the game, which, as Paterno would say, “is way too late. If you’re still teaching on Friday, you’re dead before you get started.” He learned that lesson. In later years, he would be at his most relaxed on Fridays, because by then, in one of his favorite Latin phrases, Alea iacta est . The die is cast.
But he did not know that yet, and his defensive players were utterly confused. The Bruins destroyed Penn State 49–11, and to make things more agonizing, UCLA’s coach, Tommy Prothro, ordered a late onside kick, a play that is used almost exclusively when a team is trailing and in a desperate situation. Paterno believed Prothro was trying to embarrass him and his team, and it made him seethe.
Little went right. The week of the Syracuse game, Sue Paterno came up with a plan to liven things up. On Thursday night, she, Sandra Welsh (wife of assistant coach George Welsh), and Nancy Radakovich (wife of assistant coach Dan Radakovich) sneaked over to the Nittany Lion statue at the heart of campus and splattered a little washable orange paint on it, Syracuse’s color, and strung up a few orange streamers. Their idea was to get the Penn State students riled up and ready for Syracuse. “It was way too quiet,” Sue explained. “Nobody was showing any spirit at all.” The wives were so nervous they didn’t realize that most of the paint had ended up on their own coats.
The next morning, the radio news announced that the NittanyLion statue had been painted orange and the police knew the identity of the criminals; jail time was being considered. Joe flipped. He had so many other problems, and now his wife might go to jail for painting the most beloved statue on campus orange. It was more than he could handle. He called home to tell Sue that she was going to be arrested.
“Joe was mad,” Sue recalled. “I mean he was really mad. I had thought it was just some good clean fun, but Joe was never like that. He has always had the strongest sense of right and wrong—the strongest sense of anyone I have ever known. He was outraged. If they had sent me to jail, I don’t even think Joe would have fought it. He even told me, ‘If you go to jail, I’ll have to find someone to take care of the kids.’ ”
As it turned out, the wives had splashed only a little bit of paint on the statue, probably even less than they remembered, considering how nervous they were. But then, perhaps inspired by the idea, some Syracuse students had come along and painted the Nittany Lion orange from mane to tail, and they had done the job in oil paint. In the end, three Syracuse fans did a little jail time, Sue’s prank would be retold every year, gaining new and more exciting details all the time, and every homecoming week Penn State students would make a show of protecting the Nittany Lion from fans of the opposing team.
Even with all of that, Syracuse beat Penn State 12–10.
Penn State came together well enough to beat the University of Pittsburgh in the last game of the season to salvage a 5-5 record; this mattered because the school had not had a losing season since 1938. But Paterno took no comfort from this. Years before, he had followed his fatum , his inner voice, and it had taken him away from law school, away from New York, away from the life of accomplishment his parents had planned for him. The voice had taken him to State College to be an assistant coach for sixteen years. Why? He had to believe it was for something great. Then, in his first year as head coach, the team had lost as many games as it won, and many people thought he was overmatched as a head coach. He had to admit to himself that he was not even a good football coach, much less a great one.
“I’ll tell you what I think happened that first year,” Paterno would say in a rousing soliloquy. “I was pointed in the wrong direction. I wanted to be successful. That was my mistake. I wanted to be one of the great ones. I wanted to be as big as Lombardi, as big as
But he did not know that yet, and his defensive players were utterly confused. The Bruins destroyed Penn State 49–11, and to make things more agonizing, UCLA’s coach, Tommy Prothro, ordered a late onside kick, a play that is used almost exclusively when a team is trailing and in a desperate situation. Paterno believed Prothro was trying to embarrass him and his team, and it made him seethe.
Little went right. The week of the Syracuse game, Sue Paterno came up with a plan to liven things up. On Thursday night, she, Sandra Welsh (wife of assistant coach George Welsh), and Nancy Radakovich (wife of assistant coach Dan Radakovich) sneaked over to the Nittany Lion statue at the heart of campus and splattered a little washable orange paint on it, Syracuse’s color, and strung up a few orange streamers. Their idea was to get the Penn State students riled up and ready for Syracuse. “It was way too quiet,” Sue explained. “Nobody was showing any spirit at all.” The wives were so nervous they didn’t realize that most of the paint had ended up on their own coats.
The next morning, the radio news announced that the NittanyLion statue had been painted orange and the police knew the identity of the criminals; jail time was being considered. Joe flipped. He had so many other problems, and now his wife might go to jail for painting the most beloved statue on campus orange. It was more than he could handle. He called home to tell Sue that she was going to be arrested.
“Joe was mad,” Sue recalled. “I mean he was really mad. I had thought it was just some good clean fun, but Joe was never like that. He has always had the strongest sense of right and wrong—the strongest sense of anyone I have ever known. He was outraged. If they had sent me to jail, I don’t even think Joe would have fought it. He even told me, ‘If you go to jail, I’ll have to find someone to take care of the kids.’ ”
As it turned out, the wives had splashed only a little bit of paint on the statue, probably even less than they remembered, considering how nervous they were. But then, perhaps inspired by the idea, some Syracuse students had come along and painted the Nittany Lion orange from mane to tail, and they had done the job in oil paint. In the end, three Syracuse fans did a little jail time, Sue’s prank would be retold every year, gaining new and more exciting details all the time, and every homecoming week Penn State students would make a show of protecting the Nittany Lion from fans of the opposing team.
Even with all of that, Syracuse beat Penn State 12–10.
Penn State came together well enough to beat the University of Pittsburgh in the last game of the season to salvage a 5-5 record; this mattered because the school had not had a losing season since 1938. But Paterno took no comfort from this. Years before, he had followed his fatum , his inner voice, and it had taken him away from law school, away from New York, away from the life of accomplishment his parents had planned for him. The voice had taken him to State College to be an assistant coach for sixteen years. Why? He had to believe it was for something great. Then, in his first year as head coach, the team had lost as many games as it won, and many people thought he was overmatched as a head coach. He had to admit to himself that he was not even a good football coach, much less a great one.
“I’ll tell you what I think happened that first year,” Paterno would say in a rousing soliloquy. “I was pointed in the wrong direction. I wanted to be successful. That was my mistake. I wanted to be one of the great ones. I wanted to be as big as Lombardi, as big as
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