The story about Todd Hodne, a Penn State football player who raped and assaults several female students during his time on the football team, was published earlier this week. He was arrested and charged with the rapes that took place in 1978 and 1979.
The quote above is from Joe Paterno, who was the head coach at Penn State for 45 years.
It gives an interesting look at Paterno's perspective on team issues. After a series of legal issues, including theft, he was removed from the team's roster. According to the piece, the program never acknowledged the vicious crimes against women.
Three decades later, the Jerry Sandusky scandal would shake Penn State and the entire nation to its core as it was revealed that Paterno's close friend and defensive coach had been sexually abusing young boys for years. The long-beloved head coach whose name was synonymous with Penn State football and all it stood for would be fired for his lack of action in the case. He died a year later. His statue was taken down. The NCAA came down hard.
Many believe that the good of Paterno outweighs the bad. They believe that winning a lot of football games and being a good football coach is what should define Joe Paterno's legacy. In the trailer for the upcoming E60 episode, we hear his son and several former players come to Paterno.
When there are dark sides to legacies, we don't do legacy very well.
What is a legacy? Even if it wasn't a fully calculated cover-up, Paterno's legacy is defined by his lack of action. Paterno's legacy is defined by brushing off what they went through, never acknowledging the harm that one of his players had exacted upon them.
Paterno's legacy looks different to his players and family. They loved him. Their positive experiences with him don't give them the authority to erase what he did or didn't do when things got complicated and difficult. It's much easier to love your family and impart wisdom on your players than it is to report sexual abuse that would tear the fabric of your program apart. His legacy should include the games that he won and the lives that he changed, but how else are we defined than in how we act in the moments in life that are the hardest, that present us with a moral choice?
He never went to jail. Some fans think that the NCAA sanctions on the school were unfair, although there was no unfair punishment. The removal of glorification of a flawed man is what does exist. The survivors of the sexual assault scandal are not forgotten, even though they were not allowed to be made into a god in memory of Paterno.
The trailer leaves a bad taste in the mouth, especially in the light of the recent piece on Hodne. Paterno could have avoided this blemish if he had reported the abuse to the police or limited the access to him.
There is resistance to placing any responsibility for the misdeeds within the program on the man himself. Bob Costas says in the trailer that the scandal shouldn't define his legacy. It feels like he's saying that we can talk about this now, but we shouldn't remember this when we look back on Paterno. Is the definition going to change over time? If the final decade of his career is not included, will that be considered a success?
Maybe a decade has passed since the trials, but we shouldn't just be done with it. It's fine to remember a great career. It's understandable that his players and family have fond memories of him. It was bad, but it was not as bad as the crimes being revealed to the public. The image rehab is likely to do more harm than good. Rarely is an ongoing abuse of power such as that of Sandusky.
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