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The Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium Petition is still marching forward since it was started it in 2012. The petition was started online through change.org to gather signatures to eventually present to the Penn State University Board of Trustees. My goal since its inception in 2012 has been clear, this is to honor the late Joe Paterno by having the field, which he taught, and coached on for over 61 seasons named after him. This will be a gift from us the people, made up from former players, parents, mothers, fathers, coaches, alumni, and of course all of us make up the fan population. Joe was so much more than a football coach, we all know that we have all been witness to a lifetime of great accomplishments that he has given, and those accomplishments will live on forever each Saturday afternoon, or evening in the Fall during every home game that will be played. Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium will be printed on each ticket, be it online as a virtual ticket, or an old school real paper ticket!

Let me make this very clear to everyone, yes, Jay Paterno and Sue Paterno signed the petition many years ago neither of them has anything to do with running my petition, or the push to honor Joe. This has been my mission since 2012, all I did was ask each of them if they wanted to sign, and just like any of us, they chose to be a part of the more than 80,000 who want to see Joe honored.

The time is now, put all politics aside, recant the finger pointing, we the people know who Joe Paterno was, and who he needs to be remembered as being, a devoted husband, father, grandfather, teacher, coach, philanthropist. I have lost two of the most important people in my life since Joe passed away, those are my mother and father, both of whom made me promise that I would never stop fighting until Paterno Field became a reality. My mother passed away in 2013, my father passed away in 2018, and I am still working to step across the blue line more time. We have lost many other prominent Penn Staters over the course of the past decade who signed the petition, which is just more reason for me to keep fighting the good fight.

Share this website with everyone you know, and let's get more signatures, how about a WHITE OUT of signatures for Joe, after all, if it wasn't for him, there would be no "WE ARE".....  
 

 

December / January News

We have lost a penn state icon...Join us as we celebrate the life of franco harris...Words by jay paterno...Thoughts by all penn staters...God speed franco...

 

By Jay Paterno - December 22, 2022

Every athlete dreams of a fateful moment of truth. They face fourth down and game, or a full count with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, or free throws with the game on the line.

And for the fortunate few that do face that moment, even fewer come through to win the day and win a measure of immortality that endures long after their playing days have ended.

For Franco Harris that moment came on December 23, 1972, when he grabbed a deflected pass just inches from the artificial turf in Three Rivers Stadium and made what became “The Immaculate Reception.”

In Franco Harris, the football fates raised a hero to lead a previously woeful franchise to its first playoff win. And that moment was the first cornerstone of what would become a dynastic football reign in Pittsburgh. A team once mired in mediocrity became a standard of excellence for decades to come. Franco attained the type of iconic sports immortality where one can be identified by simply one name. And he handled it with the kind of class that endeared him to Steeler fans far and wide and even garnered him a fan section aptly named “Franco’s Italian Army.”

But often the ascension to football immortality demands a test of one’s character and resolve. Many fly too close to the sun, tumbling back to earth because of the Icarus-like hubris that often comes with sudden fame and adulation. With Franco, there was no loss of humility. The vanity of celebrity never touched his soul. Instead, he remained guided by steady integrity, loyalty, compassion, and commitment to his core values. 

Franco Harris took that gift from the football fates and used it to benefit others. In life the choices we make following both failure and success result in outcomes that define a legacy. Franco made the active choice to become a leader in society and that, above all, will remain his legacy. In so doing he became a hero beyond the gridiron.

The great tennis champion and humanitarian Arthur Ashe once said: “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”

By that very definition Franco Harris was a hero in our time. He was called to many causes, making time for everything he could. And he approached each with compassionate grace and the humility to know that service to others is when we practice our best leadership. And some of the best examples of Franco’s leadership came with a determined loyalty to what is right.

In the culture of the Native Americans there was a concept of the Dog Soldiers, the most elite of all warriors. When their families, friends and homes came under attack, these soldiers drove a stake in the ground and tied themselves to that stake. It told everyone that they would not retreat, they would not yield, and they would defend their homes and their people at whatever cost.

In some of the toughest times for the Penn State community, when the tempest winds blew hardest and when the nightfall seemed darkest, Franco’s loyalty never wavered. He drove his stake in the ground and remained loyal to the people and this community when lesser people fled and ran from controversy. We spent many days talking during that time. And in the darkest hours we came to know him and know his character even more.

