The public memorial service for Joe Paterno was held at Penn State University on Thursday, and it was headlined by a wonderful, earnest, sincere and loving speech by his son, Jay.
It was everything that you would expect a speech from a son who idolized his father would be. He offered stories of Joe’s youth and the ideals that helped make him the coach and person he would come to be during his adult life.
No one could have done a better job with this speech than Jay did. He gave the world some insight into his father that we felt like we knew in ways that made you realize he touched more lives than just the players that he coached on the football field.
That is something that we need to appreciate about him and his legacy now that he is gone. There are very few human beings, forget football coaches, that can have a profound impact on so many lives. Joe Paterno was able to do that because of his core values.
While Jay’s speech was very moving, it was not the only highlight of the memorial service. Former quarterback Michael Robinson spoke on behalf of the players from the decade between 2000-2009 and shared how Joe helped shape his life.
In a humorous line at the beginning of the speech, Robinson sold out some other universities that offered him money and cars during the recruiting process. He went on to say that Penn State and JoePa would not do that. Instead, he would be given a first-class education and enter the world ready to face it head-on.
Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman of Nike, took the stage and spoke out about the current scandal that has rocked Penn State and all of college football.
“If there’s a villain in this tragedy,” Knight said, “it lies in that investigation, not in Joe Paterno’s response to it.”
Knight also asked, “Who is the real trustee at Penn State University?”
It may not have been appropriate at this time, but Knight felt he had to get that out there today.
Jay also made a not-so-subtle reference to the situation as well, saying that his father left this world “with a clear conscience.”
All of that will play out later on, and you can understand why they wanted to say what they did, but it did not overshadow what was a great farewell to one of the biggest icons in the history of college football.
