Paterno by Joe Posnanski

Author:Joe Posnanski [Posnanski, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Biography, Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9781451657494
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2012-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

Joe and Sue Paterno ride in a parade through State College (Penn State University Archives, Pennsylvania State University Libraries)

Evil and Good

Joe Paterno never seemed happier than when he was designing something new. He loved the bursts of inspiration. They woke him from the deepest sleep and compelled him to grab one of the lead pencils he always kept by his bed and start writing. (“Lord, I hated those pencils,” Sue said. “They left marks all over the bed.”) Those bursts of inspiration prompted him to excuse himself in the middle of social gatherings and race back to his office, where he scribbled feverishly. Those bursts of inspiration were a reason he kept coaching long after he had accomplished so much. He did not know how to live without those moments of electricity.

Perhaps the greatest burst of inspiration of his coaching life, greater even than his invention of a new defense back in 1967, happened at the end of the 1986 football season. It was a vision he shared with his defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky. Together they decided that the way to win the biggest college football game ever played was to walk into the bullfight wearing bright red.

MORE PEOPLE WATCHED PENN STATE play Miami on television in the January 2, 1987, Fiesta Bowl than watched any other college football game ever played. There were logistical reasons for this: it was the only game played on a Friday night in winter, a good television-watching night. “Miami Vice and Crime Story will not be seen tonight so we can bring you this special presentation of the Fiesta Bowl” was how NBC introduced the game. The game was an anomaly: there were rarely games played after New Year’s Day. And the game had a biting clarity: this was a true national championship game. Miami was ranked No. 1. Penn State was ranked No. 2. Neither team had lost a game all season.

More than anything, this game was pure cinema, with villains and heroes, Axis and Allies, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, evil and good. Of course, it wasn’t really good against evil; it never is except in the movies and professional wrestling. But this game was close enough.

Penn State was supposed to represent the good. The Nittany Lions had finished the regular season 11–0 for the second straight year. In the 1985 season, they finished the regular season No. 1 but lost to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. “We were the better team,” linebacker Trey Bauer declared, echoing the thoughts of his teammates. Their undefeated record in 1986 impressed few across the country: they played just one ranked team, a Bearless Alabama they beat 23–3; the rest of the schedule was bland; and the games were too close. They almost lost to Cincinnati, they almost lost to Maryland, and they almost lost to a subpar Notre Dame team.

The offense was led by an affable and much maligned quarterback named John Shaffer, who wasn’t especially fast and couldn’t throw particularly well but had a

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