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What should Joe Paterno’s (JoPa) legacy be?

Posted by Patrick Lundgren on Tue, Jan 24, 2012 @ 02:19 PM

Joe Paterno’s recent passing has led to some consternation about Joe Paterno’s legacy.  On the one hand, he did great things in his life, not only on the field, but off it as well.  He was an everyday man who rose to fame due to his achievements, his ethics, and his humility.  His mythology was grounded in a utter lack of pretense.  He was an average guy, doing above-average things.

However, facts and recounts that have surfaced show that he failed to act appropriately when he discovered some vile and disgusting things were being done by his own staff, right under his nose.  He simply reported it to campus police, and then for all intents and purposes, left it well enough alone.  The crimes being committed weren’t just casual mistakes, they were ghastly crimes against innocent and vulnerable children of a most despicable nature.

The mysticism and secrecy that surrounds Penn State, and the football team Nittany Lions specifically, has proved to be a very impenetrable and guarded society, to a fault.  The timing of the surfacing of the crimes committed by Jerry Sandusky leaves to question just what the university, and the football program, holds sacred.  The facts only emerged after Paterno had become the winning-est coach in NCAA history, even though the first time these crimes were reported was over a decade ago.

Historically, some other key figures whose legacy was tainted by a negative experience faced similar situations.  Ted Kennedy and Chappaquiddick, Richard Nixon and Watergate, Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinski sex scandal, and Michael Jackson and the child molestation charges are just a few examples of other famous and accomplished men whose legacy had been tainted.  History has been kinder to some of them, to others, not so much.

How exactly is legacy defined?  How will history remember him?  Should Joe Paterno be remembered fondly, or should he and his legacy be tainted by his action, or lack thereof, in the face of difficult decisions in response to these crimes against children?

Only time will tell.

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