The Business at Hand >> Paterno is gone, but his legacy lives on

Written by Ann Richardson Wednesday, 01 February 2012 00:00

He notched five undefeated seasons and more wins than any coach in Division I football history; he won a record 24 bowl victories, two national championships and three Big Ten titles.

Impressive, but like most players privileged to be in his line-up, Al Harris says the legacy of Joe Paterno cannot be found in 409 wins and a career spanning six decades.

Harris was an outside linebacker on the legendary Pennsylvania State University team that won a national championship on Jan. 1, 1983.

The local dentist said Paterno emphasized the importance of sportsmanship, teamwork and academics; his legacy can be found in the fabric of the players he coached.

“It was more than wins and losses,” said Harris, who attended part of a three-day-long goodbye for the coach, who succumbed to lung cancer last week.

“There were about a thousand former players, guys from his first team in the 1960s up until today,” he said.

At a luncheon at the Letterman’s Club following the service, Harris said the former players reminisced.

“We all had the same sentiment; he was so consistent over 60 years. He created a legacy by instilling values; so many things I taught my own children. He taught us values that we all still live by today.

“He was a lot more than just a coach; the legacy he created is doing things the right way,” Harris said.

With the outpouring of emotion – long lines of mourners sharing 60 years of treasured memories – you have to wonder whether the Penn State’s Board of Trustees regrets axing the beloved coach.

Citing his failure to go to police after a graduate assistant's eyewitness account of alleged child sexual abuse by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, trustees fired Paterno in November. It was a media-frenzy.

Sandusky awaits trial on 52 criminal counts for alleged sexual abuse over a 15-year period. Not long after the news of this horrific scandal broke last fall, I interviewed Harris, who played for both Paterno and Sandusky.

Paterno’s legacy was uncertain, emotions were raw, but Harris felt that pinning the blame on Paterno was a rush to judgment. He feared that Paterno’s legacy – and the university itself – would be tarnished by Sandusky’s alleged crimes.

With Paterno’s death, it seems the tide has turned.

WIOD News Talk 610 commentator Jimmy Cefalo, a former Penn State wide receiver who went on to play for the Miami Dolphins and now serves as a commentator for Dolphin’s games, shared heartfelt memories.

His on-air emotional tribute – and the impact Paterno had on his life – sounded like it could have come from Harris. Cefalo, Harris said, was a few years older and played for Pittston, a rival Pennsylvania High School. Harris played for Wyoming Area High School near Scranton.

“He took the sons of coal miners and steel mill workers and famers in rural Pennsylvania,” Cefalo said at the “Memorial for Joe,” where a player representing each decade of Paterno’s service honored the coach. “He gave us the idea that we could come together and do it the right way, the Paterno way.”

Players remembered Paterno for the valuable lessons beyond the football field.

“What is Joe’s legacy? His legacy,” Cefalo said, “is us.”

“His legacy is us, is the lettermen he molded into who we are today. That's the most important message.”

“You look around at our lettermen today and you find doctors and lawyers,” Cefalo said. “You find policemen and firefighters. You find people who have gone back to various communities across this country, who have contributed as philanthropists, fathers and husbands and we did it in large measure because of Joe's example.”

Paterno, he said, showed a true commitment to what was really important: family, faith and education.

“Hustle. Something good is going to happen,” Cefalo said.

Paterno, Cefalo said, tried something different as he made his mark on Penn State. The “grand experiment,” he said, was that football players would be scholars before athletes. Paterno wanted athletes to get good grades, graduate and be successful in life. Along the way, they could win a national championship.

“We can say now that the ‘grand experiment’was a great success.”

Harris concurred. Players had to have a purpose in life beyond football. Harris was inspired to be a dentist; he went on to the University of Pennsylvania dental school.

“He was quite a guy. We all figured that Joe would coach until the day he died. His passion was football and nothing else really motivated him,” Harris said.

Paterno, Harris said, led by example.

“Even in the end, he accepted responsibility,” said Harris. “That is what he always taught us. He showed his true character when he said that he did not do enough, that he wished that he had done more. He did not blame anyone else; he did not say he was not responsible.

