped save his life away from the field. Moore will tell you how Paterno, even as a young assistant, helped pull him back from the brink of flunking out of school. Moore, the NFL Hall of Famer with the Baltimore Colts, talked recently of his last meeting with Paterno in the fall of 2010. Take Lenny Moore, one of his first players back in the 1950s, and maybe his best ever. ![]() Through it all, he claimed his life work was simply about making his players better people, his university a better place to learn. Those glasses that were no more black or thick than his hair, even through his 70s.Īnd, of course, there was his constant chatter – enlightening and purposeful to many prideful and hypocritical to others – about how academics and life lessons were just as important as victories. Like Paterno’s trademark khaki pants, always rolled up at the bottom. ![]() “I will never forget the lessons I learned from U.”įor most of the past four decades, the outside world knew him for those football victories, including two national titles – and for the striking oddities that were part of those accomplishments. “Thank You Joe 4 taking a chance on me & helping to make me into the man I am today,” New York Jets defensive end Aaron Maybin tweeted. ![]() Those who followed Paterno’s career closely knew what he meant to his players, but everyone else was finding out in heartfelt gestures. Offensive lineman Eric Shrive left a Penn State cap at its feet. Students and fans gathered around the Joe Paterno statue outside Beaver Stadium, some softly singing the alma mater, some lighting candles.
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