My wife, Kelley, grew up in Pittsburgh during the Steelers dynasty of the 1970s. Amid a sorrowful Wednesday morning she said something to me that summed it up so well.

“You know Franco was an idol to so many when I grew up. How lucky I’ve been to get to understand that as great as we thought he was then, he is an even better person than we could have imagined.” How lucky were we to find that the person we held in such high esteem, was in fact, even more worthy of our esteem than we thought?

Last week we interviewed Franco on our TV show, Nittany Game Week. When we asked him why he thought the Immaculate Reception remained so meaningful all these years later he replied: “People like things that are impossible to achieve, that when things look hopeless and when things look like they’re at a loss, you still have to believe. When you have plays that make that moment, it keeps that spark burning in people. If you still have time on that clock, you can still make things happen.”

But it goes deeper than that. Franco did not rest on that moment, instead he built upon that rock. In the nearly 50 years that have passed, Franco gave others hope, gave people a reason to believe in the innate goodness of humanity.

 

While the time on his clock may have ended, he hustled toward the goal line until the final whistle. We will all forever remember those hands reaching to make the impossible happen and his youthful stride down the sideline and the joy of miraculous victory. And in that memory, we will see that spark and hope’s fire rekindled time and time again.

After a decade I made my return to beaver stadium... The Paterno Field Group has surpassed 88,000 signatures... plans are in motion to make Paterno Field official in 2023...

October/November News: I don't know where to start this I was invited graciously by Penn State BOT member Anthony Lubrano, along with my wife Wendy, my Son Blake Jr., who is the Founder of The Paterno Group, and his soon to be (we are hoping) finance Lindsay to make my first trek back to State College since 2012, when I last attended the Blue/White game, and where we started collecting signatures for the Paterno Field Petition. It was my first time being back to see a regular season game since Joe Paterno was fired in cowardly fashion by the then Board of Trustee members in a rush to judgement. I have made it clear that I would never return for a game inside of Beaver Stadium unless I was certain that the naming of the field was definitely going to happen. I have stood by my words for over a decade, likewise I stopped all contributions to the University during this time period, as I know thousands of others have stopped as well.

I can tell you all, there was a little hestitation on my part prior to making the trip up with Anthony, his wife, other fellow Penn Staters, and Dallas Krapf, who took us to and from the game on one of his company's charter coaches. Foremost on my mind was knowing how long of a day it was going to be, and would I be able to make it all day, since my health has detoriated since 2018, making it hard to stand long, and especially hard to walk distances, or do steps. I can tell you that I did make it, mainly because everything was very close by, so I didn't have much walking to do, but even more so because everyone kept my mind busy, and in such great spirits it was fantastic. I was sporting my own designed Paterno Field Group Under Armour Shirt, and Ball Cap, which I handed out to a select few individuals over the course of the day and night.

The first person that Anthony introduced me to was Graham Spanier, President of the University from 1995-2011, another very good man who was forced to resign, otherwise he would have been terminated. Graham and I talked for a short time, and someday I will share his words with everyone, but I can tell you that I was thrown back and humbled when he shook my hand, thanking me for over a decade of work, and told me to stay on course as things are changing, changing for the better.

Over the course of the next few hours I met so many members of the Board of Trustees who stopped by our tailgate, or in reality our bus gate party area, just to talk, shake my hand, thank me for doing this for Joe, and to keep continuing the march forward. I met one of who I consider to be a great former PSU QB, Tracer McSorley, who was there with his finance, and family members. I gave him a hat, and we talked, I actually thing my wife got most of the talking done, as I was pushed aside, lol. He is a genuine young man, humble, and told me about his own personal Joe Paterno story, which I felt honored to hear. I thanked him for keeping the fires burning on the field during his time at Penn State, and he thanked me for doing what our group has for more than a decade.

