Joe Paterno should have watched the Dark Knight Returns
"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
The aforementioned quote is one of the most memorable lines, as well as a major theme, to the 2008 hit film The Dark Knight. It's what immediately came to mind in November 2011 when longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was fired midseason amid allegations that one of his former assistants, Jerry Sandusky, was involved in a child sex scandal dating back to 1998.
That's 409 career wins, the most among any Division I college football coach. That's five undefeated seasons. One national championship. Twenty four bowl game victories. Not to mention the millions of dollars that the legendary head coach gave back to the school over his 62-year tenure in Happy Valley. And all of it wasn't enough to save his job amid the heinous allegations that one of his ex-assistants was sexually assaulted boys in the confines of the football facilities as well as the speculation that Paterno himself was aware of such incidents and did nothing about it.
Paterno died in January 2012, just months after he was fired as head coach at Penn State. He died a villain. And while the students paid tribute to his memory, refusing to believe that the coach knew of Sandusky's allegations, and his family and supporters campaigned for his innocence, months later we would know just how true a villain Paterno really is.
Sandusky, long considered to be the heir apparent to Paterno, was convicted on 45 of 48 criminal charges in a court of law in June. Weeks later a special investigative report by former FBI agent Louis Freeh (which is known as the Freeh Report) found evidence that Joe Paterno and other people of high administrative authority at Penn State University knew about the Sandusky allegations dating back as 1998 and covered them up rather than report it to the authorities, thereby allowing Sandusky to claim many more child victims in the meantime.
Now, Joe Paterno will never be remembered as the man that won football games, championships and gave so much back to the university and community - but instead as the man who let a child molester freely roam campus and run a camp for at-risk youth for nearly 15 years following the initial discovery of allegations.
Paterno, the hero, will be replaced by Paterno, the villain, just like how Batman was condemned for taking the fall for Harvey Dent at the end of The Dark Knight. The statue outside of Penn State's Beaver Stadium showcasing Paterno's legacy at the university has since been removed, just like the bat signal was at the end of the film. And you can bet that if Paterno was still living, he'd have to face the scandal he helped cover up.
The difference between Paterno and Batman (aside from, of course, the fact vs. fiction aspect) is that the college football coach everyone knew as "JoePa" won't have his name cleared one day. He lived long enough to see himself become the villain and died after heroism passed him by.
The aforementioned quote is one of the most memorable lines, as well as a major theme, to the 2008 hit film The Dark Knight. It's what immediately came to mind in November 2011 when longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was fired midseason amid allegations that one of his former assistants, Jerry Sandusky, was involved in a child sex scandal dating back to 1998.
That's 409 career wins, the most among any Division I college football coach. That's five undefeated seasons. One national championship. Twenty four bowl game victories. Not to mention the millions of dollars that the legendary head coach gave back to the school over his 62-year tenure in Happy Valley. And all of it wasn't enough to save his job amid the heinous allegations that one of his ex-assistants was sexually assaulted boys in the confines of the football facilities as well as the speculation that Paterno himself was aware of such incidents and did nothing about it.
Paterno died in January 2012, just months after he was fired as head coach at Penn State. He died a villain. And while the students paid tribute to his memory, refusing to believe that the coach knew of Sandusky's allegations, and his family and supporters campaigned for his innocence, months later we would know just how true a villain Paterno really is.
Sandusky, long considered to be the heir apparent to Paterno, was convicted on 45 of 48 criminal charges in a court of law in June. Weeks later a special investigative report by former FBI agent Louis Freeh (which is known as the Freeh Report) found evidence that Joe Paterno and other people of high administrative authority at Penn State University knew about the Sandusky allegations dating back as 1998 and covered them up rather than report it to the authorities, thereby allowing Sandusky to claim many more child victims in the meantime.
Now, Joe Paterno will never be remembered as the man that won football games, championships and gave so much back to the university and community - but instead as the man who let a child molester freely roam campus and run a camp for at-risk youth for nearly 15 years following the initial discovery of allegations.
Paterno, the hero, will be replaced by Paterno, the villain, just like how Batman was condemned for taking the fall for Harvey Dent at the end of The Dark Knight. The statue outside of Penn State's Beaver Stadium showcasing Paterno's legacy at the university has since been removed, just like the bat signal was at the end of the film. And you can bet that if Paterno was still living, he'd have to face the scandal he helped cover up.
The difference between Paterno and Batman (aside from, of course, the fact vs. fiction aspect) is that the college football coach everyone knew as "JoePa" won't have his name cleared one day. He lived long enough to see himself become the villain and died after heroism passed him by.
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