A closer look at Joe Pa, the kid from Flatbush

The look and the voice were unmistakable. The mistakes of judgement by the man and the administration were unforgivable. Five decades of Happy Valley life came to a sudden and stunning end last fall followed last Sunday by the death of the man who made it possible.
Joe Paterno was a product of ethnic Brooklyn who took his no-nonsense upbringing first to the Ivy League and then to nowheresville --- State College Pennsylvania. Driving there from Syracuse for the first time in the sixties, the trip transformed this college freshman into a 6-year- old with repeated cries of “Are we there yet?”. Mile after mile, hour after hour of nothing, absolute nothing.
Why would anyone want to coach and live in a place that knew no pizza, egg creams or Jews. About as far from Brooklyn as any Italian or Jew would want to be and Joe was a bit of both, sort of.
No, Joe Paterno was not Jewish, but the kid from Flatbush was proud and honored to be the Shabbos goy. Here’s how he explained growing up in Brooklyn in his autobiography, Paterno: By the Book,
“Where we lived, when a kid asked, ‘What are you?’ he didn’t mean are you a second baseman or a baritone. He meant, “Are you Irish or German or Italian or Jewish or what?’ Religion — just having one, and believing your religion was the truth — was important, too, even if yours wasn’t the same as the other guy’s. When a Jewish kid had to abandon the stickball game to get to shul on time on the High Holy Days, the rest of us understood. And on those days I felt chosen when that kid’s family asked me in to light their stove because they weren’t supposed to strike matches. I was the shabat goy. Of course, everybody knew your family was important to you, and you assumed the other kid’s family was important to him.”
This was a story echoed by brother George Paterno who was the radio analyst for the Penn State network. When I chatted with him in the broadcast booth he sounded so much like Joe that if you tuned in you’d be wondering how could he be coaching the team and be on the radio at the same time!
I’ll take it one step further. Joe Paterno was the “chasid” of college football coaches. He came to Penn State from Brown University with his college coach Rip Engle, serving as an assistant for 16 years. When he succeeded his mentor in 1966, Joe was determined to emphasize “study” as well as football. A concept often preached but seldom practiced in major college sports. To Paterno’s credit, the Penn State way achieved a remarkable graduation rate during his 46-year reign.
Tzedakah you ask? Paterno donated over $4 million of his own money to Penn State for the construction of libraries and other academic facilities. But if you knew absolutely nothing about Paterno behind the scenes, there was no way to overlook the way his teams dressed ---supermodest, no frills. Penn State’s uniforms. Not black and white, but navy blue and white. Two colors, plain white pants. No stripes, no sizzle. Plain white helmets with a single navy stripe. No stars, no buckeyes, not even a Nittany lion. Black shoes, white socks. Year after year, decade after decade, hardly a thing changed in the way Penn State dressed. Ok, contrasting trim around the neck and sleeves in 1987. But what a shanda for loyalists when the Nike swoosh appeared on the jersey in 1993 --- Joe actually following the lead of other schools displaying the Nike logo in exchange for outfitting all Penn State teams and cash contributions to the university. My goodness, Joe was going from chassid to modern orthodox?
By his third season and then again in his fourth, Paterno had back-to-back undefeated teams including bowl wins. But in 1968 it was Ohio State crowned as national champions and a year later it was Texas. President Nixon even declared the Longhorns number one. Years later Paterno went Pesci when referring to Nixon: “How could a guy who knew so little about Watergate know so much about football?” Paterno and Penn State would eventually get their national titles in 1982 and 1986.
Paterno indeed had a calculating side. Formalizing his own power play at Penn State by becoming athletic director. Resisting calls to join an eastern football conference then advocating his own plan. Finally in 1993, taking aim at Michigan, Ohio State and the Rose Bowl, the Brooklyn boy turned his back on Pitt, West Virginia and Syracuse, the whole east in fact and began play in the Big Ten.
It took Paterno only two seasons to get that Rose Bowl win, making him the only coach ever to win Rose, Cotton, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls His 8 wins in his last season brought him to 409, the most ever by any coach in major college football. Its only 400 game winner.
But this last season revealed a pattern of arrogance and influence that had been overshadowed by decades of success, reluctant fame, generosity and loyalty. Paterno told assistant Jerry Sandusky in 1999 that he would never have a chance to succeed him as coach. This after the first of Sandusky’s alledged sexual indiscretions. Sandusky left the staff but never left the scene. Access to a campus office and facilities, another incident of sexual behavior involving Sandusky and a young boy and this time an eyewitness report from an assistant coach. But Paterno never went to the police himself nor did he check to see if other Penn State officials in the know informed legal authorities-those very same officials that Joe had run off when they tried to get him to step down as coach in 2004. A coverup; an abandonment of responsiblity; criminal negligence; lying to a grand jury. The courts will eventually decide the legal fate of those charged. But in the end, the jury of Penn State officials allowed an aged coach to dictate the terms of his departure, instead of protecting his very valuable legacy. The valley was happy no more.
Dave Cohen is a Brooklyn native, a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications, and a resident of Atlanta. He has been a TV play-by-play broadcaster for Syracuse University, ESPN, and MSG covering the New York Yankees. He’s also appeared as an actor, most notably in “Glory Road,” and he does voice-over work on commercials. He is the brother of the Publisher, Karen C. Green. Contact him at www.davecohen.net.