All eyes were glued to the big guy in the gym. Red-faced and sweaty, he must have been benching more than 300 pounds. But the weights were slipping. Just as it looked as if he was going to get crushed by the immense burden dangling over his head, he tossed the weights up like it was no problem at all and popped up from the bench. He may have looked down for a minute, but he would not be defeated.
The gym was silent. Everyone was impressed. But the thing I noticed most as he strutted around gasping for air was his Penn State University T-shirt.
“That’s right,” I thought as I rode the elliptical machine at my local gym a few days ago. “That’s how we do. We are Penn State.”
It was the first time since 2011, when the horrific Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal was revealed, that I felt any pride or connection to my alma mater. In 2012, Sandusky, the former assistant football coach, was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison for the sexual abuse of 10 boys after tearful testimony from his victims.
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JoePa may be back atop the record books as the “winningest coach ever,” but he was not an honorable man — not when it came to putting the lives and safety of children above football. And no NCAA ruling can change that history.
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