Jim Shaffer's List: Tragic Hero

• Time and again, questions about an alleged cover-up of a sex abuse scandal at Penn State circled back to one name: Joe Paterno.

  • The fall:  This cover up leads to his dismissal from his coaching position and the tarnishing of his legacy.  It also could be linked to his death.
• The Pennsylvania state police commissioner said Paterno fulfilled his legal requirement when he relayed to university administrators that a graduate assistant had seen Sandusky attacking a young boy in the team's locker room shower in 2002. But the commissioner also questioned whether Paterno had a moral responsibility to do more.

  • Moral vs. Legal.  His moral failure to do what he should have is his tragic flaw here.  

• Lung cancer has robbed him of the breath to say all that he wants to about the scandal he still struggles to comprehend, and which ended his career as head football coach at Penn State University. The words come like gusts. “I wanted to build up, not break down,” he said.

  • Scandal equals his fall.  This article is the last interview with Paterno before he dies.  Shows the impact of his flaw/fall.
• He maintains his innocence. If Sandusky is guilty, “I’m sick about it,” Paterno said.

  • His reaction to the situation. (Guilt)

• “I wish I knew,” Paterno said. “I don’t know the answer to that. It’s hard.” Almost as difficult for Paterno to answer is the question of why, after receiving a report in 2002 that Sandusky had abused a boy in the shower of Penn State’s Lasch Football Building, and forwarding it to his superiors, he didn’t follow up more aggressively.

  “I didn’t know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was,” he said. “So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn’t work out that way.”

  • Is it embarrassment?  Fear?  

  • Here is the flaw.

1 more annotation...

• At the time of his death he held the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football coach with 409 and was the only FBS coach to reach 400 victories.^[1] He coached five undefeated teams that won major bowl games and, in 2007, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach.

  • High Status:  He was successful on the field as a coach.
• During his 61 years at Penn State, Paterno became a beloved figure in the college community. He was well known for his distinct game-day image, particularly his thick, square glasses. The emphasis that he placed on ethics and moral conduct and his philosophy on football, to meld athletics and academics, were signatures of his coaching style. He and his wife, Sue, donated more than $4 million to Penn State, and funded the school's library that bears their names. Paterno died of complications from lung cancer on January 22, 2012.

  • High Status:  He was also a person of high moral character.  Donating money, focus on academics, etc.