Joe Paterno taught me how to be the best person I can be.
-Lee Lispi

My brother, Ken, idolized Joe Paterno, and he loved Penn State University football. As a matter of fact, in the 17 years before his death, he never missed a home game.

When Penn State played at home, he and his wife drove to University Park from Westminster, Maryland, to cheer on Paterno and his Nittany Lions.

Rarely did he miss a post season bowl game.

Ironically, he died in Florida at the Blockbuster Bowl in 1990, cheering on Paterno and the Nittany Lions.

I’ve always wanted to do a program about Joe Paterno, because when my brother died, Coach Paterno wrote one of the most beautiful letters my brother’s family received. All these years later, that letter has a special place in the red brick house on Milton Avenue.

Recently, I met one of Joe Paterno’s recruits, one of his players. A player with a very interesting story, not a Hollywood story, not a storybook ending. A player who experienced great adversity as he pursued his dream, but a player who made something very positive out of adversity…as a matter of fact, a player that we can all be proud of. He came from northeastern Pennsylvania, and Pittston Area in particular. His name is Lee Lispi, and he’s a person that I have a feeling Joe Paterno would be very proud of.

Lee Lispi came from a good family. At Penn State, Coach Paterno and Coach Anderson were extensions of that family.

Lispi puts it this way:

“There are three people in my life who made an indelible impression on me: my grandfather, my father and Joe Paterno. I took confidence in him, and he never let me down.”

When Lispi arrived at Penn State, the future looked bright. He had all the right stuff. He was tall, talented. bright, and he was very fast on his feet. As they say, he had all the tools.

He knew the game. He loved the game, and he wanted to play the game for Paterno. But there was a rough patch for Lee Lispi at Penn State University, and it all stemmed from a back injury.

Overnight things changed, and the future looked bleak. His grades slipped. He began missing classes, and his life began to spiral out of control.

There were two reasons Lispi chose Penn State: academic excellence and Joe Paterno. Bothwere endangered, or so he thought. In a private meeting with Paterno, Lispi remembers one thing the coach shared with him:



“You can be the best football player in the world, but if you don’t have the grades, there’s nothin’ we can do for you.” Lispi continued: “There’s a standard that Paterno goes by and, if you are not above his standard, you, you’re not going to get the opportunity.”

It was decision time for Lispi. The choice was clear. Success in the classroom or success on the football field. The gentle giant from Pittston Area honestly believed that he could not do both.

Impressed by Paterno’s emphasis on a college education, Lispi decided to leave the team.

In the months that followed, Lispi watched as one dream ended and another began. The 6 foot 6 inch lineman became just another person on a campus of 50,000.

Today, Lee Lispi is completing his degree. He is working at an electronics store, and he is building stylized web sites.

When asked what he would say to Joe Paterno if their eyes met, he replied:

“If Joe was sitting in this room with me right now, I’d probably give him a hug and say, 'you know what, Coach, I appreciate everything you did for me, through thick and thin, and I’ll never forget it. You were part of the reason that I am the way I am now.' The main point I would want to get across is that he made, made a difference in my life and I’ll never forget that. I’m gonna keep that with me and I’m gonna teach my kids that for the most part, trying to be the best person I can be.”

Lee Lispi will graduate from Penn State University in December 2007, thanks, in no small measure, to Joseph Vincent Paterno.

(A related article about this episode can be found in the News and Notes section of the Windsor Park Theater. Video of Penn State Universtity football provided by WBRE TV ).

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