Joe Paterno never went anywhere other than Penn State University, and he never needed to. Paterno was steadfast at Penn State because everything he did was timeless, yet outdated at the same time. Joe Pa drove a Ford Tempro to work every day; whether it was in 1950 when he just started out as an assistant coach, or in 2011 when he had won more games as a head coach that anybody else. He maintained his iconic look of Poindexter glasses and flood pants throughout his career; even when they went out of style decades before the fashion trends of his final recruiting class. Even when Paterno's famous Grand Experiment appeared to falter in 1979, Joe Pa's faith in his players and himself never budged. Generations of Penn State football players came in and out of the locker rooms at Beaver Stadium, but Joe Pa remained year after year, decade after decade.
On Sunday, at the age of 85, Joe Paterno passed away. Paterno left behind his wife Sue, his son Jay, and every one of his family members that all gathered by his hospital bed to watch him take his final breath. Still, Paterno left more than his own family behind. He left behind all of the kids who's lives that he influenced for the better; the University that was the first stepping stone, foundation, and Tash Ma Hall of Paterno's coaching career, and millions of people who blamed him in part for a scandal that rocked the sports world to it's core.
With the final chapter of Joe Paterno's life story written we turn to the maddening process of drafting the man's epilogue: his legacy.
What will the world most remember Joe Paterno? Will we all remember the 409 career wins, 24 bowl wins, two national championships, three conference titles, and his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame? Or will Joe Pa be remembered for what he failed to do? The alleged sexual assaults he reportedly knew about and failed to stop. Is Joe Paterno the man defined by his 1986 Sportsman of the Year award or by his final interview with the Washington Post in which he unconvincingly plead the fifth?
There is no middle ground to comprehending Joe Paterno's legacy. No sensible answer that can be determined by placing sins and forgiveness on the Libra scale. The only two seemingly possible stances on Joe Paterno are light-years apart from one another. The scale will be forever weighing the mountainous highs of one the five greatest coaches in the history of college football against the cavernous lows of one of the three most destructive scandals in the history of sports.
How Joe Paterno's legacy will be written depends entirely on the person who chooses to remember him.
Some will choose to remember Jo Pa for the best of times rather than the worst of times. For the individuals who have played for, spent time with, and wrote about Joe Paterno, the memories will shift towards their positive interactions. Stories about how Paterno would take in players who were not doing well in school into his home in order for them to receive tutoring or a silly thing that went on in the locker room will be most players' default coach Paterno memory. A more specific tale recalls Paterno's constant visits to Adam Taliaferro, a defensive back who played for Penn State and made a miraculous recovery from paralysis.
Others who may not have known Joe Pa will only associate his name with the broken remains of Penn State's credibility. Paterno's lack of action put him past the point of forgiveness in the eyes of many. In this country, committing sexual misconducts of any kind will bring shame upon a person for the rest of their life. Although Paterno did not assault any of the boys himself, his alleged prior knowledge of the assault that allegedly did go on makes him guilty by association in the court of public opinion. And in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately public mindset, Paterno's good deeds would surely go unnoticed in hindsight to the last ten weeks of Joe Pa's life.
Joe Paterno's life was one to remember one way or the other. His success as a coach has secured his place in the highest summits of football lore. By the same token, his biggest failure will be remembered by everyone and unforgiven by many. His legacy may be open ended, but the name Joe Paterno will live on long after a lot of us are gone.
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