Prioritizing the Paterno legacy

Gazette Editorial Board

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The national debate about Joe Paterno's legacy heated up in the hours after the 85-year-old coach of college football fame died Sunday. Elsewhere on this page, a guest column by a Chicago writer and an editorial by a major Pennsylvania newspaper that covers Penn State extensively are examples of the range of opinion and emotions.

How should Paterno be most remembered - as one of college football's greatest coaches and molder of young men or as a major sports figure who fell short in doing what he should or could have to protect young boys from alleged sex abuse by a prominent assistant coach?

No collective consensus is possible.

But one lesson should be indisputable: No organization, no sports program or educational institution, can put its competitive success or image above the importance of doing whatever it can to protect the individuals it serves from sexual or other serious abuse - especially children who depend on adults to do the right thing.

Sadly, it appears Paterno didn't do enough of the right things at several points along the long, twisted path of the Penn State scandal, which finally erupted into the national consciousness in November. The mistakes he and others made demand review, response, change.

Just as important, they should remind every institution, every coach and athletic official in America: Children's well-being should be the highest priority.

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