Joe Paterno: He Is Penn State

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Joe Paterno: He Is Penn State

The college football world has gone mad. Conferences are doing battle in courtrooms instead of on the football field. Teams are leaving their conferences and throwing tradition and loyalty out the window for a bigger paycheck. The Bowl Championship Series was supposed to end the confusion in the college football post season. It was supposed to crown a true champion. Instead, the B.C.S. has only brought more light to the fact that in college football it is all about money and TV contracts. Teams that have no right going to a major bowl game go because of who they are and, more importantly, who their fans are and how much money the fans are will to spend. Players are failing classes, stealing, doing drugs, breaking …show more content…

It was so cold that it was hard to breathe, but it was easy to cheer at the top of your lungs. Penn State had struggled the previous season, and they would finish this season with another losing record, but that didnt matter at the moment. Joe Paterno was seconds away from having more wins than any other Division I-A coach in the history of college football. Time ran out and Joe Paterno had finally passed the Bear. The stadium shook from the noise of the cheering fans. It was still light out, but the scoreboard illuminated the sky; it read 324. One hundred and nine thousand voices came together to chant two simple words, Joe Pa, Joe Pa, Joe Pa . The chant grew louder and louder. You could see Joe Paterno and his wife, Sue, on the big screen hugging each other. It was then Joe Paterno spoke. He thanked the fans and the University. What he said next was so simple and yet so complex. He finished his speech by saying, We are over 100,000 responded, Penn State! I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I looked around the stadium. I saw old men cheering for a man who was their long time hero, a man whom they watched win all 324 record breaking games. I saw the student section cheering on a man who was a worthy sports role-model. The student section looked like a big blue wave with their pom-poms going back and forth in unison with the Joe Pa chant. I saw children cheering …show more content…

It was the winter of 1972 and Joe Pa and his Nittany Lions were in New Orleans, getting ready for the Sugar Bowl. Joe asked his brother George to come for a walk with him one night while in New Orleans. Joe told George that a man named Billy Sullivan, from the New England patriots, had offered him a long-term contract for big money. Joe then asked his brother if he would be an assistant coach in New England with him. George took the offer. Joe went back to State College, Pennsylvania, to talk the decision over with his wife, Sue. Billy Sullivan told a reporter that Paterno was on his way to New England and Dick Young of the New York Daily News had the story already written. Sometime after that Joe called Mr. Sullivan and told him he had to turn down his million-dollar offer. Throughout his career Joe has been offered NFL jobs with the New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cleveland Browns, and the New York Giants. Throughout his career Joe has seemed happy right where he is in Happy Valle. Joe didnt become a coach to make money, he became a coach to educate young men (Paterno 73-75). That is what separates Joe Paterno from any other coach in the game. He is not only interested in football or in advancing his own interests; he is interested in his players and the men they become. Anyone can win a college football game with the

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