Posted on 07/23/2014 10:39:40 AM PDT by FlJoePa
Penn State fans living in State College should run not walk to the Barnes & Noble on Benner Pike if they want to grab a copy of Jay Paternos new book before it potentially gets pulled from the shelves. The memoir Paterno Legacy: Enduring Lessons from the Life and Death of My Father isnt due out until Sept. 1, but Barnes & Noble had stacks of the book for sale in its Local Interest section at closing time on Tuesday.
No one from Barnes & Noble could be immediately reached for comment, so its not known if this is the result of a store error (likely) or a selective early release (less likely, considering Paternos semi-regular book countdown updates on social media). Nevertheless, there were 40 copies of the highly anticipated 358-page book, which is self-described as the revealing, poignant, and definitive biography of legendary coach Joe Paterno written by the man who knew him better than anyone available for purchase at $26.95.
If you couldnt get a copy, weve pulled many of its interesting excerpts. Among them: his thoughts on the trustees who personally knew his father and still fired him, anecdotes on the Freeh investigators (including how they confused former quarterback Shane McGregor for a Sandusky victim), his fathers final moments, and his personal experience with sexually inappropriate activity.
It begins with a profound forward from Nike founder Phil Knight, which reads like something of a mea culpa for his decision to remove Joe Paternos name from Nikes child care center. Knight says that decision still haunts him:
I believe if the situation had been reversed, Joe Paterno would have left my name up, lynch mob be damned.
Forgiven or not, I cannot escape that I was, at least for a time, one of them.
.
In the meantime, look around at State College. He is there. Immortality is just timeless ubiquity. So they and sadly I through our actions have narrowed the scope and degree of this immortality. But nobody can make him go away.
Jay Paterno wastes no time getting into what he calls The Elephant in the Room, the name of the first chapter. Unlike Joe Posnanskis Paterno book, Jay tackles the scandal head-on. Its a point-by-point defense of the accusations made against Joe in the Freeh Report, a summary of many criticisms of Freeh already made.
The morning after my father had been fired, I was seated at his desk, and he sat in his robe in another chair looking over at me. The pain, the sleepless nights of the previous days were visible in his face. But he had something he wanted me to know. Jay, I never told you guys about Jerry because I didnt know if it was true, he said. I certainly couldnt walk into the office and accuse a guy of something that I didnt witness or know to be true. I didnt know that hed done all of that stuff. I had no idea. I just didnt know.
.
Joe Paterno made the statement: In hindsight I wish I had done more. But there is a more important statement he wrote on a pad just before he left the house to go to the hospital. It was the last thing he wrote in his own home: Maybe the silver lining in this is that some good can come out of this.
Jay calls out several of the trustees by name who participated in the announced unanimous vote to fire his father. Many of them had been lifelong friends of the Paternos, and it was impossible to separate the personal from the professional. Ed Hintz, Jesse Arnelle, Paul Suhey, Steve Garban, John Surma Jay has something to say about all of them, none more direct than Anne Riley:
My first thoughts fell on a trustee named Anne Riley. One of my most vivid childhood memories came at just over seven years old. I was in our basement and heard something going on up in the kitchen. I went upstairs and caught sight of my father pulling Annes father, Ridge Riley, across the floor to perform CPR on him. Get downstairs, my father yelled.
I did what I was told and after a lot of commotion, Ridge Riley was taken to the hospital, but he had already died in our kitchen. He was visiting my father to continue work on the book The Road to Number One, a chronicle of Penn State football history.
How would he have written about this chapter?
In her fathers moment of greatest need, my mother and father tried to save his life. In my fathers hour of greatest need, where was she?
Jay recounts the difficulty of explaining the situation to his 11-year-old son Joey, who was just old enough to understand its gravity.
Dad when this is all over, will we still be Penn State fans? he asked.
Everything screeched to a halt. The world stopped spinning, and I was completely thrown. It was a question I hadnt even pondered yet. I answered honestly in a way that was as painful a statement as I have ever spoken.
Joey I dont know, I said. I just dont know, son.
