[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 22 (Thursday, February 9, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H665-H670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING JOE PATERNO
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) is
recognized for 52 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my
Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with
colleagues from Pennsylvania to recognize the accomplishments of Joe
Paterno, the longtime Penn State football coach who passed away last
month.
Paterno's accomplishments as a teacher and a coach rank him among the
very best in the history of the country. His accomplishments were both
on the field and on the campus.
I'm pleased today to be joined by a number of my colleagues from
Pennsylvania and pleased to yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Kelly).
Mr. KELLY. I'm glad to be here with my colleagues from Pennsylvania.
My thoughts of Coach Paterno go way back to the time when I was a
really young guy in Butler, Pennsylvania, and Coach Paterno at that
time was an assistant coach for Rip Engle. Coach Paterno would come
into our high school, and he was very close friends with my high school
coach, Art Bernardi.
But the thing I remember most about Coach Paterno, he had the ability
to inspire you to do things that maybe you didn't think you could do.
He had the ability to get you to go beyond being tired into being
better. As a young guy growing up, he would come into our study halls
and he would come into our halls, and I had the chance to go to Penn
State many times to see him as an assistant coach, and always enjoyed
the moments we had, and then go over to his house with Mrs. Paterno,
and he would say to Mrs. Paterno, Hey, these guys are hungry. Can you
get them a sandwich? Can you get them something to eat? They were
always so nice to us, and the kids were small then.
So I can understand the sense of loss that not only the Paterno
family has but the State of Pennsylvania, and in particular, Penn State
University, because Coach Paterno was part of the fabric of that which
is Penn State. He was the leaven that held Penn State together. He was
the man that transcended not just football, because football was only a
very small part of our life, but it was that game that taught us about
life that was to come and the adversity that you would face and the
problems that you would have to solve, and the idea that, yeah, well,
you may not have done it real well on that last play. The only sin was
not getting up off the deck and getting ready for the next play.
So I join my colleagues from Pennsylvania, and there's a deep sense
of loss for all of us in Pennsylvania, and especially all of those
folks at Penn State who have lost a true leader and a true icon--not
just for college football and not just for athletics, but for the
American life.
So I am deeply indebted to Coach Paterno for what he taught us. I
also am grieving with the family and with the rest of the State of
Pennsylvania for the loss of a truly great American, Joe Paterno.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman for his comments,
for joining us and honoring and remembering a great individual in Joe
Paterno.
It's now my honor to recognize Mr. Gerlach, another colleague that
I've had the privilege and honor to serve with since coming to
Congress.
I yield to Congressman Gerlach.
Mr. GERLACH. I appreciate this opportunity to join you here today.
Mr. Speaker, I'm joining my colleagues from Pennsylvania in
recognizing Coach Joe Paterno and the legacy he forged during more than
60 years at Penn State University.
Most major college football programs measure success solely on what
happens on a hundred-yard patch of grass on Saturday afternoons in the
fall. If you measured a career only in wins and losses, what Coach
Paterno achieved is historic: 409 times he walked off the field
victorious, the most wins of any coach in Division I college football.
However, what set Coach Paterno apart was that he demanded excellence
from his players every day of the week. Success with honor was what
Coach Paterno expected, whether his players were performing in front of
a hundred thousand fans in Beaver Stadium or taking an exam in a
classroom.
As someone who played football through youth league all the way
through college, I fully appreciate the special role that a football
coach can play in the lives of his players. A coach is, above all, a
teacher, and one who can build his players' character and instill the
values of hard work, persistence, and teamwork--lessons that last a
lifetime. Coach Paterno did just that.
Football was the means by which he molded players into leaders and
forever transformed a university. He prepared his players to be winners
in life, not just on Saturday afternoons.
That is why when Joe Paterno passed away on January 22, Pennsylvania
lost a legendary football coach who graciously used the spotlight that
he was given to help his players, Penn State University, and our great
Commonwealth.
May he rest in peace.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman for participating
today and this remembering and celebrating.
Mr. Speaker, in the times of my life I have had opportunity to
reflect back on and think of as special times, there is one time in
particular when I was a senior in high school. I grew up in Center
County. I went to Penn State, I'm a proud Penn State alumni. I grew up
in the shadow of the Nittany Lion and Joe Paterno. One of my most
meaningful memories having played high school football was the day I
got word that Coach Joe Paterno had asked for game films to look at me
as a prospect for that great team. That was going well until he saw
that as an offensive guard I was less than 200 pounds.
