Editor's Note: Brooke Sherman-Schmieg grew up in Penn State country and has been a lifelong Nittany Lions Fan. She has a bachelor's degree from St. Bonaventure University and a master's degree from American University. She currently lives in Horseheads, New York, with her husband Gabe.
I don’t know how to say anything more than what has already been said and written about Joe Paterno. All I know is how my heart has hurt since his passing. How my thoughts have turned to his life lessons. How I can do what his father told him to do -- “Make an impact.”
"They ask me what I'd like written about me when I'm gone. I hope they write I made Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach." That’s the quote beside the seven-foot statue of Joe. The bronzed tribute to the coach has caught him in mid-stride, as he had once entered Beaver Stadium with his team to his back.
Joe was so much more than a football coach. More than 409 wins. More than thick black glasses, cuffed khakis, white socks, and black Nikes. He inspired students to attend Penn State. He encouraged players to study just as hard as they played for him on the field. He taught us all about “success with honor.”
His reach went well beyond his decades on the State College campus. It went beyond the legions of players who wore the timeless uniforms of blue and white, swept past the thousands of students and alumni who called him coach.
He reached me -- an athletically challenged girl who started reading about JoePa when she was 10. I couldn’t help but admire this man with a Brooklyn accent living in the middle of Pennsylvania and making a difference in the lives and community around him.
I wanted to be like Joe -- a good student, a hard worker, an honorable person, a charitable giver -- someone with dedication, determination, and the diligence to be a good person making the world around me a better place than I had found it. I wanted to make Joe proud.
I’ve shed more than a few tears for JoePa in the last several days, mourning the loss of a man we will never see the likes of again.
Joe Paterno loved Penn State to the end, regardless of how the trustees treated him or the media painted him. He unabashedly loved the students, the alumni, the fans, at times, probably as much as he loved his family.
As Joe is laid to rest, I accept his unspoken challenge to us all. I will make an impact.
Rest in peace, Joe. Rest in peace.
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