Posts tagged ‘Jay Paterno’
A Heartfelt Goodbye
This public information photo shows some of the 12,000 attendees at Joe Paterno's memorial service at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Father Matthew Laffey of the Penn State Catholic Center set the tone—and provided a broad outline of Joe Paterno’s life—in his opening prayer. “Thank you for this man. … How fortunate this corner of your kingdom has been.”
The details came slowly over the next two hours Thursday afternoon, as speakers at A Memorial for Joe painted pictures of the man who helped to build—and became largely synonymous with—Penn State.
We met the competitive Joe. “The bigger the game, the quieter he was in practice,” said Todd Blackledge, quarterback of the 1982 national championship team. “But the gleam in his eyes told the story.”
The literary Joe, who never called Susan Welch, dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, anything other than “Dean,” who donated millions of dollars to the library, and who clearly passed that love of literature on to his son. Here’s who Jay Paterno quoted in his closing eulogy: Sophocles, William Blatty, U2, John Adams, John Ruskin, Tennessee Williams, Martin Luther King Jr., and Arthur Ashe.
The funny Joe, so quick with a one-liner, who told Jimmy Cefalo’s mother on a recruiting visit, “Your pasta is better than Mrs. Cappelletti’s.” (more…)
An Early Morning Goodbye
This photo from Nick Sloff '92 shows the line outside Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on Tuesday afternoon
I arrived at 6 a.m. Wednesday, nearly two hours before officials again opened the doors to Pasquerilla Spiritual Center for Joe Paterno’s viewing. And I wasn’t even the first one there.
By far. The Early Bird award goes to David Brown of Greensburg, Pa. He’s a Pitt alum, but has been a Penn State — and Paterno fan — his entire life. Brown arrived at 4 a.m. He left his house at midnight.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there had been 1,000 fans here at 4,” Brown told me. “I just wanted to pay my respects.”
By 6:30, it was just a handful of people. The sun hadn’t risen yet and it was the type of late January morning where you could see — and feel — your breath.
By 7, there were 75 people. Fifteen minutes later, that number doubled. And at 7:40, when officials opened the doors of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center for Joe Paterno’s viewing, the line had grown to 1,000.
Thousands of fans, supporters and members of the Penn State community are expected to pass through the spiritual center from 8 to noon Wednesday to pay their final respects to Paterno.
When I left Pasquerilla Tuesday night at about 11, police told me that “tens of thousands of people” attended Tuesday’s 10-hour window. When I walked through at 10:40, Paterno’s children, Jay ’91 and Mary Kay Hort ’86, stood by the exit and shook hands, hugged and thanked supporters who walked through. Sue Pohland ’62, was also there until the end — sitting in the chairs normally reserved for the choir, wearing a thick red coat, her arm around one of her granddaughters.
The second guy in line Wednesday had a story, too. John Myers, 70, from Tamaqua, Pa., arrived at 5 a.m. after a two-and-a half hour drive.
“It was worth it,” he said.
Myers has been a Penn State fan for more than 60 years. He remembers visiting State College in high school. After the last football game every year, the school would send a bus up so students could attend Penn State games. The bus cost 75 cents.
Emily Kaplan, intern
P.S. To see more of Nick’s photography work, click here to check out his blog.
Waiting Hours for Just a Moment, With No Complaints
I walked from my office to the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center a little after 1 p.m. Tuesday, thinking I might be early enough to beat the crowds. I wasn’t close.
Heading toward the tail end of a line that snaked back and forth through the Pasquerilla courtyard, Disneyland-style, stretched east on the sidewalk along Curtin Road, and at times extended north onto Shortlidge Road almost to Park Avenue, I got a sense of the crowd that already had turned out for Joe Paterno. This was in the first hour of a 10-hour viewing window on Tuesday, with four more hours scheduled Wednesday morning. This was no surprise.
I joined the crowd and spent two hours in line, all but the last 10 minutes of it outside, before the final stretch. We entered the spiritual center through a side door, shuffled down a hallway and entered the main lobby, where a few more turns of the line finally led us into the main auditorium. The clumps of people thinned into a slow but steadily moving single file, which continued down the aisle on the left side of the large, high-ceilinged room. At the front lay a casket, adorned with flowers.
