Joe paterno son death
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Near the end of his biography of Joe Paterno, author Joe Posnanski describes a scene at Paterno’s kitchen table — after the firing as Penn State’s football coach, after the diagnosis of lung cancer that so quickly ended his life. Sitting there, the old man has asked the writer what he really thinks. Posnanski parries. Paterno insists. And then Posnanski writes:
“I told him that I thought he should have done more when he was told about Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy. I had heard what he said about not understanding the severity, not knowing much about child molestation, not having Sandusky as an employee. But, I said, “You are Joe Paterno. Right or wrong, people expect more from you.”
“He nodded. He did not try to defend or deflect. He simply said, “I wish I had done more,” again, and then he descended into another coughing fit.”
The book — I bought “Paterno” in a bookstore on Saturday, ahead of its Tuesday publication date — is not a prosecutor’s brief against Paterno, and no one shou
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I knew this was a powerful scene, one that would spark a lot of discussion and opinion. And I would not want to get in the middle of that. Joe Paterno was a well-educated man, and he was also a man from a different time. I know people will bring their own experiences and logic to this, they will choose what to make of those words, and I would want them to do that.
Another scene from the book that has lingered with me: Paterno at dinner with his family in a restaurant, and he throws a fit after one of his children takes a cucumber from another child’s all-you-can-eat salad plate. Paterno might be the only person in the world who would consider this theft, but he was so angry he stormed out of the restaurant. Years after, he would continue to insist he was right. In retrospect the portrait that emerges is one of a moral scold who holds people to a higher standard than he holds himself. Is that a fair assessment?
I think that’s your assessment as a critical reader, and I think it’s a perfectly viable reaction. I’m sure, however, that others would respond differently. As a writer,
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Joe Paterno
Paterno at a 2010 rally | |
Born | (1926-12-21)December 21, 1926 Brooklyn, New York |
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Died | January 22, 2012(2012-01-22) (aged 85) State College, Pennsylvania |
1946–1949 | Brown |
Position(s) | Quarterback, cornerback |
1950–1965 | Penn State (assistant) |
1966–2011 | Penn State |
1980–1982 | Penn State |
Overall | 409–136–3 |
Bowls | 24–12–1 |
2 National (1982, 1986) 3 Big Ten (1994, 2005, 2009) | |
Sports IllustratedSportsman of the Year (1986) 5× AFCA COY (1968, 1978, 1982, 1986, 2005) 3× Walter Camp COY (1972, 1994, 2005) 3× Eddie Robinson COY (1978, 1982, 1986) 2× Bobby Dodd COY (1981, 2005) Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (1986) 3× George Munger Award (1990, 1994, 2005) Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (2002) Home Depot Coach of the Year Award (2005) Sporting News College Football COY (2005) 3× Big Ten Coach of the Year (1994, 2005, 2008) | |
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 2007 (profile) | |
Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno (pronounced /pəˈtɜrnoʊ/; December 21, 1926 — January 22, 2012) was an Americancollege footballcoach. He was the hea
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