Sudden End To Lengthy Career

When you think of Joe Paterno’s life timeline, it is almost surreal how rapidly and tragically things ended for the storied coach.

Joe Paterno passed away at age 85 on Sunday night from lung cancer.

The man, who put in more than 6 decades working for the university that he loved, spent much of his last days fighting the lung cancer, as well as hoping to clear his name from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case.

Students and fans have flooded the Penn State campus to pay their final respects to the man they belovingly called, “Joe Pa.”

The first public viewing will be held today, a 10-hour session starting at 1 p.m. at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus. Another viewing will take place for four hours Wednesday starting at 8 a.m. A private funeral service is scheduled for 2 p.m. that day.

Finally, a memorial service will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Jordan Center, the basketball arena next to Beaver Stadium.

Paterno lost his battle to the cancer just three months after he was diagnosed. Joe Pa withstood the test of time over the 6 decades at the school, where he was his own institution.

It is mind-blowing that in a matter of months, he was relieved of his duties at the university, and ultimately, end up losing his life.

There are going to be people on both sides of this issue because of the allegations that he knew about Jerry Sandusky’s alleged sexual abuses of children, and did not do enough about it.

We may never know what Joe Pa did and did not know about these incidents.

Those are conversations for another day. And while I really hope that he did not know about these alleged awful, despicable acts, nobody knows for sure what he knew and what he did not.

Any talk of that would be premature and presumptuous.

The only thing that is undeniable is the amount of charity, service, and years he gave to Penn State University and its students.

I believe he deserves to have his final respects paid to him this week by the masses that will undoubtedly turn out.

There is no debate on the accomplishments that Joe Paterno achieved during his 85 years.

The debate that will rage on, ultimately deciding his legacy in the court of public opinion is what exactly he knew about child sex abuse going on under his watch at his school.

That debate has forever. This week is Joe Pa’s.