Paterno: Penn State Football’s Past and Present Meet

Last week, Penn State opened a new football exhibit in the All-Sports Museum at Beaver Stadium. That exhibit included a recreation of Joe Paterno’s office which immediately drew attention from people in the media near and far. 

But they missed the emphasis of this new area of the museum. That exhibit is not about one man. Even some Penn State sports outlets took the approach that this was controversial. For those who know all the history and understand the facts, this museum addition is well deserved.

Uninformed people and people who simply want to be trolls will always pop up. Their inability to understand facts and their need to irritate others is simply a reflection of something missing in their souls. As Joe Paterno used to tell us, “Don’t get into a pissing contest with a skunk.”

The history and artifacts inside that museum include videos on the current state of the program. There are videos about Matt Campbell and his arrival at Penn State. There are databases where you can look up former captains, lettermen, coaches, All-Americans and draft picks. Those inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame or Pro Football Hall of Fame are on the wall, and fans can take their picture with the Heisman Trophy.

Videos of great moments and archival interviews can be watched with the touch of tabs on touch screens. And ultimately, there will be an immersive room that will surround you with video giving you the experience of being on the field for a White Out.

This exhibit was the passion project of four people. They formed a small committee to get this done right.

Brad “Spider” Caldwell and Tom Venturino watched much of this history for a combined 85 years or so. They had front row seats for decades and were a driving force for this. They were joined by Sarah Higgins and Tom Lutz who spent countless hours collecting items and digitally copying things from the sports archives in Penn State’s library and then curating much of what now appears in the exhibit.

One of the last pieces of the puzzle were a pair of khaki whale pants that were worn on occasion by Joe Paterno in the 1980s. 

Seeing their emotional response to how much former coaches and players appreciated what they had done spoke volumes about their commitment to telling our story.

They were the driving force in all of this.

There was no involvement by trustees or outsiders. Some tried to take credit. But let’s be clear: This was a project that was conceived and delivered by these four people with the help of an anonymous donor. Their work and that donor’s generosity honor countless men and women, from players to coaches to administrators to staff assistants to professors, as well as fans, alumni benefactors and friends. Generations of those people set standards of academic and athletic integrity making Penn State a place that stood apart from all others

This exhibit is a testament to them. Any further attempt to obscure or debate the merit of their history is an affront to people who did things the right way.

And just two days later, as the hometown team took the field, there was a living presence of our history. Scores of former players, many of whom had not been back in several years, came to the stadium and took their place on the sidelines during pregame warm-ups. 

They did so to welcome Matt Campbell and all the new players into the fold. They did so to tip their hat and show their support for the next generation that will write the next chapters of Penn State football history.

And then the ball was kicked off…

We saw three very prominent former — Nittany Lions D’Anton Lynn, Terry Smith and Dan Connor — on the defensive side of the ball coaching a shutout, driven by some great linebacker play. On offense, the quarterback was under center in the “I” formation on fourth and 1 for a big first down that set up a score before the half.

But also, there were two subtle things that spoke to the character of the coach leading this program. Leading 31-0 with 8:55 to go in the third quarter, the backup quarterback entered the game. And with 35 seconds left Penn State took a knee on the third and 7 at the Marshall 7-yard line. And Penn State fans applauded.

Sportsmanship and respect for our opponent is back.

That play was the capstone on an afternoon where players made their plays and celebrated in largely very subdued fashion. Acting like you expect to make plays is a sign of confident maturity.

All afternoon, from pregame tailgates to post-game commentary, the fans repeated the same message. They liked the direction of the program, and the outcome of the game and what they saw on the field between plays. They saw business-like precision and blue-collar toughness honoring those plain blue and white uniforms.

After that last knee was taken, it was 4th and 09 at the nine-yard line as the clock ran out.

A sign, a foreshadowing? Who knows? But if you believe in those things you can’t help but believe that the ghosts of Penn State past are proud of what has come before, what they see in the present and what they will see in Penn State future.

The climb will get steeper as the season goes. But what we saw Saturday was truly a living continuation of the values and history housed just a few hundred yards from that field.