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Monday, July 14, 2025

Why Joe Paterno is more than a legendary coach

Let's face it, Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno is a great football coach. 

 

 

 

But that is not the reason why I like him. 

 

 

 

He's going to own the career-wins record sometime this year. 

 

 

 

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But that is not the reason why I revere him. 

 

 

 

My first memory of Joe Paterno is of Penn State beating the Miami Hurricanes to win the 1987 Fiesta Bowl and a National Championship, the team's second in a four-year span. 

 

 

 

But that is not the reason why I respect him. 

 

 

 

The reason I respect Joe Paterno is because of a book I read in seventh grade.  

 

 

 

When my teacher, Miss Burns, told me we were reading a story about Joe Paterno and John Cappelletti, I was so excited.  

 

 

 

I imagined reading about Cappelletti's exploits in his Heisman Trophy season of 1973 and reading about the mastermind coaching of Paterno. 

 

 

 

While those aspects were in the story, they merely acted as a backdrop to one of the most gut-wrenching books I have ever read''Something For Joey.' 

 

 

 

For those who are unfamiliar with the book, it tells the story of a Joey Cappelletti, a seemingly normal eleven-year-old who enjoys Penn State football and watching his brother, John Cappelletti, play for his favorite team. 

 

 

 

There is a catch. Joey suffers from leukemia. 

 

 

 

The book focuses on John's relationship to Joey and how the struggle of the younger Cappelletti inspires the elder to perform well not only on the football field but in life. 

 

 

 

While there are other aspects that focus just on Joey's fight to live, the football aspect keeps Joey's hope alive. 

 

 

 

But the emotional high of the story comes when John accepts the Heisman Trophy for being the best player in college football. 

 

 

 

John's speech is still remembered in Heisman history as one of its greatest speeches. 

 

 

 

Here's an excerpt of the speech, given in December 1973. 

 

 

 

'I'd like to dedicate this trophy to the many who have touched my life and helped me, but especially to the youngest member of my family, Joseph, who is very ill. He has leukemia.' 

 

 

 

Trying to choke back the tears, John attempts to continue on. 

 

 

 

'A lot of people think I go through a lot on Saturdays, getting bumps and bruises. But for me, it's only on Saturdays and only in the fall. For Joey, it's all year round and it's a never-ending battle.'  

 

 

 

The emotional finish is almost too much for anyone in the audience to bear. 

 

 

 

'The Heisman Trophy is more his than mine because he's been a great inspiration to me. If I can dedicate this trophy to him tonight and give him a couple of days [of] happiness, it would mean everything.' 

 

 

 

There was not a dry eye to be found, either by the audience or by me as I saw tear drops fall onto that page. I had to take a break from reading and compose myself. 

 

 

 

Even Paterno had to hold the emotion in. 

 

 

 

Afterwards, Bishop Fulton Sheen had to struggle to find the words to say the benediction to the ceremony. 

 

 

 

'Maybe for the first time in your lives you have heard a speech from the heart and not from the lips,' Sheen said. 'Part of John's triumph was made by Joseph's sorrow. You don't need a blessing. God has already blessed you in John Cappelletti.' 

 

 

 

Joey passed away three years later, but his memory lives on in Penn State lore and in the memory of that book. 

 

 

 

To accentuate the power of the book, our class watched 'Brian's Song,' which had Billy Dee Williams and James Caan as Gale Sayers and Brian Piccalo, respectively. 

 

 

 

After reading 'Something for Joey,' 'Brian's Song' hit a deeper chord, especially when we saw the deathbed sequence, when Piccalo is struggling to find the words to say to Sayers.  

 

 

 

Joe Paterno was a minor character in 'Something for Joey,' but I saw more of the coach in those few pages than any book about him and his life could show. 

 

 

 

After that book, my image of Joe Paterno has never been the same. 

 

 

 

sports@dailycardinal.com

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