We turned right, the casket on our left, the already indelible black-and-white image of Paterno, arms crossed and smiling, the only other adornment. On each side of the casket stood a large young man—former Nittany Lion quarterback Daryll Clark ’08 and a current player I didn’t recognize—part of the “honor guard” of lettermen who took turns aside their coach on the stage. The line had moved much more slowly in the early going, as some of those who’d come to pay their respects paused 15 or 20 seconds for prayer and reflection, a practice that must’ve been discouraged by funeral officials mindful of the tens of thousands still to come. By the time I got there, it seemed instinctive for each of us to stop for just a beat before moving on.
Jay Paterno ’91 stood for a time not far from the exit, shaking every hand presented him. I’m told his brother Scott ’97 did the same at other times during the 10-hour public viewing. I don’t know if their other siblings or Joe’s widow, Sue ’62, met the crowd, it seems safe to assume they did. The Paterno family has made no secret of their appreciation for the public support they’ve received over the past few months.
A friend who was an hour or so behind me in line texted me later to tell me that Tom Bradley ’78, Paterno’s former player, longtime assistant, and interim replacement, had made his way down the line on Curtin Road. As far as my friend could tell, Bradley shook the hand of every person in the line and offered the same words to each of them: “Thanks for coming out for Coach.”
Ryan Jones, senior editor
For All Who Love Joe Paterno, an Anxious Night
Word spread quickly this evening that Joe Paterno’s health situation had turned grave. Hundreds of people gathered at the Paterno statue outside Beaver Stadium, bringing candles and other mementoes, and State College police set up barricades on McKee Street to prevent cars from driving to Joe’s house.
At about 8:45 p.m. there was word that Joe had passed away. CBS News seemed to be the source of the report (apparently based on a tweet it saw from the student-run site OnwardState.com), and several other news outlets began repeating it.
Ten minutes later came word that the reports of Joe’s death were erroneous. At 8:57 p.m., Paterno family spokesperson Dan McGinn was quoted as saying they were “absolutely not true.”
Around 9:20 p.m., Jay Paterno tweeted: “I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight.” And his brother Scott wrote a similar tweet: “CBS report is wrong – Dad is alive but in serious condition. We continue to ask for your prayers and privacy during this time.”
Since then it’s been interesting to read some of the posts on Twitter that are critical of those who, in their zeal to get the news out first, got it wrong.
—”Tonight’s lesson: The old journalism adage ‘if your mother says she loves you, check it out’ rings true.”
—”big lesson young journos, you take someone’s death seriously. You get it from direct sources like family.”
—”When reporting that someone has died, you cannot be “confident” your report is correct. You have to be sure your report is correct.”
—”The CBS editor who went with the story of Paterno’s death should tweet his own name, instantly. Step up.” (This one came from from Sally Jenkins, the Washington Post sportswriter who interviewed Paterno a week ago.)
The Poynter Institute has already written a story explaining how the erroneous reports of Joe’s death spread. Onward State has issued an apology for their error, with managing editor Devon Edwards stepping down immediately. Meanwhile, Penn Staters everywhere wait anxiously, keeping the Paterno family in their thoughts.
Tina Hay, editor
A Blizzard of Birthday Cards for Joe Paterno
When Joe Paterno posed for this 1995 cover, he was 68 years old.
Scott Fata ’00, president of the Baltimore Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association, isn’t sure how the movement got started. But a friend forwarded him one of those emails that had been forwarded several times before, the gist of which was that the original sender thought it would be cool for as many Penn State fans as possible to send cards to Joe Paterno on his 85th birthday—which is today, Dec. 21.
Fata liked the idea a lot. He promoted it on the chapter’s website, and he tweeted it, as well. He also upped the ante, challenging fans and alums to send 109,000 cards—one for every seat in Beaver Stadium. He wasn’t the only person who got out the word (several Facebook groups were started in the past few weeks), but his suggestion got passed around a lot, and it seemed to strike a chord in the wake of the Sandusky scandal and Paterno’s subsequent cancer diagnosis and broken pelvis.
Some people believe Paterno has taken a disproportionate share of the blame and outrage in the scandal. Others think it’s not quite so clear-cut, but they’re distressed at how things were handled. And as the Altoona Mirror, which hasn’t been easy on Paterno, wrote in an editorial, “No one wanted Paterno’s magnificent career to end the way it did.”
