Paterno

BIRTH DATE AND PLACE

In Brooklyn, New York on 21st of December 1926, Joseph Vincent Paterno was born.

FAMILY MEMBERS

His mother Florence and father Angelo were of deep Italian descent and wanted Joe and his younger brother George to excel in academics.

CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL LIFE

Football at Brooklyn Prep

Joe and George attended highly rated private schools, as a request of their parents. They went to Brooklyn Prep for high school and played football together. Joe was always a star athlete, but succeeded in football. As a senior, his team lost one game the entire season. He was recognized by many colleges, not only for football but academics as well. Although he was scouted, he chose the army instead. Joe served in the final year of World War II before attending Brown University. He originally decided on a major of engineering but soon changed to English Literature. Although his father had dreams of him becoming a lawyer or even president, Joe had other plans in mind.

HOBBIES, INTERESTS, ACTIVITIES

Joe loved poetry; his favorite poet was Virgil and he could read and recite his poetry all day. Joe lived a simple life. He hated not being focused on football. He would leave events early to go create a play or write down a thought he had during the day. His job became his life; his one and only hobby; his love.

ANECDOTES

In 1994, Paterno started the coke break. He believed that the players need to be hydrated and full of energy to play football. Unlike most coaches, Joe let his players take a break in the middle of practice to drink water. One day, his players were surprised to see the assistant coaches walking onto the field with glass coke bottles on ice. When Coach blew his whistle, the upperclassman ran and chugged the cokes. The freshman slowly walked over, grabbed a coke, and took their time to drink the bubbly soda. When two and a half minutes passed, Joe blew his whistle and told the players to get back out on the field. The freshman never walked to the coke break again, and everyone belched the rest of practice.

CAREER

His 10th year as assistant coach at Penn State.

Angelo Paterno’s dream for his son was to become a lawyer or president, but when Joe took the assistant coaching job after graduating from Brown University, his dad wasn’t too thrilled. Joe’s father never lived to see Joe’s fame as Head coach. He started at Penn state right after college and was not promoted for sixteen years. Many coaches tried to convince him to leave or to get a contract, but Joe was not interested and had other plans in mind. His first year as head coach was a losing season. People were not sure of the college’s decision to promote Paterno, but the following season, he proved that he was worth that promotion.

On the off season, Joe worked day and night, often neglecting his family. His wife Sue, who he met in the library of State College, new that Joe was going through a phase and that he loved his children. They had five children, although Sue had three miscarriages in between. Diana was the oldest, next Mary Kay, David, Joseph Jr. or Jay, and Scott. The kids supported their father, but most of the time refused to discuss football with him. Joe was always busy trying to redesign the defense. He created many plays before finally coming up with slogan “Go to the ball”. He wanted his players to go with their gut and take chances. “Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves,” Joe always said to his family, players, and anyone willing to hear his opinion. While he yearned for perfection on the field, Joe refused to let his players play if they were not excelling in academics. He was strict about his classroom first rule and had to bench and even kick players off the team due to failure to meet academic requirements.

Joe was offered many jobs throughout his career, and even accepted one including a house, two cars, and a bank account full of money, but after little sleep the following night, Joe rejected the offer and decided that the small town of Happy Valley was perfect for his family. Paterno’s confident personality drove him to challenging President Nixon. Nixon presented Paterno with a plaque for winning a bowl game and having an exceptional graduation rate, but Paterno did not believe that the president should be giving a plaque to a college football coach. He also did not believe that he should be receiving one either.

REASONS FOR FAME

My trip to Penn State in 2008.

Paterno’s winning record and academic standards made him famous. His determination to win and his unwillingness to accept failing grades pushed his teams to Bowl games and fame across the East Coast. Paterno loved to recruit players from their living rooms or his dining room table. Magic happened at that table: meetings, debates, conferences, million dollar donations, etc. He made an impression on his players and his values made being on his team even more desirable. Paterno’s unwillingness to leave his position for money or a pro team caused more talk about his as well. He was always in the Pennsylvania papers and always the buzz about one thing or another. He and Sue wanted to live simple lives and they did not want the fame or the fortune; they donated millions to the college. His ego was big but Paterno tried to keep it under control. He wanted Bear Bryant’s winning record and refused to stop until he surpassed it. Although it took almost twice as long, Paterno still beat Bear’s record with almost ten years still left in his career.

LATER LIFE AND OLD AGE

In 2001, Joe was informed by Mike McQueary of an incident on school property between a young boy and former coach Jerry Sandusky. The information reported was vague and left Paterno in a very uncomfortable position. Within a week, Paterno reported the incident to Athletic Director Tim Curley, who then reported it to the President Graham Spanier. Tim reported to Joe that the situation was being dealt with. Joe, already not fond of Sandusky, did not want to know more about the situation and therefore did not ask about it again. His lack of curiosity would later bite him in the butt.

In 2011 when the Sandusky scandal broke to the media, Joe was shocked. Reporters claimed that Paterno and Curley had covered up over thirty child sexual abuse cases for over ten years. Because of the country’s out lash, the media continued to eat at the situation, exaggerating every detail that they could. The board of directors at Penn State fired Joe, Curley, and Spanier soon after the story broke on November 10, 2011.

DEATH

In memory of JoePa.

Eight days after Joe was fired, he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. The cancer had eaten away at his body and he found himself spending much of his last months in the hospital. Joe loved telling stories and listening to his grandson talk about football. Sue was convinced that the cancer was treatable and even told the media that Joe would make it through, but his children knew that he didn’t have much time left. On February 22, 2012, Joe died with loved ones and former players by his side. He lived a full life and enjoyed every moment that he could.