“You have not heard anyone else say that they wish that they had done more, that they did not do enough,” he said. “No one said that, not the police, not the president of Penn State, not the board members. Joe Paterno is the only one who owned up. He was true to his character and he never pointed any fingers.

“He never said, when he was fired, ‘look at all the money the football program brought in, look at how we fill the stadium,’” he said. “He was very honorable. That was typical, the way he was; you didn’t go around blaming others. When he found out what happened, he passed the information on to others, to those he said he felt were better handling that kind of situation. Somehow it broke down from there and that’s what he wished he could have changed.”

Paterno didn’t lie to a grand jury, Harris noted. Nike CEO Phil Knight said it best at the memorial.

“If there’s a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation, not in Joe Paterno’s response to it,” Knight said to a standing ovation. “It leads me to this question: Who is the real trustee at Penn State University? That old hero, he set a standard that will live forever.”

“There is a true villain, but not Joe Paterno,” Harris said. “The response is the villain; Phil Knight hit the nail on the head. There were a lot of inadequacies. Joe was an easy target.”

There is a message in all of this, Harris said, some lessons to be learned.

“The greater message is not to rush to judgment,” he said. “Joe handled pressure his whole career.”

There were media frenzies, from quarterback controversies to the decade-long question of his retirement, but Paterno never let it affect the players or the program.

“He stayed true to his values,” Harris said. “He never let anyone paint him into a corner. Integrity was not present in the board of trustee’s actions. There was a knee-jerk reaction.

“Joe gave them the answer, the way out, he offered to retire at the end of the season,” he said. “They should have let him go, on his own terms. They could have waited, let things settle down and had a nice send off for him. That would have given them time to deal with the situation. To send a messenger to his house with a number to call and then tell him they no longer need his services is wrong; it’s despicable and horrible.

“A lot of people are upset about the process. If there is a lesson here: don’t succumb to pressure and make foolish decisions. Take a step back, think things through.”

“The events of the last three months, leading up to his death, will be overshadowed by his legacy,” Harris said. “As time goes on, the truth will come out. Joe Paterno was one of the greatest guys I ever knew. He gave us an opportunity to become upstanding citizens and good people.

Paterno cherished effort, honesty, academics, sportsmanship and citizenship.

“He gave every student who attended that university something to be very proud of and we should never forget that,” he said. “He taught us so much, and only years later did it make sense.”

Harris said he often hears Paterno’s voice.

“He said, ‘You’re going to get better or worse, but you’re never going to be the same, so what’s it going to be?’” Harris said. “That has motivated me every day of my life. You have to keep improving, keep getting better in whatever it is that you do.”

“If you take care of the big things, the little things will take care of themselves,” Harris said. “He preached ‘baby steps,’ one thing at a time. Success means playing your best. He wanted us to be good at whatever we do. He said ‘prepare for the worst, expect the best.’ He would tell us to picture ourselves succeeding, if it was a play on the field or in our career or life. A positive frame of mind means good things will happen. He gave us the blueprint for success.

“Dentistry is a high fear environment,” Harris said. “I learned from Joe how to work in this environment and help people relax.”

“We are all so privileged to have been able to spend that time with him, and it is our responsibility to keep this going,” he said.

Paterno was a simple guy; old school, unpretentious.

“The service was simple, the chapel, the flowers, everything was simple. There was nothing complicated, it was all in his message.”

The new coach hired to replace Paterno, Bill O’Brien, got off to a good start with the lettermen, Harris said.

“He said Joe was a mentor, and he’d make sure to uphold the values Joe instilled in us,” he said. “He got a standing ovation. He asked us to stay involved. It’s really neat, he’s preparing for a Super Bowl appearance, but it meant something to him to come and see us. He promised to uphold that legacy.”

We’re all human, we all make mistakes. We should look for the best in people and be careful not to make knee-jerk reactions and assumptions.

“I guess God had other plans for Joe Paterno,” Harris said. “He left us with no regrets about what kind of job he did as a coach, he was true to his character to the end, he never faltered, never waivered. We’re all very proud.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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