Said Fata, “I think part of the reason, too, is that he was fired so abruptly—we as alumni never really got a chance to give him the big goodbye that I think a lot of us wanted to do.”
He had no idea whether anyone was following through until Jay Paterno tweeted Wednesday afternoon, “Saw boatloads of birthday cards for Joe at the house & realized that I’d better get him one before tomorrow.”
I wasn’t sure how many cards equal a boatload, so I checked with the post office. Someone who must remain anonymous said that an entire tray of mail—about 500 cards—went to the Paterno residence on Wednesday, and that three trays went Thursday, on Paterno’s actual birthday. So it’s at least a couple thousand cards.
Another birthday tribute to Paterno came from about 400 of his former players, who have signed this letter calling for “due process for Joe Paterno and the Penn State community.” At this link, it’s possible to add your comments.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
On Jay Paterno
I’d been wanting to write about Jay Paterno ’91 since I met him back in 2007, when I was covering the first Penn State Football Fantasy Camp for The Penn Stater. The idea finally came to fruition over this spring and summer, and my profile of Jay appears in our Sept/Oct issue—you can download a PDF of the feature here.
Two things had me convinced Jay would make an interesting subject for a feature. The first is that, among his college football coaching peers, he’s something of a renaissance man. He’s a writer, with a regular column on StateCollege.com and a couple of novels in the works. He’s also politically active, having stumped for Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign—and he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that he someday might run for office himself.
Mostly, though, I was intrigued by how polarizing a figure Jay is for a lot of Penn State football fans, particularly the small but vocal segment who can’t seem to stand him. Indirectly, those folks helped inspire the story, so it’s no surprise that some of them have strong opinions about the story itself. Over the past week or so, I’ve skimmed the messages boards on Blue White Illustrated, Fight on State and Lions 247, where our story was discussed in a handful of posts. To answer the most colorful accusation I found there: No, we were not “put up to” the story by the Paterno family—but it was fun to imagine Joe Paterno calling our office for something like that. Alas, I’m guessing he’s got better things to do.
Whether or not your thoughts on the subject are similarly conspiracy-minded, we’re curious what you think of the story, and the rest of the issue. Feel free to leave comments below, or on our Facebook page.
Almost forgot: The great shot of Jay walking in Beaver Stadium comes courtesy of Bill Cardoni, who shoots quite a bit for us. Needless to say, he’s a terrific photographer. You can find more of his work here.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Got the New Issue Yet?
If you haven’t already received your copy, our Sept./Oct. issue is surely en route to your mailbox. Among other good stuff in the magazine, you’ll find a feature on nine students who spent the summer interning all over the world. I interviewed the interns for the story—and probably had a little too much fun in the process.
Amy Green, who worked with penguins at the Pittsburgh Zoo, had me in stitches when she detailed some of her not-so-fun (OK, downright gross) clean-up duties in the penguin exhibit. Broadway intern Alex Cadmus and I debated the musical merits of West Side Story vs. South Pacific. Bryan Lemley’s stories about the mystery meat in his Russian bank’s cafeteria were hilarious—“I’d just point at something and pray it came with mashed potatoes.”
But beyond their senses of humor, these students are seriously ambitious; most of them worked 40-plus hours a week while some of their peers were hanging poolside. With that kind of drive, I won’t be surprised if we hear about them again—as alums—in the future. Maybe you’ll even read about them in our pages.
Also in the Sept./Oct. issue:
Plenty of Blue and White in Daytona
Daytona Beach in March—not a bad gig.
Once or twice a year I have a chance to travel to one of the Alumni Association’s 150-some chapters and give members a presentation about The Penn Stater. I talk about what goes into the making of the magazine, share some of our editorial philosophies, show a lot of pictures, maybe talk about some memorable bloopers. Depending on where we are in the production cycle, I sometimes offer a sneak preview of what’s in the next issue as well.
The Lysingers—Jane ’53 and Bill ’54—at the Halifax River Yacht Club just before the banquet.