Jay recalls the day the Grand Jury presentment was leaked. It wasnt until he fielded a call from communications manager Guido DElia, who had spoken to the New York Times Pete Thamel, that he realized the gravity of the situation:
Jay, this is not good, [DElia] said.
Not good?
Yeah, his attitude with me was this: I cant believe youre actually trying to spin this.
Guido, Joe didnt know.
They dont care.
So what? I said. The truth is that the first time Joe was ever made aware of anything he went to his superiors, and that was all he could do.
They dont care.
The exchange was telling. The media didnt care about what actually happened. The forces of Salem had been unleashed and wouldnt rest until someone had ascended from the gallows to hang.
Perhaps the most gripping chapter, called The Firing, The Tempest, and Et Tu Brute, comes midway through the book. Paterno recounts those hectic days leading up to his fathers termination, including his attempts to reach out to trustees Ed Hintz and Dave Joyner, urging them to talk to Joe to get his side before any decisions were made.
Of course, that would never happen.
Paterno first found out about his fathers fate in a phone call from his sister Mary Kay, who was at the house when John Surma sent his messenger.
Too shocked to cry, all I could manage was to say the one word my father never wanted to hear any of us say, a word I had never heard him utter even at his angriest: Fuck.
At that moment the trustees chose to condemn an innocent man. But in their actions, they also offered up the name of Penn State, an honorable name earned over decades. In a moment of fear and panic, they destroyed it. For the damage done to the Penn State name, all the money, all the investigations, and all the public relations firms they hire cannot repair what theyve done.
Later, Jay writes about his first interview with the Freeh commission. He was asked not to bring counsel while he sat down with former Federal Judge Eugene Sullivan and a former Delaware state trooper. Jay asked if he could tape the interview; they said no.
At the end of the interview, the most interesting part of the conversation occurred. I asked for copies of their notes of the interview. They denied my request insisting all of the interviews were privileged information and were the property of their client. Who is your client, I asked expecting the answer to be Penn State. The Board of Trustees was their answer.
A week later, Joe asked about Jays interview with the Freeh commission because he had one scheduled. Jay told his father he believed the NCAA will use the report to sanction the school. Jay wrote that Joe was totally shocked by the news.
Why would they do that, he asked.
To burn this to the ground and take credit for everything that happens next. They want to destroy all the good things done here and blame you for it. Then they can claim they made Penn State football.
Whatever happens, we must defend this university and the program. This is not a football scandal. We must fight. We owe it to the student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty, and alumni who have done things the right way in all sports for decades. We cant let them take that away.
Unfortunately I would be proven right.
But Jay faced more rounds of questions from attorneys with the Freeh commission in January of 2012. An officer started to ask Jay questions about victims traveling with Jerry Sandusky to practice or trips after he retired. Jay says this did not happen, as they were closed to players and coaches.
The next question was even more puzzling. We understand that Jerry was able to arrange for his victims to dress for football games, he said.
You mean in uniform, I asked.
Yes.
I allowed that I didnt personally check every uniform, but I doubted that story. We would notice a 10-or 12-year-old in uniform among oversized college players.
We have a picture of one, he said.
He showed me the picture, and I laughed.
This young man is one of the victims, he said, pointing to a player in uniform without his helmet on and standing next next to Joe on the sidelines of a game.
No, its not, I said. Thats Shane McGregor.
He wanted to know how I was so sure. I explained that Shane was still on the team, that I had coached him for four years, and that the picture he was holding was from the Outback Bowl on January 1, 2011.
If they were so off on this, I wondered what else they might have gotten wrong.
Jay recounts Joes final moments.
Tears came to my mothers eyes. I witnessed one of the most beautiful moments of my entire life. In a sterile hospital room full of monitors and the scent of sickness, a light shone on my mother and father. My fathers eyes opened wide as my mother pressed her forehead to his, grabbed his hand, and through the tears sang along in a voice strong and clear. Part of me felt I should leave them there, allow them that moment. But God wanted me there to see true love.
.