But today, I still treasure that, that he looked at my performance
and at least saw something there.
Joe Paterno grew up in Brooklyn, the descendant of Albanian and
Italian immigrants. He derived a toughness from that heritage,
describing his father and Albania as a land of quiet, hardheaded
people. His toughness was seasoned by a deep appreciation of the
classics.
Virgil, which he read in the original Latin, was a key source of
inspiration for Paterno. He wrote, ``I'll never forget the majestic
ring of the opening lines of `The Aeneid': `Arma virumque cano, Troiae
qui primus ab oris,''' which he translated as ``Of arms and the man I
sing.''
Paterno drew inspiration from Virgil's hero Aeneas. Of Aeneas he
wrote, ``He yearns to be free of his tormenting duty, but he knows that
his duty is to others, to his men.''
He attended Brown on a football scholarship, where he met and
combated prejudice--prejudice from those who thought that football
players lacked the intellectual firepower of other students, prejudice
from those
[[Page H666]]
who thought birth gave status instead of personal excellence and hard
work, prejudice based on religion.
As a player and later as coach, Paterno gave everything to his men,
his players, and his team.
I'm now very proud to yield to my good friend from Pennsylvania, also
a Penn State alumni Nittany Lion, Mr. Dent.
{time} 1150
Mr. DENT. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for
organizing this Special Order hour in order to discuss the life of
Joseph Vincent Paterno. As has been said, there have been many eulogies
said about Joe Paterno, and he was an extraordinary man by anyone's
measure.
As has been mentioned, he came to us via Brooklyn and Brown
University. I believe he studied English literature, and he always took
great inspiration from the books he read and the classics. In fact, he
turned down a life in professional football in order to stay at Penn
State and stay in this university, academic environment. He actually
liked meeting with the faculty and enjoyed discussing English
literature and other weighty matters. This man was quite complex. He
was more than just football, although certainly that was such an
important part of his life, and a big part of his life.
We should also note that some of us would always watch Joe Paterno
over the years. My mom is a Penn State alumna and I'm a Penn State
alumnus. Our family goes back many, many decades, so we have some
acquaintance with Joe Paterno. Many people fondly remember him--the guy
with the thick Coke-bottle lenses and the khaki pants--flood pants--
with athletic shoes. That's how they'd see him out on the field,
getting a little agitated from time to time with the officials, but he
was much more complex than all that.
A few things: first, if there is a theme about Joe Paterno's life, it
was that he was about setting clear standards, as one of his children
had told me. He has five wonderful children and a wonderful devoted
wife, Sue Paterno. He often said that Joe said things like this:
Take care of the little things, and the big things take care of
themselves. You either get better or you get worse. You never stay the
same. Most importantly, he said, Make an impact. That was the wisdom
that his father passed on to him and that Joe passed on to his
children--make an impact.
So when you think about it, Joe Paterno's life was about making an
impact, and football was just a means to that greater end for him. He
and his wife, Sue, would see a need, and they would meet it one small
thing at a time until the big things, a legacy of philanthropy and
caring, took care of themselves. They gave a lot of their own time as
well as their own money.
His son said something to me, and I'm just going to read this. One of
his children sent this to me. He said that, over the years, Joe
attended hundreds of dinners and functions, raising billions of dollars
for Penn State, for the Special Olympics--I know his wife, Sue, was
particularly devoted to the Special Olympics--for the Catholic Church,
and for education at all levels.
He said, I once asked him why he did it, why he smiled when he signed
his 30th autograph while getting a paper, and he said with that twinkle
in his eye, The moment they don't care about Penn State football, we
can't do the things that matter.
He understood that, as a symbol and as a person, he had to let people
own a piece of him to get them to buy in to the larger vision. They
did, and the results were spectacular. From the Paterno Library to
scholarships to what's called THON, the dance marathon where they raise
so much money for children with cancer, he said, My dad helped them
all. He made an impact.
That's really what it was about. It has often been stated, too, that
Joe Paterno really wasn't supposed to go to Penn State at all. He was
supposed to go from Brown University and become an attorney, as his
father had expected. Basically, he told his dad at one point, No, I'm
never going to be a lawyer. He was enjoying Penn State. He enjoyed the
football program. He said his father took it all right, but closed with
a mandate that drove him his whole life.
His dad said, It's not enough for you to be just a good football
coach. You need to make an impact. So that was imparted from his father
on to Joe.
