Paterno stayed true to beliefs until very end

Lenn Robbins

When the 1994 season ended, Joe Paterno faced a team of distraught players. The Nittany Lions had capped a 12-0 season with a 38-20 beating of Oregon in the Rose Bowl, making Paterno the first to coach to win each of the four major bowl games, but there would be no national championship.

Earlier in the season, Penn State held a 35-14 lead with six minutes to go at Indiana on Nov. 5. Paterno removed many starters. The Hoosiers scored two late touchdowns to make the final score 35-29.

Penn State won, but the damage was done. Undefeated Nebraska passed the Nittany Lions in the polls.

AP

SAYING GOODBYE: Joe Paterno, who was fired in November after 46 years as Penn State’s head coach in the wake of the fallout from the Jerry Sandusky case, died yesterday morning at the age of 85.

Despite beating USC, 38-14, and Ohio State, 63-14, there would be no title for Penn State because Paterno stuck to his beliefs. Now he had to answer to his players. He told them no one could make you feel less about yourself unless you allow them to.

Paterno held true to those beliefs until his death yesterday morning at the age of 85 because of complications from lung cancer. His loss is mourned from the modest house he purchased in 1969 for $58,000, which is in walking distance of Beaver Stadium, to the White House.

“He died as he lived,’’ the Paterno family said in a statement. “He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been.’’

Paterno won two national titles, coached five undefeated teams and became major college football’s all-time winningest coach (409-136-3) this season.

Paterno, who referred to himself as an “egghead,” and his wife, Sue, donated millions of the dollars to Penn State, most of which went to the university library which bears their name, a spiritual center, and an all-sports museum.

“He was an outstanding American who was respected not only on the field of play but in life generally — and he was, without a doubt, a true icon in the world of sports,’’ former President George H.W. Bush said in a statement.

Those accomplishments, however, were tarnished after Paterno was ousted Nov. 9, 2011, by the Penn State Board of Trustees, in the wake of the fallout from the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse charges.

Paterno’s role in the scandal came after then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary reported to Paterno he saw Sandusky with a minor in the showers at the Penn State football building in 2002. Paterno reported the incident to his superiors at the university, but not police, which sparked an outcry once Sandusky’s charges became public.

“I felt like he would go down as probably the best ever, but after this little thing it kind of tainted it,’’ former FSU coach Bobby Bowden told the Miami Herald shortly before Paterno passed. “But I’m sorry it happened. I hate [that] it happened.’’