Paterno: A sad ending to an extraordinary life

Troubled lives that end up positively are uplifting, while hardly anything is as deflating as a positive life that ends up troubled.

Imagine if Joe Paterno's obituary were written a year ago, or six months ago, or even a mere 90 days ago.

Paterno would have died while still Penn State's coach, universally celebrated for being an island of honest in a sea of dishonesty and remembered for his various contributions to the university.

Instead, obits for Paterno, who died Sunday at age 85, must include mention of whatever role he played in one of the most prominent scandals in recent history.

In October the public had no reason to question anything about Paterno. College football's all-time winningest coach was the answer to just about everything.

Now, though, it still must be asked whether Paterno did enough the past decade of his life to stem former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's alleged sexual abuse of children.

I'm not smart enough to weigh all the decades of good Paterno did — for school, sports and society — against a final decade's lapse in judgment that harmed so many.

As a chronicler of sports, being faced with that assignment is sad and I'll do my best to write around the issue.

Let me just say that not long ago Paterno could have been portrayed as the final remnant of an era when Americans were naive enough to have faith in sports figures.

Paterno survived for so long that he remained more a symbol of a happier time than of subsequent dubious times.

Today I can't think of a college football coach I would trust with your wallet, much less mine, but for nearly a half-century I trusted Joe Paterno.

As Penn State's head coach since 1966, in a sport that became known for corruption perpetrated by outlaw coaches and administrators, Paterno's image continued to reflect integrity, character, loyalty, scruples and downright upright conduct.

These traits shined through even if you disagreed with him on particular issues.

For me it was an honor to sit at a table during Big Ten media days and listen to Paterno philosophize about sports, life and himself.

Paterno made it special to cover Penn State football games at Evanston, Champaign and South Bend.

Heck, essentially because of Paterno the Big Ten's expansion to the Big 11 felt OK because Penn State was the new member.

Rarely are you privileged to be in the same room as someone so universally respected as Joe Paterno was. Unfortunately, rarely does someone so universally respected finish up as such a polarizing figure.

Developments implicated Paterno in the inadequate and inappropriate manner that Penn State responded to the Sandusky scandal.

Everything changed in November. Eventually Paterno later said he wished he had done more. His legacy became blotched.

Sunday, the great Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Bill Lyon relayed a personal remembrance.

“We were seated at a banquet some years ago,” Lyon wrote, “and Paterno told me how, when Roman conquerors marched into a new city, there were slaves behind them cautioning, ‘You're not as great as you think; you're not as great ... '

“And (Paterno) said, ‘They're right, you know.'”

How true. How true but sad. How true but sad and disappointing that Joe Paterno isn't as great as we thought he was.

How true but sad and disappointing that so few of our perceived icons are.