Penn State’s necessary correction

Paterno Family Football Experience Room inside Beaver Stadium’s Penn State All-Sports Museum

Greg Maresca , Bio and Archives--September 2, 2026

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For years, Penn State wanted to forget Joe Paterno.

The statue outside Beaver Stadium was removed. His name disappeared from places where it once stood prominently. Public discussion of his legacy became so uncomfortable that many simply avoided the subject. In the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Penn State understandably sought distance from one of the darkest periods in its history. Yet in the process, the university often appeared determined to erase not just a man, but an entire era.

Loyalty mattered. Stability mattered. Service mattered

That is why the opening of the Paterno Family Football Experience Room inside Beaver Stadium’s Penn State All-Sports Museum on Thursday feels less like a celebration and more like a long overdue correction.

History should never be whitewashed.

Neither should it be erased.

Joe Paterno was by no means a minor figure at Penn State. Rather, Paterno was Penn State for more than six decades. He arrived in Happy Valley from Brooklyn, New York in 1950 as an assistant coach........

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