There are a lot of people out there who played football for him. Some
of these were young men who had a lot of talent in many cases, and some
of them were maybe a little bit pampered, as some athletes are at the
high school level who are quite good; and Joe could be a pretty strict
disciplinarian for a lot of them. In fact, one of his former players,
Kenny Jackson, who attended Penn State when I did, still calls him
``teacher'' first. Hundreds of players called him a surrogate father.
The lessons they learned translated across the whole spectrum of their
lives, creating a living legacy, and that will make an impact decades
past his passing.
There are so many people who spoke of him. Since his death and just
prior to his death, I spoke to some of his former players and friends
who knew him well, and they often talk about the impact he made on
their lives and how much they cared for him all these decades after
playing for him. In fact, there was one story, too, that I want to
share.
I remember back in the 1980s there was a player named Bob White. He
became an All-American and was on the national championship team. I
think he even played in the NFL for a while. I just remember how the
Paternos took him under their wing. Apparently, he was a fairly
marginal student. He had some trouble reading and, in fact, wasn't very
good at it. So Sue Paterno would basically give him books, and he would
have to read the books and then give her a book report. I mean, this is
the coach's wife taking an interest in one player who was academically
not very strong at the time. Today, he is quite successful and does
quite well.
I just wanted to share that story. It's one of those stories you
really don't hear about or about the anonymous contributions that have
been made by him that have been discovered recently because people have
spilled the beans, so to speak. He didn't want people to know that he
was helping them. He did all of these things without any recognition.
He was an extraordinary man, and he will be deeply missed. All I can
say is that he was a great Pennsylvanian even if he did spend the first
few years of his life in Brooklyn. He was very proud of that by the
way. I just wanted to say that I'll always have very fond memories of
him. The university is a better place because of what he has done
throughout his life, and I think we will always remember him.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman.
Winning was important for Joe Paterno, and he won a lot. Last fall,
he achieved a record, becoming with 409 wins and 136 losses the
winningest coach in Division I college football. His wins record
surpassed legendary coaches, including Bear Bryant in 2001, Bobby
Bowden in 2008, and Eddie Robinson in 2011. Penn State is one of just
seven teams with more than 800 wins in its history, and Joe Paterno was
active with the program for 704 of those games, over 61 seasons, with
an amazing record of 514, 183 losses, seven ties--or 73 percent.
It is my pleasure and privilege now to yield to another great
Pennsylvania Congressman, Congressman Lou Barletta.
Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, it's easy to judge Joe Paterno's career by
the numbers--409 career wins, which is a Division I coaching record; 37
bowl game appearances with 24 wins; five undefeated seasons; 62 years
at one university, 46 of them as the head football coach.
Many of those numbers will never be equaled or passed, but those
numbers weren't the most important things to Joe Paterno. JoePa coached
the greatest players in Penn State football history--Franco Harris,
Shane Conlan, LaVar Arrington, Curt Warner, John Cappelletti, Kerry
Collins. More than 350 of his players signed NFL contracts--79 first-
team All-Americans. Again, those numbers weren't the most important
things to Joe Paterno. Here is what mattered to JoePa:
Forty-seven academic All-Americans, 37 of them first team; an 87
percent player graduation rate in 2011--20 points higher than the
national average--and according to the New America Foundation, no
achievement gap between its black and white players.
[[Page H667]]
Joe Paterno loved coaching at the college level because he loved
preparing young men to succeed in life. He turned down several offers
of coaching in the NFL. He made far less than any other college
football coach. During the memorial service for JoePa, a native son of
my district, Jimmy Cefalo of Pittston, captured the essence of his
coach.
Cefalo said, ``He took the sons of the coal miners, and he took the
sons of steel mill workers and of farmers in rural Pennsylvania with
the idea that we would come together and do it the right way, the
Paterno way. Those thousands, literally thousands, of young men taken
from generally small communities, looking for direction at a very young
age, this is Joe Paterno's legacy.''
{time} 1200
That sums it up perfectly. Without Joe Paterno, thousands of young
men from the smallest towns and townships of Pennsylvania might not
have received a quality college education. He saw all of these young
men as his sons, and he wanted the best for each and every one of them.
Outside of college football, JoePa lived a life as plain as Penn
State's uniforms. He lived in the same simple ranch house for 45 years.
His home phone number could have been found in the White Pages. For
years, he drove a Ford Tempo. His trademark rolled-up pants were not a
fashion statement but a practicality. He rolled up the cuffs to save on
dry cleaning bills.
