Over the span of a long career, there is bound to be evidence of both good and bad in a man's body of work. While the guilt or innocence of Joe Paterno will be discussed for many years in the courthouse of America's drinking establishments, here's something to consider:
In 2000, Penn State freshman defensive back Adam Taliaferro had his spine crushed when tackling an Ohio State player. He lay on that September field paralyzed and panicked.
The first person he saw when he opened his eyes was Paterno, who died Sunday at 85.
"He could see I was losing it, but his eyes stayed totally calm," Taliaferro remembers. "And I remember that familiar, high-pitched voice, going, 'You're gonna get through this, Kid. You're gonna be OK.' And I just trusted him. I believed it."
Taliaferro wound up in a hospital bed in Philadelphia, everything frozen solid below the neck. Doctors said he had about a 3 percent chance of walking again. And every other week, Paterno would fly to Philly to see him.
"He'd bring our trainer and a couple of my teammates," Taliaferro says. "Nobody in the hospital knew he was there." Paterno would tell him all the dumb things his teammates and coaches had done lately. Pretty soon, Taliaferro would be laughing his IVs out.
"I can't tell you what that meant to me," says Taliaferro, now 30. "I'm stuck in that hospital, and here's Coach Paterno bringing a piece of the team to me, in the middle of the season. How many coaches would do that?"
One midnight, Taliaferro moved a toe and the first person his dad called was Paterno. His dad held the phone to Adam's ear and Paterno said, "You're gonna prove 'em all wrong, Kid!"
From then on, every visit, Paterno wanted to see Taliaferro move something new. "I got to where I wanted to be ready. A finger, a hand, whatever. I wanted to perform for Coach Paterno."
One day, five months into it, Paterno walked in and said, "What's new, Kid?" Taliaferro swung his legs over the bed, stood and extended his hand to shake.
"I'll never forget his eyes," he says. "They were already huge behind those Coke-bottle glasses, but they got even bigger." Paterno gave him a 10-second hug and then said, "Kid, ya make me proud."
Paterno went on to encourage that kid to go to law school, become a lawyer, and is now running for a spot on the Penn State Board of Trustees. Clearly, Paterno had a significant impact on a yong man's life, and opened a world to him that he most likely would not have discovered, if not for Penn State.
Then you have the other side of the equation. A man that stayed on too long, lost control of a very powerful force, and enabled despicable things to happen on his watch.
Will Paterno be remembered more for the long career, the wins, the men he shaped, and the lessons he taught? Or will he be remembered as a guy who should have seen what was going on beneath his nose, and bears significant responsibility for dozens of boys losing their innocence, childhood, and their identity?
I guess time will tell.
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