The rest of my family started to arrive. I asked Wayne Sebastianelli to sneak in a bottle of Old Grandad. With my mother, my siblings, and Guido assembled, we poured the bourbon and had a toast to my father. Mary gave some to my dad, and he smiled.
On my way toward the bus, I ran into a familiar face. It was Dave Richardson. He worked stadium security for years and always found Joe in the crowded postgame field and walked him to the locker room. He had a tear in his eye on this cold, icy day and hugged me. Jay, he asked. I just came here because I wanted to walk your dad out one last time.
When the service was over, I stayed until everyone left. I was all alone with him. I talked to him, I asked for his help. But there were no answers, so I walked alone across a snowy road into the rest of my life.
In February 2013, police officers came to the Paternos door because Jay had received death threats on social media.
Since the story broke, wed had a tree cut down, and our house was egged. We also had stopped putting our garbage out the night before trash day because we feared media members going through it.
There were three things you didnt talk about in the Paterno house: Office business, money, and anything related to or that might allude to anything sexual. The third of the options was tough to talk about to the team, too, so Joe brought in professionals to do it. As Jay put it:
In a staff meeting, one of the coaches suggested that the message might be more effective coming from him. You think they want to hear a guy in his mid-70s talk to them about that stuff? Joe said. Im not even sure I remember exactly what happens anymore. He laughed.
The aversion to sex discussions shed more light on how Paterno was disposed to perceive Sanduskys actions. Jay recalls when later-dropped assault allegations against two of Penn States players came about, that the woman consented to have sex with either of them individually but not both at the same time. When it was brought to Joe, he said, she had sex with the two of them at the same time? How is that possible?
On a walk in the park, he got the same puzzled look on his face as when we discussed the Jerry Sandusky case in the last months of his life. What happened was hard for him to process. The people of 1930s Brooklyn did not talk about this stuff, as he explained when we were talking about this case. Look, Jay, he said, if this was going on back then, I certainly never knew about it. If something like this had happened where I grew up, that person would have been beaten to within an inch of his life. No one would talk about it or know why. It was a different time and place. Maybe it was better, maybe it wasnt. I dont know.
Who knows, Dad?
But how could this happen here?
Dad, this happens in every town in America.
He looked through the low sunlight of early December in Sunset Park and frowned. The lines on his face and forehead seemed to have grown in the weeks of the scandal. The park had been a place of childhood play, of dreams of tossing footballs, of bank shots on the basketball court, and neighborhood football games.
Now it was a place to unburden a soul of regret.
Jay, he fooled me.
Dad, he fooled me, he fooled everyone.
That didnt ease his mind. There was a feeling there that either his age or being unaware had allowed something like this to happen.
After the November 2011 Nebraska game, Joe told Jay he was proud of how he did on the sidelines for the first time without his father.
Well, I have to tell you that what you did was noticed by a lot of people. I heard from Presidents Bush today. They both called. The father called first and then the younger President Bush called. In fact he told me how proud I should be of my son and how you coach.
Hearing what former President George W. Bush has said meant a great deal to me. For the generation that produced my father and President George H. W. Bush, loyalty was everything. When my father needed it most, I saw where they stood.
Jay reveals that Paterno considered leaving the program after the 16-3 loss to Wisconsin in 2004. The husband of one of Jays sisters (though Jay does not specify which one) had been badly injured in an accident, and Paterno told Jay:
Jay, he said to me, maybe it is time to get out.
Why is that? I asked.
If he isnt OK, I can retire, and your mother and I will help take care of the kids. Your sister may need a lot of help.
Questions about Joes mental state started as early as 2002, when he was 75:
As he got older, some people just told him what he wanted to hear to his face while grousing behind his back. As early as the 2002 season, I warned him about the shifting loyalties of some trustees.
One of them pulled me aside at my parents home after a game that season. He had the audacity to ask if in my opinion: Is Joe still all there mentally?
Ed, I said, hes all there.
It appears that Ed was therefore either Ed Junker, an emeritus trustee and former chairman, or current trustee Ed Hintz.