But when it came to the university he loved, the university that
educated his five children and thousands of his players, Joe Paterno
was exceedingly generous. Joe Paterno and his wife, Sue, and their five
children announced a contribution of $3.5 million to the university in
1998, bringing Paterno's lifetime giving total to more than $4 million.
Joe Paterno's personal life was humble, his humanitarian life was
remarkable, and his professional life was legendary.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. I thank my good friend for sharing his
thoughts on Coach Joe Paterno.
You know, among Joe Paterno's accolades in 46 years as head coach
were two national championships, seven undefeated seasons, 23 finishes
in the Top 10 rankings, and three Big Ten Conference championships
since joining the conference in 1993. Joe Paterno had 24 bowl wins and
37 bowl game appearances, both of which are the most of any coach in
history.
In his many decades as a coach at Penn State, Paterno built a team
dedicated to excellence on the field and off the field, as you heard
many of my colleagues refer to today. He saw football as important, but
he kept even football in perspective. In his view, the players who have
been most important to the success of Penn State teams have just
naturally kept their priorities straight--football, a high second, but
academics, an undisputed first, in his words.
Paterno said that he hounded his players to get involved. Don't let
the world pass you by. Go after life. Attack it. Ten years from now, I
want you to look back on college as a wonderful time of expanding
yourself, not just 4 years of playing football. The purpose of college
football is to serve education, not the other way around.
He understood that education required an effort by both students and
teachers. Another of his quotes:
Even the most talented teacher can try what he or she
thinks is teaching, but it won't really take unless the
student takes charge of the most important job, learning.
Thus began Joe Paterno's grand experiment at Penn State, where
players would not just be model athletes but model students and model
citizens. His players responded, consistently ranking at or near among
the top of the leading football programs in graduation rates.
Under his tenure, the Penn State football team had 16 Hall of Fame
Scholar Athletes, 49 Academic All-Americans, and 18 NCAA Postgraduate
Scholarship winners. Penn State had more Academic All-Americans than
all other Big Ten schools and ranked number three among all 120
football bowl division schools.
In 2009, the graduation rate of Joe Paterno's players was 89 percent,
and the graduation success rate was 85 percent, both of which were the
greatest among all football programs in the final 2009 Associated Press
Top 25 poll.
I am now pleased to yield back to my good friend, Mr. Dent.
Mr. DENT. I thank the gentleman.
And as we wind down this Special Order this hour, talking about Joe
Paterno, we should also probably note one other thing, too.
Of course Joe Paterno was about success with honor, he was about
making an impact, but he was also about family. And also, I just want
to say, too, that many players over the years, their children would
come to the school. In some cases, three generations have played with
him. It's a remarkable story.
I think of a guy from my hometown, Mike Guman. Many of my colleagues
from Alabama will remember Mike Guman for the famous goal-line stand,
Penn State-Alabama Sugar Bowl, 1979. I wish the end result had been
different. But nevertheless, Mike Guman was a running back. I had so
many kind, wonderful things to say about him. And his son, too, Andy
Guman, played at Penn State. That was the kind of program that I think
Joe wanted. It was very family-oriented.
I also wanted to mention, too, that one of the eulogies about Joe
that is probably worth sharing--I believe it was given by his son Jay.
He often talked about his sense of humor and that of his wife. Joe and
Sue were utterly devoted to each other, very independent-minded people,
but very much dependent upon one another. I am going to read an excerpt
from that eulogy:
Humor was a large part of my parents' marriage. My mom and
dad, speaking together, was always entertaining. My mom would
jump up with a smart comment when he was talking, and you'd
get a glimpse of how the two of them interacted. Neither one
of them took themselves too seriously.
And he says:
One of my favorite lines that they had was about how they
stayed married so long. They had a deal--whoever leaves the
marriage first had to take the children. So neither one of
them ever left.
And that was sort of the sense of humor they had, but they were so
utterly devoted to each other, to their five children, and to their
many grandchildren. That's something we don't speak much about Joe
Paterno.
He didn't have a whole lot of hobbies either. He was devoted to
family and his football program and his university. That's what he was
about. So it really speaks volumes about him. He will be deeply missed.
At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Altoona, Pennsylvania
(Mr. Shuster).
Mr. SHUSTER. I thank the gentleman from Allentown for yielding.
It's a great privilege for me to be here on the House floor today
talking about someone whom I had the highest regard for, and over the
years I was able to watch just what a tremendous thing he did at Penn
State University. It's not just about winning football games. Of course
he won 409 games in his 46 seasons, five undefeated teams, and led Penn
State to two national championships. But he did more than that. He did
more for the university.
