One thing that keeps coming up in my mind though, for some reason. A few years back, there were recordings of the Student Section at Beaver Stadium singing the Alma Mater, except they didn't know the words, they weren't in the program, and the scoreboard couldn't display such things, so instead they were singing loudly “We don't know, the G-D’md words” to the music. PSU forgot to teach their students about the Alma Mater. I think that was a sign of how PSU was losing its way, and I think they forgot the words (and meaning) themselves. Very sad. That said, Spanier needs to resign, Paterno needs to resign, McQuery needs to resign, and Curly, Shultz and Sandusky need to pay the price for their crimes. Oh, and Sandusky’s ‘charity’, the Second Mile, needs to be shut down, so the donors money can be freed up for other worthwhile endeavors.
Thank you for chipping in. We need more FREEPERS with a frank objective viewpoint like what you offered here ...despite the subjective emotional tuggings within your heart that you must have felt with every word you typed.
I attended Penn State from 1966 to 1970. We had “freshman customs,” involving wearing a “dink” (beanie) and learning all the words to all the school songs, to be sung on demand for upperclassmen the first week of school. After graduation, I taught at a nearby high school. One of my colleagues said how inspired he was by the enthusiastic singing of the students during the Alma Mater. I had to tell him they were singing “We don’t know the G-D words.” That was a student prank, and became tradition for a few years.
Now, the band and other game day performers hold a program to promote everyone learning the words. The Alma Mater has been displayed on the scoreboards for many years. I still sing the original words by heart.
Paterno was the exciting young new coach at the time I was a student. Think of it. Forty six years at the helm. No wonder generations consider(ed) him at the heart of their college experience. Aside from football, he has done much good for the university as a whole, and not just in a football capacity.
My father retired from his engineering job at the age of 80 in 1999. One of his friends asked Joe Paterno to videotape a retirement greeting. Joe didn’t know either of them, but he fulfilled the request. He sent a wonderful video greeting complimenting Dad on staying with the work he loved for so long. He said he only hoped he could continue his work as long.
I attended the 1984 Fiesta Bowl game with Dad, with a goal line seat where PSU’s game ending interception preserved their win and a very bad night for Vinnie Testaverde. We also went to the Rose Bowl game in 1995 and many other memorable games.
My husband and I ended our honeymoon with attendance at a PSU game, lived in State College for several years, and we’ve attended a game or two a year for the forty-one years of our marriage.
Dad, a good father, husband, PSU-educated engineer and citizen passed away in 2009 at age 89. I imagine he made mistakes in his life, maybe things he regretted. It is inconceivable to me that many decades of good could be utterly erased with one error.
I identify with the article in so many ways. I feel my memories have turned to ashes, yet it is Sandusky who did the vile acts. The PA attorney general has conducted a lengthy investigation and has not seen fit to charge Paterno with wrongdoing. He cooperated with the grand jury. Colleges have procedures for reporting such things. My career has been in human resources. People are instructed to whom to report. Those officials are supposed to get it right. It was the LEAST Joe could do, though. There is such outrage because the victims appear to have been the last consideration of all concerned.
I’d like to hear Paterno’s side of the story. It seems like there is a pack mentality right now.
The sum of Joe Paterno is not his decision years ago to report the shower incident to his athletic director, then apparently trust the system to work. It is a serious blemish, but not the sum of the man. I hate it that those boys suffered, and I hate it that for years to come, maybe forever, Joe’s name will be followed by Penn State sex scandal.