"Hail to the Lion" - Philly Inquirer

[tw]

So little has been posted here of an event that, well, the headline on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday, 23 Jan 2012 was about 3 inches (7 cm) high. It read "Lion at Rest". The entire front page, the entire sports page, and another 13 pages were nothing but articles about Joe Paterno. Why would a football coach deserve so much honor? Because Paterno was about more than just football. Paterno set a standard that no one need even define. In his modesty, Joe would have preferred it that way.

Paterno was so modest as to make no effort to defend himself. He only said he wish he had done more. He did not have to. He did everything required of a man who only had one hearsay accusation. And who reported same to multiple superiors including the man in charge of police. Those superiors, apparently, did a coverup. Protected pedophilia like a pope in Rome.

In a tribute to a standing room only crowd, so many spoke in Paterno's behalf. However nobody said it more than Nike's Phil Knight. Whose sympathies lie across the country in Oregon. His statement immediately put everyone up on their feet. Because he finally said what so many have not.

it turns out (Paterno) gave full disclosure to his superiors, information that went up the chains to the head of the campus police and the president of the school. The matter was in the hands of a world-class university, and by a president with an outstanding national reputation.

Whatever the details of that investigation are, this much is clear to me: There was a villain in this tragedy. It lies in the investigation, not in Joe Paterno's response to it, ...

he was excoriated by the media and fired over the telephone by his university. Yet in all his subsequent appearances in the press, on TV ..., interacting with students, conversing with hospital personnel, giving interviews, he never complained, he never lashed out. Every word, every bit of body language conveyed a single message: We are Penn State.

So I do not follow conventional wisdom. Joe is my hero. Every day for 12 of the last 12 years. But it does lead me to this question: Who is the real trustee at Penn State University?...

In periods of stress and grief, you say things that surprise you. When I came back from Mass on Sunday ... the first words out of my mouth, way out of sequence and typically self-centered, through the tears, I asked, "Who is going to be my hero now?" It's a question everyone in this arena should ask and I do not have an answer for you, but I can tell you this much, that old hero set a standard that will live forever. Thank you.

It cannot be proven. But we can assume this tragedy did so much to kill Joe Paterno. For simply doing what was required of him.

Shame is that more have not been this vocal. Well, the faculty has so little trust in those trustees as to literally force the trustees to do what they did not want to do. Hire an outsider, Former FBI director Louis J. Freeh, to investigate. Even the faculty did not trust Penn State's trustees to do an honest investigation.

You would be hard pressed to find any faculty, alumni, former player, or student that disagrees with Phil Knight. The many did what Paterno did. Remained silent while waiting for the 'powers that be' to do their job.