And I know my colleagues have already talked about--it's the only
Division I school in the country that has a wing of the library named
after the head football coach. That's because of his and Sue's
dedication and contributions to building not only that library but that
institution. And a lot of that building came about because he built
those football teams and brought national attention to Penn State.
But for me, on a personal level, probably one of the proudest moments
I had was to stand on the House floor when--I believe it was when he
surpassed Walter Camp's winning record of 309 victories, I think it
was, about 10 years ago. And John Peterson, the Congressman from
Pennsylvania who represented that part of the country at that time--
G.T.'s predecessor--we had a Special Order on the floor. John Peterson
started first, and then the great coach Tom Osborne--which I don't know
if many people know, but Tom Osborne served in Congress in the early
2000s. So Tom Osborne then got up and spoke about Joe Paterno and his
respect for him. So then I got to follow Tom Osborne. I'm following a
legendary football coach talking about a legendary football coach,
which really, even to this day, I'm getting
[[Page H668]]
goosebumps remembering that time because it was really an exciting
moment that I will always remember.
But again, what Joe Paterno did, which stood him apart from many
other coaches, was his dedication to education and academic excellence.
Unlike many other schools with Division I programs, Paterno recruited
players, speaking first about Penn State's academic excellence. And
during that time in the early 2000s, when I served with Coach Tom
Osborne, those were lean years for Penn State and for Joe Paterno. And
when we would come to town on a Monday or a Tuesday night for votes,
Coach Osborne would summon me over on the floor and talk to me about
what was going on in central Pennsylvania, how was the media treating
Joe; and there was a real concern that Coach Osborne had for Joe
Paterno and a real respect came through.
So after several of these meetings, I finally asked Coach Osborne, I
said, It's obvious you have this great respect for Joe Paterno. Is that
because you thought he was a superior coach to you? And he said, Oh,
no, absolutely not. I have a higher winning percentage than Paterno.
But I do have a great respect for Joe because Joe could do something
that nobody ever was able to achieve; and that is, year in and year
out, Joe Paterno would graduate roughly 85 percent of his players, but
always the highest graduation rate in Division I. And on top of that,
he had quality football teams and he recruited quality players and he
could compete at a national level. So, he said, that's something none
of us could do.
Then Coach Osborne went on to tell me about how he would talk to Joe
in the off-season and try to understand the programs and the discipline
and the things he did, because he wanted to be able to get to that
level with Joe. And Coach Osborne told me that, I believe, the highest
he ever got was a 79 percent graduation rate.
{time} 1210
So that's from one of the great all-time coaches, the great respect
he held for Joe Paterno. And again, it was not just about his football;
it was about what he was, about building young men, about instilling in
them the need to educate themselves and to be excellent when it came to
their academic efforts.
He often said you have to start with the idea that a kid has to be a
student first. Paterno said in a 1982 Gannett News Service interview:
We preach there are three things in a student's life when it comes to
Penn State: studies, academics, and social life, and you must keep them
in that order and you can never back away from that.
So again, Joe Paterno's education-first mindset paid off for those
thousands of young men that came to Penn State. I don't know if you
watched the ceremony, the dedication to his life and his funeral, but
you saw that come clear through, not just from superstars but from kids
who couldn't even play after a couple of years because of injury, but
Joe Paterno stuck with them and encouraged them and instilled in them
the performance of academics in their life and making sure that they
get that education. Because as we know full well, when kids play
Division I sports, whether it's football, it's basketball, it's
baseball, they don't always--99 percent of them never make it to the
pro level. But they got an opportunity to go to college.
And places like Penn State and other universities, when you have
coaches like Joe Paterno and coaches who aspire to be like Joe Paterno,
they instill in those kids that those 99 percent who can't make it big
in the pros, they still can get an education. They still can graduate
from college and go out and get a good job and provide for their
families and become productive citizens. Again, that's something that
Joe Paterno always preached, to be productive, to be a good citizen, to
give back to your community. He lived that life, and he will be sorely
missed, not only in Pennsylvania, but I believe throughout the college
ranks and throughout the Nation. He'll be one of those people you can
look to and say: That's the kind of coach I want to be. That's the kind
of program that I want to build, and those are the kind of kids that I
want to turn into young, productive citizens of the United States of
America.
So again, I'm pleased to be here with my colleagues from Allentown
and--Bellefonte? Close to Bellefonte.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Howard.
Mr. SHUSTER. That's even smaller. And I'm actually from Everett,
Charlie. Altoona is a big city to me. I don't even know my way around
Altoona.