One of the books shortest chapters is the nineteenth, My Story, in which Jay reveals that he was approached for oral sex by an adult as a 12-year old.
In the summer of 1981, I made the 10-minute walk across campus to downtown State College. After I bought a new Journey album, I took a bus to a friends house in the Park Forest neighborhood.
By late afternoon it was time to take the bus back and walk home from the on-campus stop. I sat by myself with the album under one arm. I just sat looking out the window. I guess I didnt even notice the guy until he pointed at the album under my arm. Is that any good? he asked.
I just got it today, I answered.
The conversation started with a discussion of the album. He mentioned he was visiting, so he asked questions about town or where to eat.
All these years later, I realize his approach was to get me talking about myself, start to size me up. After a few more stops, other people got off the bus. Near campus he told me we were hoping off the bus at the same stop. I am here for a conference and I am staying at The Nittany Lion Inn, he said.
When we got out, he asked me for directions to the hotel, and I pointed him in the right direction. Then he got to the point of his approaching me. Why dont you come back there with me? he asked.
What for? I asked.
Look, I am here for a conference. I have a girlfriend at home and when I am away I do not like to cheat on her.
Whats that got to do with me? I asked.
My 12-year-old mind didnt see his angle.
Well I dont like to sleep with other women. But if you come back to the hotel, we could have oral sex.
What? I asked.
Just come back to the hotel, and well have a good time.
Um, I stammered, thats really not my thing.
This had taken me by complete surprise. I was uncomfortable and looked around for other people. It was still daylight. Some people were around but too far to hear our conversation but close enough to see if he grabbed me trying to flee.
He didnt give up. Are you sure? He asked. Well have a really good time.
I need to go home now. My parents have dinner waiting for me, I said.
I was sick to my stomach and wanted to get home right away.
Its really okay, he said. It is okay. Theres nothing wrong with it, and as I said, I just dont want to sleep with another woman.
Im pretty sure your girlfriend wouldnt be okay with this. Im going home.
I headed toward my home as quickly as possible.
Confused, I blamed myself for his proposition. Now at age 45, I know this is a common reaction. How could this happen in my town? The entire existence of my life Id believed in this safe, sheltered cocoon of Happy Valley.
His offer made me feel guilty. The truth, which isnt always easy for a child to see, was that Id done nothing wrong. Id gotten on a bus and politely answered a strangers questions and then walked away when he did something inappropriate.
But when I walked into my house, I told no one in my family about what had happened to me.
I feared that Id be judged. The feelings I was grappling with were all directed internally. Did I somehow invite that? What was wrong with me that some man would ask me to do that?
All these years later, I look back and recall how I felt because of something I didnt do, something I avoided. Then I try to imagine a young man who was sexually abused by someone they knew and trusted. There is no way I can imagine what they must be feeling, but my experience has shown me part of what the internal reaction must be like.
In Chapter 7, The Asterisk, Jay is realisitc. He writes that the Paterno name carries an asterisk, at least for now. On Freehs accusation that Paterno covered up Sandusky to avoid bad publicity, Jay counters with a story about how Paterno defended black quarterback Rashard Casey amid assault accusations. It was a racially-charged case, and Paterno was called a nlover in letters. But Casey was cleared, despite the bad publicity.
Chapter 12, The Walks Home, describes the walks Jay took back to McKee Street with his dad after football games, and no other chapter better makes one remember how things used to be here. Once, Joe could just walk from Beaver to McKee, causally interacting with fans and neighbors along the way.
The best parts of the walks home were often on campus. As the gray truck [that took Jay and Joe two blocks from Beaver to avoid throngs] would stop at the corner, wed get out and try to blend in. Inevitably, fans would recognize that Joe Paterno was walking behind them or in front of them. I would listen and I could hear what theyd say: Hey isnt that? Oh my God thats JoePa. Mom, look, thats Joe Paterno.
Jay concludes his personal story.
Yes, Dad, indeed your trip is done. You weathered every rack and won the prize. You gave yourself until you breathed your last. How noble a journey you concluded, a journey for which bells have rung and people have exulted. The lessons of the way you lived your life and the way you left this world continue to resonate with me.
