NCAA strips Joe Paterno of his 2011 Gerald R. Ford Award
The NCAA's hammer drop on the Penn State football program Monday and subsequent sting on the legacy of late former coach Joe Paterno does indeed have a Michigan football tie.
According to multiple reports, the NCAA has stripped Paterno of his 2011 Gerald R. Ford Award, an honor named after the Grand Rapids-born president who starred on the football field for the Wolverines in the early 1930s.
The NCAA stripped former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno of his 2011 Gerald R. Ford Leadership Award on Monday.
AnnArbor.com file photo
After winning the award in 2011, NCAA president Mark Emmert applauded Paterno for his leadership on and off the field, as well as his "personal accountability is a terrific example of everything the NCAA stands for."
"Coach Paterno has distinguished himself to the world by his wins on the field, but he has endeared himself to thousands of student-athletes who have learned through his leadership that success in the classroom and in life is the greatest accomplishment," Emmert said at the time. “For me, Coach Paterno is the definitive role model of what it means to be a college coach.”
Earlier Monday, Emmert had a much different tone with regard to Paterno and the Penn State program, as he announced the NCAA sanctions levied against the former coach and university for its role in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation tragedy.
Ex-Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt won the Ford Award in 2012. Other winners include Myles Brand, John Wooden and Billie Jean King.
Nick Baumgardner covers Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2514, by email at nickbaumgardner@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @nickbaumgardner.
Comments
Jaxon5
Tue, Jul 24, 2012 : 10:32 p.m.
It was not only a good but a great decision to strip Paterno of the Gerald R Ford Award. You cannot have a name that stands for no integrity associated with a name that stands for the utmost integrity.
jns131
Tue, Jul 24, 2012 : 9:57 p.m.
After reading everything on this? The true victims are the football players, Penn State and the scholarships that bring in the revenue. This includes the town that this college is based in. Scholarships are public money and what is going to hurt worse? Is no football? No students. They will go elsewhere. Sad to say it, but NCAA really messed up big time on this one. It is not the football players fault that the big guys covered up the truth. Can we say ghost town? This is what will happen if scholarships and the bowl are not reversed. Good luck with that one NCAA.
jgtrueblue
Tue, Jul 24, 2012 : 4:19 a.m.
I believe the men that were responsible for the shame and immoral coverup should be charged, serve time and pay restitution to the university and the abused. The rulings for Joe Pa were tough but necessary. I do not believe in the NCAA playing God again, with its sanctimonious biased power. To penalize the rest of the university, the current players and coaching staff, the students, the loyal alumni and the entire college town of College Station is far beyond wrong. It is immoral. These people did NOTHING wrong and are being blamed and will suffer greatly for others' crimes. The loss to that town itself economically and to the current football program that is innocent will be devastating. Those players that had NOTHING to do with this are paying the heaviest price by not having a full functioning program. Their hard work and dreams are being taking away through no fault of their own. Blaming the innocent for another's crime IS a crime. The NCAA is a waste and should not have that kind of destructive authority.
Doug
Tue, Jul 24, 2012 : 2:09 p.m.
PSU suffers, alumni suffer, reputation suffers, businesses suffer, but not the football players because they get to transfer to another school to continue their football careers without penalty as it should be. The obnoxious NCAA got this one right.
gmo99
Tue, Jul 24, 2012 : 10:54 a.m.
While I agree with you regarding the current players, students and staff- if the NCAA had not stepped in and slapped the University, Penn State would have continued on with its elitist attitude and protect the Football Program at all cost. You note they did not apply any self-imposed sanctions upon themselves before the NCAA announcement. There seemed to be no shame, only self protection.
heartbreakM
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 9:51 p.m.
While the PSU situation is horrible in so many ways, I have to wonder what the NCAA is doing here. The PSU situation in my mind was an all-powerful coach using his position along with other high leadership to protect one of their own, not to win more games directly, but to protect the person and probably the brand. Unbeknownst to their thinking, they ruined their brand by aiding indirectly the criminal activity. But the NCAA seems more interested in vindictive behavior back at PSU and Paterno than in due process, than in the legal system. It is not becoming, and has actually had the effect on me of feeling sympathy for the university (though not the 5 men). This isn't about wins and losses--it's about responsible behavior as leaders and about how power can be abused. In my opinion, by ignoring its own rules in the name of speed and vindictiveness, the NCAA has shown us all about that topic in a very public way today.
hfeldkamp
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 9:10 p.m.
Will Warner I agree with you, this has to stop. Enough is enough already.
oldguy
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 8:07 p.m.
To Will Warner: there`s no hunt, all the weasels (witches) have been caught, including JoePa and are now getting what they deserve. I1m a PSU grad and totally ashamed of my alma mater over this heinous coverup of a heinous crime(s)
Pickforddick
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 6:45 p.m.
They deserve everything that they get for this crime.
RudeJude
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 5:51 p.m.
Sigh...when is the Fitz Toussaint DUI article going to be posted?
a2citizen
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 6:51 p.m.
After the article about Aaron Berry being cut....sigh
AMaizing_Blue
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 6:12 p.m.
Sigh is right.
MRunner73
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 4 p.m.
When you read NCAA President Make Emmert's 2011 comments and what has been done today with the vacated win sanction, which I support, you have to wonder.
Will Warner
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 3:51 p.m.
This has become a witch hunt.
gmo99
Tue, Jul 24, 2012 : 10:47 a.m.
JNS- Paterno was the most powerful man at Penn State, anyone one would listen to him, at anytime. And for YEARS he didn't bother to go to the Police? His actions were criminal
jns131
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 9:11 p.m.
My sentiments exactly. I could not agree more. This guy has been made into a scapegoat because if he knew anything? He would have been called a whistle blower or fired for snitching. I stand on the Paterno side of the family and agree with them whole heartedly. I strongly believe that Paterno tried to tell but no one upstairs was listening.
treetowncartel
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 5:17 p.m.
I have got to agree with Major on this one. It is one thing to not report it, but they actually facilitated it. Disgusting.
Major
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 4:59 p.m.
The hunt is over, time to burn at the stake!
JustfortheRecord
Mon, Jul 23, 2012 : 4:26 p.m.
If it is a witch that condones the sodomization of boys in the locker room for a decade, I am all for it!