But again, thanks a lot for you guys doing this. I appreciate it
greatly.
Mr. DENT. I have to apologize for making that error. I knew you were
from Everett, not from Altoona. But Blair County, the whole of Bedford,
it's a wonderful area. We love it.
I wanted to say one other thing my friend, Mr. Shuster, just reminded
me of: how Coach Paterno, Joe Paterno, recognized that most of his
players were not going to become pros, and he celebrated the
accomplishments of his players off the field. In fact, I remember one
fellow who went to school with me, a guy named Stu McMunn, Stewart
McMunn, I think he was captain of special teams. They won the national
title the year after I graduated. He talked with pride about that young
man. He's not going to be a pro, but he's all of this spirit, all this
fight in him, he's a smart kid, and all that. And he became a dentist.
He was very proud of the fact that was one of his players. That was
kind of the way he was. He wanted to see his players succeed. He wasn't
so concerned about the next 5 years after graduation, but the next 15,
you know, 20, 30, 50 years, to see what they're doing with their lives.
So I think that's something they shouldn't lose sight of.
I did read from a eulogy given at the celebration of Joe's life by
one of his children, and I submit it for the Record.
Again, I just want to conclude by saying that Joe Vincent Paterno, a
great Pennsylvanian, a great American, a strong leader, a mentor to so
many, a mentor even to many people who never met him, but he had an
impact on their lives. So, Joe Paterno, you did in fact make an impact.
Mom and Dad. I don't know much about Greek Mythology, so
forgive me if I botch this reference. But in the past few
months I've been reminded of some kind of Greek myth.
Apparently, we were once one body with a male head and a
female head and we were all happy. Some angry god, as
punishment for some slight--sliced all of the happy two
headed beings apart--forever dooming us to run around the
world looking for our other half. Anyone who knows my parents
also knows that they were among the lucky people who were
able to find their other half: their soul mate, their best
friend.
We've stated over these past days just how blessed and
lucky my Dad was--and he knew it. One of the stories you
won't hear from a former Letterman is the time that Coach
Paterno became smitten with his girlfriend and didn't ask her
out. No, sneaky Joe waited until Sue realized that this
player was not for her and went in for the kill. After a
courtship that involved reading Albert Camus, walking on the
beach, and pretending that he had money, they married and
soon started their family.
Over the years when my Dad would talk about retirement or
getting older, he would remind me, ``You know, your mother is
a young woman.'' It almost became a joke. Whenever she was
late coming back from a meeting or something, I'd say ``Well
you know, your mother is a young woman.'' He'd always
chuckle. But he did worry about her and always wanted to make
sure that she would be OK once he was gone.
They were absolutely devoted to their family: my Dad was
comfortable letting my Mother handle the more traditional
roles of diaper changing, but he loved to bounce us around on
his knee, try to teach us table manners, have discussion-
filled family dinners, and take us for walks; walks that
would continue into our adulthood and would be one of his
primary ways of sharing his wisdom and insights with us. I
shared some of dose walks in late November and I am forever
grateful for having that opportunity.
Their relationship was unique in some ways. Two fiercely
independent and strong people, yet two people utterly devoted
and dependent on each other. Best friends who challenged each
other to be better, who supported each other yet reminded the
other when they might be mistaken, who knew each other so
well that they knew what the other was thinking before they
even said it. This was a relationship that started with
respect and friendship and remained strong with faith, love,
and commitment to each other. They made each other better.
Humor was a large part of my parents marriage. My Mom and
Dad speaking together was always entertaining--my Mom would
jump in with a smart comment when he was talking, and you'd
get a glimpse of how the two of them interacted. Neither one
of them took themselves too seriously. One of my favorite
lines they had was about how they stayed married so long.
They had a deal--whoever leaves the marriage first had to
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take the children, so neither one of them ever left.
But that was really not the reason. They were devoted to
each other without fail. The compassion and love they showed
for each other during these past few months was
indescribable. Weaker marriages may have splintered at the
incredible amount of pain they endured. Yet theirs only grew
stronger.
My Mom's only concern these past few months was for my Dad,
and my Dad's was only for my Mom. just a week ago, I was
talking to him and I didn't want him to get discouraged. I
said to him--Hey, you've got to keep fighting. For Mom. He
barely had his voice then but he nodded and whispered back
``fight, for Mom.'' And he was. And he did until the end when
we assured him that we would take care of Mom.
