[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

[[Page H669]]

     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.

[[Page H670]]

  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.

                          ____________________