Last weekend I got to visit the Daytona-Palm Coast Chapter (yes, I know, it’s rough having to go to Florida in March) and be the keynote speaker at the banquet marking their 10th anniversary. What a great place to visit, and what a great group. The chapter was founded in 2001 thanks in large part to the efforts of Joan Adams Fenton ’64, ’65g, ’83g and Jane Grubb Lysinger ’53, each of whom had recently moved to the area and were looking to connect with other Penn Staters. The group quickly took off, and today they hold football-watching parties, do community-service projects, have an annual Derby Days event, and sponsor a scholarship for one Penn State student each year.
Jo Chesworth ’60 of Boalsburg happened to be in Florida at the time of the banquet, and reconnected with Joan Fenton ’64, ’65g, ’83g.
A good-sized crowd—about 85 people—turned out for the banquet at the not-too-shabby Halifax River Yacht Club, and I think about 80 of them had questions for me during the Q&A portion of my presentation. They just wouldn’t stop asking questions about the magazine: questions about the class notes and obits sections, about my editor’s column, about whether there were any stories I regretted doing. (And, no, I’m not going to answer that last one here; you’ll have to come hear me speak sometime to get that out of me!)
It’s always interesting to me to visit chapters in different parts of the country and run into people I know—or people I sort of know, anyway. I met Renie Calkin ’79, a golf pro who I remember as an eastern regional golf champion as an undergrad (she was Renie Kelleher then). I reconnected with Laura Ramp ’94, who once served on Alumni Council—and who did a great job playing piano throughout the evening. And I later found out that the mother-in-law of Jay Paterno ’91 was in the audience.
Laura Ramp ’94 played piano for the event.
And who else should walk in the door but Jo Rider Chesworth ’60, who was associate editor of The Penn Stater for many years? Jo and her husband, Tom ’60, ’69g, ’74g, still live in Boalsburg; they just happened to be in Florida visiting friends and decided to come to the banquet.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how much I appreciated the efforts of Mary Ann Rapp Bunn ’84, who put the banquet together and who has been corresponding with me about the details since last May, and also Rob Walls ’88, who does a great job as chapter president.
I also didn’t mind the 75-degree Florida weather one bit.
Tina Hay, editor
For Jay Paterno, Alabama-Penn State Memories Are Personal
Jay Paterno ’91 is a regular columnist for StateCollege.com, and his latest piece is well timed for Saturday’s game. In it, Jay shares his memories of Penn State-Alabama games past, offers some insights into the similarities between his father and Bear Bryant, and shares a couple of cool mementos from his youth: a letter Bryant wrote him 28 years ago, and this terrific photo of his dad and Bryant taken by his mom, Sue ’62.
I’m off to Tuscaloosa this morning, and technology willing, hope to have a bunch of posts over the next couple of days. Stay tuned.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Nittany Lions For A Day
Last week marked the fifth annual Penn State Football Fantasy Camp, the four-day fan experience that lets diehard Nittany Lion fans experience life as a (sort of) Penn State football player. I was lucky enough to cover the first camp four years ago as a Penn Stater freelance writer, not long before I joined the magazine’s staff. (For some reason, they’ve still got a picture of me on the camp Website — that’s me in the blue #22 jersey. Nice face, huh?) This year also marked the first annual Ladies X’s & O’s camp, a one-day event that sold out with 50 women, including Kelley Paterno, wife of Penn State QB coach Jay Paterno ’91.
The women arrived on campus Friday morning and got a crash course in football formations, terminology and play-calling, much of it from assistant coach Mike McQueary ’97. On Friday afternoon, they took to the Beaver Stadium turf for a pep talk from Joe Paterno — you can check out the video on the GOPSF.com Facebook page — and a game of flag football, which ended in a 6-6 tie.
Afterward, I asked Gloria Stanulis Spicer ’70 — at 62 the camp’s second-oldest player and a longtime season ticket holder — about her impressions. Her first was how competitive her fellow campers were. “On the bus and at lunch, they all seemed so nice and polite,” she said. “But once the game started? Oh, no.”
The other thing Spicer was left with? What a blast she had out on the field. “It just went so fast — after the game, everybody was like, ‘Can we play some more?’ We really wanted it to continue.” Camp organizers haven’t committed to doing the camp again next year, but if they do, they can count on at least one returnee: Spicer says she’ll be there, and plans to bring her daughter, Meg Spicer ’06, along, too.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
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