Like my mother, we are all heartbroken at the days and
years ahead when we continue our lives without being able to
pop in on him for a quick visit, ask him for advice about our
children. Or, in my case just to see him and be reminded of
what a great father I've had. We have faith in God and his
plan for all of us, and I can only be grateful that I was a
witness to a beautiful marriage and that I had the best
father and role model I could possibly ask for. I love you
and will miss you Dad. And don't worry--we will take care of
Mom. I do know that my mother is a young woman.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, Joe Paterno claimed that
the long run success of his teams was in the contributions his players
made to society after graduation. Joe Paterno decided not to accept
lucrative NFL coaching offers because he loved being an educator as a
college coach. He also criticized NFL teams that took too much of his
players' time during their senior years. Paterno pushed the NCAA to
adopt rules requiring higher levels of academic performance from
college athletes, pushing higher standards for both high school and
college graduates. Paterno's dedication to education extended far
beyond the players he coached.
In the early 1980s, he pushed Penn State leadership to expand
fundraising from alumni in order to advance academic programs. Paterno
and his wife donated several million dollars to Penn State University,
and he helped them raise many millions more.
Coach Paterno once said: When I'm gone, I hope they write that I made
Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach.
Well, Coach, that is what they're writing today.
He envisioned that increasing the resources available to the
university through fundraising would help its students attain academic
excellence. And the great things that Penn State has attained over the
years are in part a testament to his vision and his dedication to that
cause. Often universities name athletic facilities after great coaches.
Penn State named a new wing of its library after Paterno.
Paterno's contributions extend beyond Penn State. He was heavily
involved, he and his wife, Sue, in the Special Olympics, and was also a
national spokesperson for the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association.
Mr. Speaker, just yesterday I had the opportunity to visit with one
of the Special Olympic athletes, an ambassador for that program from
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Chris Jagielski. And the first thing Chris
did in coming to my office was to express his sorrow for the loss of
Coach Joe Paterno.
Paterno wrote that he had been strongly influenced by this line from
St. Ignatius: `` `Always work as though everything depended on you. Yet
always pray knowing that everything depends on God.' Over the years,
that dynamite thought has exploded to something larger and larger in my
life. It means to me now, Never be afraid to accept your own
limitations or the limitations of others. Accept that we're all pretty
small potatoes. Yet always know how great each of us can be.''
So the winningest coach in college football history was, I think,
among the most humble of men based on those remarks that he made. The
enormous positive impact that Joe Paterno has made on thousands of
players, hundreds of thousands of students and millions of fans and
admirers across central Pennsylvania and around the world cannot be
understated. He was a man but his legend continues. For combining
humility with a dedication to greatness, Joe Paterno stands as a model
for all of us. With the passing of Joe Paterno, we're all Penn State,
and we mourn his loss. Thank you, Joe Paterno.
With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, as a Penn State graduate, I would like to add
to this evening's special order on the career of Joe Paterno by sharing
a column by Bill Kline that ran in newspapers across the country
following Paterno's death.
[From the Tribune, Jan. 23, 2012]
Paterno Built Penn State On, Off the Field
(By Bill Kline)
Every great man has a flaw.
Critics of Joe Paterno, who died Sunday at 85, will cite at
least one flaw of the legendary Penn State football coach--
what they will call his poor moral judgment in the Jerry
Sandusky sex-abuse scandal involving the Second Mile charity
and Penn State.
That assertion might be argued for decades, as JoePa's
proponents will say that he did nothing wrong and did what he
was supposed to do a decade ago when he received information
about his former assistant coach Sandusky--Paterno told his
superiors and asked them to look into it.
But whatever side of the argument you support, know this
about Joseph Vincent Paterno: No one did more for Penn State
University and, in turn, its hundreds of thousands of
students--not just for the athletes--over the past six
decades. And likely no one ever did more for Penn State in
the 157-year history of the institution built on former
farmland in rural central Pennsylvania.
You see, rightly or wrongly, Penn State had an image of an
agricultural college when Paterno arrived on campus in 1950--
and even to some degree when he became head coach in 1966.
Paterno not only raised the profile of the Penn State
program, he raised the profile of the university itself. And
it was not just wins on the football field that helped Penn
State become the national university it is today.
Paterno helped in many other ways, too, most notably
leading the charge to raise money for Penn State's library,
its endowment, to pay for professors, to pay for academic
scholarships, to pay for new buildings and just in general
for academic purposes. And Joe and his wife Sue donated their
own money, too, having given more than $5 million to Penn
State over the years.
