Paterno firing at Penn State: Did it hasten his death?

[2HBStrat]

I can't help but think that the scandal and subsequent firing of Joe Paterno by Penn State hastened his health issues and death. Yes or No?

[pickaguitar]

possibly...I bet someone might want to die if in his shoes

[chrisrocksusa]

absolutely.


i only think it's a shame b/c he didn't get to live long enough to experience all the scrutiny that scumbag deserved.

[TD_Madden]

well, he was diagnosed with lung cancer right after the firing....I'm guessing that the intensity of the season(s) kept him from regular checkups that would have found the problem; apparently it was pretty far advanced.

[hank57]

You could say the firing.
You could say knowing you had not done more to keep other children from being molested.
You could say that the stress of such a scandal at your school that you helped coach to one of the greatest college sports record.

But really folks, his illness took him and we are all just Monday morning quarterbacks.

[CowTipton]

No. I'm pretty sure it was the cancer.

[semi-hollowbody]

He lived long enough to know he left Penn State in disgrace, along with his legacy being a disgrace...

Enabling a child rapist didnt seem to bother him before, why would it bother him now?

[qingcong]

Seeing as how normal, young, healthy people are susceptible to illness in times of great stress, I can see how the stress of the firing and accusations may have weakened his health. That said, his lung cancer was probably already advanced enough that he was hopeless.

I can't imagine being a 17/18 year old recruit and having some cancerous 80 year old man who probably hacks really gross due to the lung cancer in my living room trying to convince me to go to his school.

[Boris Bubbanov]

Spanier asked him to step down in what, 2004? 2005?

This guy had his mind set on dying "behind the wheel" and he almost got his way.

I am starting to see, Paterno was still in full denial mode. If he felt he'd done nothing wrong, then he's gonna stay and fight the disease and fight the evidence like it is all the same thing. His body said: "Too Late!"

He still had his wife and family. He still had legions of faithful. I just think the disease was further along than most people understood. Not in an absolute sense, more in the sense that all this turmoil had a smaller role than one might propose.

Stressors definitely can change the course of a disease like cancer. But it does not automatically follow that it was the decisive factor here. In this case.

And yet, I'm more wondering if a few too many Paterno brain cells knew he had done those kids wrong, and it festered in him all those years, and the disease got a foothold back then because of that. That's a more intriguing concept.

[plaintopper]

I told my wife at the height of the scandal that Paterno wouldn't make it 6 months -- and that he would never live to see the real fallout from the situation he helped create.

Penn State, and his own legacy, was what he lived for. Take that away from an 85 year old man, and it's crushing.

[mark norwine]

Originally Posted by semi-hollowbody

Enabling a child rapist didnt seem to bother him before, why would it bother him now?

Because the world "found out"...

[sws1]

Umm - No - it was the cancer that killed him.

Last I heard, being fired doesn't cause cancer.

[bigdaddy]

Often times cancer cannot be affected (stopped) by filling the host body full of toxic chemicals and radiation. I am certain that something as biologically significant as Paterno's lack of employment gave the cancer all it needed to go ahead and take over.

[Jahn]

Let's say the scandal never happened. Paterno would have coached his team to a bowl, maybe even a win. Within a month after the season ends, Paterno dies. Adulations cap a perfect ending to a long storied life and career. The general populace might have registered that a great coach was lost to cancer, and then he'd be one for the history books.

Instead, the one thing that is ensured to live on after his death, his Legacy, will be forever tarnished by how it ended, and how that raised questions and doubts about his previous work in football and on campus and in the community. Even after his death, everyone is still talking about the scandal due to the greater implications it has on that microcosm of society, and maybe speaks a bit about the human condition.

So to answer the OP's question, I think cancer would have taken Paterno regardless of his scandal. Did cancer take him earlier due to stress? Maybe. Did it take him later due to the scandal, since after his resignation he had more time to fight it? Maybe. But the medical "how you leave this world" isn't as important as the legacy "how you leave this world" to many.

[HugalosPizza]

Originally Posted by Penosity

No. I'm pretty sure it was the cancer.

And father time.