Monday, June 17, 2013
Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium
Before the Sandusky scandal rocked Penn State University, it was inevitable that the university would eventually name the field at Beaver Stadium after Joe Paterno. After Paterno was fired and his statue was taken down, many lost hope. I believe it will eventually happen much to the dismay of the general public and media. Paterno and his family deserve this honor considering all he did for the university. He was so much more than a head football coach. He was a philanthropist, a educator, and a father figure to the Penn State community. He donated millions of dollars to numerous charities in State College, the Mount Nittany Hospital expansion, the spiritual center on campus, and to the university for a new library(Paterno Library). Also, he cared more about his players grades than wins/losses. Penn State Football's graduation rate under Paterno was 78 percent. The national average was 67. In Paterno's last season as the head coach the team had a 87 percent graduation rate, tied with Stanford for 10th in nation. Paterno once said "They ask me what I'd like written about me when I'm gone. I hope they write that I made Penn State a better place, not that I was just a good football coach." Paterno did make Penn State a better place and the university should celebrate it by naming the field at Beaver Stadium, Paterno Field.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You made an excellent argument for your case. It's very concise and well-written. My only suggestion is that I would love to see you take someone's arguments against it and directly refute them. Yes, he did all of these good things for the team, but people will still have reasons that it shouldn't be named after Paterno. Maybe looking into those reasons more in-depth and directly countering them you could make your case even stronger.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It seems like you have a visceral connection with paterno the way many had at penn state before the sandusky incidents. People love to argue this topic as a black and white issue but there is also a lot of grey involved. Sometimes it's hard to believe that someone who is viewed so highly by a community can do something wrong. The paterno story is fascinating in that despite what he is being accused of people still defend and love him. I'd be interested to see the other side of the argument as well, though I don't know if we would ever get a definitive answer on what was right or wrong.
ReplyDelete