JoePa's support of academics and the success of his team
combined to make Penn State a desirable place for students--
not just athletes. Penn State's enrollment has exploded over
the years to 85,000, including those at its satellite
campuses. Some years, 70,000 or more high school seniors
apply for the 7,000 or so freshman-class openings at Penn
State's University Park campus.
Penn State has become a strong academic institution--not
just a strong football program--in large part because of Joe
Paterno. For example:
Since 1966, when Paterno became head coach, Penn State's
endowment has grown from practically nothing to $1.67 billion
as of 2007.
Paterno's fund-raising efforts have resulted in about $2
billion for Penn State.
The University Park campus has nearly doubled in size since
1966.
He probably was the most underpaid coach, relatively
speaking, in the history of big-time college football, last
fall making less than all but one other coach in the Big Ten
Conference.
He won the National Heritage Award of the Anti-Defamation
League for his role as humanitarian and philanthropist.
Paterno was named Sportsman of the Year by Sports
illustrated.
He has produced 74 Academic All-Americans, and Penn State
football consistently is a national leader in the percentage
of its players who graduate--and that includes high
graduation rates for minorities, too.
He measured the success of his teams not in wins and
losses, but how those players later influenced society as
teachers and surgeons and engineers and leaders.
And through it all, Penn State remained a force on the
football field and was doing just fine.
Two of Paterno's last three recruiting classes were ranked
in the top 11 nationally, according to the recruiting site
scout.com.
Since 2005 Penn State's winning percentage under Paterno
was better than his all-time winning percentage.
He captured two Big Ten titles since then and was unbeaten
in conference play and in first place in the Big Ten's
Leaders Division when he was ousted in November because of
the Sandusky scandal.
And Paterno, of course, set yet another record last fall
with his 409th career victory.
But victories and championships--and flaws--should not be
how we remember Joe Paterno. He would not want that.
Joe Paterno should be remembered as an educator who truly
placed academics before athletics.
He should be remembered for building 18-year-old boys into
men and productive members of society.
And he should be remembered for building a university that
benefits all.
Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, it is easy to judge Joe Paterno's career
by the numbers.
409 career wins--a Division I coaching record.
37 bowl game appearances, with 24 wins.
Five undefeated seasons. 62 years at one university. 46 of them as
the head football coach.
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Many of those numbers will never be equaled or passed. But those
numbers weren't the most important things to Joe Paterno.
JoePa coached the greatest players in Penn State football history.
Franco Harris. Shane Conlan. LaVar Arrington. Curt Warner. John
Cappelletti. Kerry Collins. More than 350 of his players signed NFL
contracts. 79 first-team All-Americans.
But again, those numbers weren't the most important things to Joe
Paterno.
Here's what mattered to JoePa:
47 Academic All-Americans; 37 of them first-team.
An 87 percent player graduation rate in 2011--20 points higher than
the national average.
And, according to the New America Foundation, no achievement gap
between its black and white players.
Joe Paterno loved coaching at the college level because he loved
preparing young men to succeed in life. He turned down several offers
to coach in the NFL. He made far less than other college football
coaches.
During the memorial service for JoePa, a native son of my district,
Jimmy Cefalo of Pittston, captured the essence of his coach.
Cefalo said, quote, ``He took the sons of the coal miners, and he
took the sons of steel mill workers, and of farmers in rural
Pennsylvania with the idea that we would come together and do it the
right way. The Paterno way.
Those thousands, literally thousands, of young men taken from
generally small communities looking for direction at a very young age .
. . this is Joe Paterno's legacy.'' End quote.
That sums it up perfectly. Without Joe Paterno, thousands of young
men from the smallest towns and townships of Pennsylvania might not
have received a quality college education.
He saw all of these young men as his sons, and he wanted the best for
each of them.
Outside of college football, JoePa lived a life as plain as Penn
State's uniforms. He lived in the same simple ranch house for 45 years.
His home phone number could have been found in the White Pages.
For years, he drove a Ford Tempo.
His trademark rolled-up pants were not a fashion statement but a
practicality: he rolled up the cuffs to save on dry cleaning bills.
But when it came to the university he loved, the university that
educated his five children and thousands of his players, Joe Paterno
was exceedingly generous.
Joe Paterno, his wife, Sue, and their five children announced a
contribution of $3.5 million to the University in 1998, bringing
Paterno's lifetime giving total to more than $4 million.
Joe Paterno's personal life was humble. His humanitarian life was
remarkable. And his professional life was legendary.
____________________