When Joe Pa was the Head Coach here at PSU, he was nearly a God. He could do no wrong, because of the way he went about things.
Little do people know that he hired Dr. David Yukleson, our psychologist for student athletes at Penn State. Paterno realized that athletes have different schedules, and often time feel the pressure of school and performance being weighed down on them. He made sure that all of his players stayed on top of their schoolwork in a legal fashion. He did so many great things for the university.
He also had the infamous Jerry Sandusky on his popular ling time coaching staff. In 2011, Sandusky was sent to trial for molestation of young boys in his charity organization. It was said that Joe Pa was aware, but did not say anything about it. For the inability of Joe Pa to speak up, the NCAA, as a part of the sanctions they placed on the university, stripped him of his record 409 wins as a Division I football head coach. This enraged the people of Penn State.
As I mentioned earlier, Joe Pa could do no wrong. He allegedly didn’t say anything about the situation, so everything that he every worked for was stripped from him. The way Penn Staters work for his wins to come back is unbelievable.
I have seen posters on almost every restaurant’s window saying “409”. There is a restaurant on E. College Ave called 409 because of it. When the football team’s sanctions were removed, people chanted “409” at Old Main for the longest time. Wherever you go in State College, you will get the message that they want his 409 wins to come back.
Penn State, through its alumni, faculty, the people of State College, etc., have displayed publicly the great respect they have for Paterno and his 409 wins. Now they wait to see what is next in store for this cause.