But the light of his life, the impact he made, will guide me until my port is near and my trip is done, until I, too, walk the sands of the next Avalon.
It really isn't about the money (at least for Jay), rather another attempt to get Freeh and some b.o.t. members on the record under discovery.
Well then. I guess it's safe to say then that he's donating the proceeds to the fund he'll set up for the Sandusky victims, won't he.
Joe Paterno made the statement: In hindsight I wish I had done more.
What a horrible indictment of Joe Paterno! And in his own words.
The js victims - with one pending - have been paid in full courtesy of an attorney, a memory repression expert, and a willful University.
Joe - or his family - owes them nothing. Jay does countless appearances for everything from child abuse to special olympics to pediatric cancer. Like I said, he is a good person.
Sorry. I now recognize your post is general/chat. I won’t bother you with my personal problems about your crusade.
Thanks for posting. Good man smeared.
‘Joe Paterno made the statement: In hindsight I wish I had done more.
Heck, I’ve said that when the full light of things became apparent. Until that moment, I had no idea.
A cop hears that his partner is dirty. He reports it. What is he told to do next? Act naturally, don't change anything about your routine, don't do anything to cause your partner to be suspicious. If you do, he may being destroying evidence and impeding the investigation.
Now from what I have read of this, the minute Paterno heard about this, he reported it. If he had confronted Sandusky himself, and Sandusky began intimidating witnesses and destroying evidence, would the same people now condemning Paterno for doing nothing now be condemning him for sticking his nose into where it didn't belong?
“In hindsight I wish I had done more. ———— What a horrible indictment of Joe Paterno! And in his own words.”
I think everyone has that thought toward the end of their life - I wish I had done more.
In my state as a coach you are a mandated reporter. If you suspect abuse you are required to holiness it to DFS.
Joe followed protocol. Period.
Tears came to my mothers eyes. I witnessed one of the most beautiful moments of my entire life. In a sterile hospital room full of monitors and the scent of sickness, a light shone on my mother and father. My fathers eyes opened wide as my mother pressed her forehead to his, grabbed his hand, and through the tears sang along in a voice strong and clear. Part of me felt I should leave them there, allow them that moment. But God wanted me there to see true love.
Off-topic. Visited the campus last month with the wife (She got her MBA there)...Made the obligatory visit to The Creamery, it was awesome. Stood outside of Beaver Stadium, made The Swamp seem puny in comparison.
I’ve been kind of a big college football fan for a long time so I know at least a little bit about Joe Paterno and what he did for Penn State and all of the young men who played for him. And I would have to say that the Joe Paterno legacy maybe far and aweigh the classiest record in all of college football. But all that came crashing down with the Jerry Sandusky revelations.
And, I think as part of Coach Paterno’s and Penn State’s “punishment” was to have some of their wins vacated and I hope at some point this is reversed
One of my happy places:
No, nobody at Penn State reported it, despite reports over a period of years and eyewitnesses to child rape. Sandusky was forced to retire in 1999 but was allowed to keep an office, emeritus title, and keys to Penn State athletic facilites.
The victims and their parents eventually reported the abuse.
I still ask the question, how come very few schools approached Sandusky about a head coaching job? With his reputation, he would have been perhaps the most highly sought out assistant coach in college football. And we know coaching is a kind of Fraternity so you have to wonder, just how many others at least had an inkling about Sandusky?
He would have been the UVA coach had Al Groh not lost his last three games w/ the Jets and saw the writing on the wall. Ziegler (of course) has written extensively on this.
I think this thing was much bigger than even Joe knew.
Putting Sandusky away was very “tidy.” A lot of real high ups were probably involved, and certainly did not want the truth to see the light of day.
Other colleges were immediately interested in Sandusky. When they contacted Paterno for a reference, they were told to stay far away from him. Paterno clearly knew for years that Sandusky was a molester but didn’t report that to the youth charity or even bother to take away his access to PSU athletic facilities.
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