It wouldn't have been a day in Happy Valley without seeing Jay Paterno, who stopped by the bus gate area to chat with Anthony, Dallas, Trace, and many others. My son Blake Jr. and I talked with Jay, letting him know all that has been going on in our personal lives, and of course with the petition to honor Joe. It was the first time Jay had met my son, which made for a nice encounter. I have and will once again let everyone know that yes Jay and I are friends, that being said, he, nor anyone in the Paterno family was, or is involved with our petition. They are just like you and me, yes, he signed in 2012, and Sue Pa signed in 2014, but that was because of all of you, our Penn State family who had already signed the petition. This is my petition, my son's petition, my good friend the COO of The Paterno Field Group, Art Greenwald's petition, and all of you who signed, it's your petition.

The final person I met, who Anthony brought into his suite at halftime was none other that the new President of Penn State, Neeli Bendapudi. After Anthony introduced me, we shook hands, and the first thing she did was check out my Paterno Field Group shirt and hat, giving me two thumbs up, and saying, "I like this!" Neeli is a breath of fresh air, and she thanked me for all that I am doing for Joe and Sue. I can tell you for a fact that she is in our corner, something we haven't had in over a decade, she isn't afraid of tellingt people that she is a fan of Joe, and supports our petition!

I'm still reflecting over all that transpired during what turned out to be a literal 24-hour day, waking up at 4am, arriving home at 4am the next morning. i had my hand shaken so many time, and thanked for all that I have done, and continue to do, it has blown my mind. I wish my Paterno Field Group Brother, Art Greenwald could have been there with us, without his continued push in Florida, and over a decade's worth of help, including talking me down from the edge, keeping my feet on the ground, I'm certain I wouldn't have continued on my own. There is no "I" in Team, and that is very true in our groups case.

Our petition numbers continue to increase, we are closing in on 75,000 online signatures, combined with 13,000 hand written signatures, we have cleared the 88,000 mark. This is not time to rest though, we want to present our petition with 110,000 signatures, which would fill Beaver Stadium, and give Joe Paterno Win #410 from all of us! I'm calling on the Penn State Nation to continue to spread the word and get more signatures. We already have plans set up with several important meetings to take place over the coming months, I can't go into details right now, but I will say 2023 is the year which Joe will be honored, and Joseph Vincent Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium will become stamped into Penn State History!

Those who have inquired about purchasing one of the shirts that I designed or the hats, we have recieved written approval to sell these to you the public. We hope to have them available before Christmas, as I'm sure they will make a great gift for any Joe Paterno, and Penn State fan to wear with pride! Stay tuned on our Facebook page for more details. Everyone must remember, we started this petition as being grass roots, no cost, nothing to purchase, that's why we are still going. I have personally paid every bill out of my own pockets, but since people have inquired and would like to purchase a hat or shirt, we are going to make that happen.

 

 SEPTEMBER NEWS:  If anyone told me that after more than a decade, I would still be pushing forward in my efforts to honor Joe Paterno, I would have called them crazy. To date over 83,000 head strong Penn State faithful have risen to the call to honor Joe by having the field named in his honor. Some of those signatures are on papers which with the help of others through the years have collected, and many of them are from paper signatures that I have personally collected. Through the years I've received signatures in the postal mail, have fielded phone calls, have read countless emails, you name it, I think I've seen it all. I questioned myself many times over the past decade, why am I still doing this, and every time it took little time to answer myself, because if this was my father, I would be doing the same thing until the day that the good lord takes me away.

The years have come, the years have gone, I'm still processing the loss of my parents over the past decade, the loss of some Penn State players who helped secure Championships, and undefeated seasons for Joe Paterno, to the legendary voice of Penn State, Fran Fisher. I think we all are still trying to process the loss of our iconic coach, yes, to many including myself he was much more than a coach, but like I have told everyone since the day I started this online petition, with the help of my then high school aged son, Blake Tobias Jr., if Joe Paterno never came to State College, never answered the call, never ran out onto the green two toned grass playing field, Penn State football would never have been what it became under Joe!

A few years ago, I was stopped by "suits" who I presume were hired by specific members of the Board of Trustees from being admitted to an open board meeting at the Penn State Berks Campus. I firmly believe these members were tipped off that I was coming to present my petition, my views, my outrage, my frustrations. I should have known not to post that I was going to attend on my two social media platforms, I have two Paterno Field pages on Facebook, and like everywhere else in life, there are moles who watch and record everything that I post. I didn't even make it to the door, and was stopped by two "suits", greeting me with you are not welcome here, this is a closed-door meeting, to which I objected, no, it's an open meeting, but to no avail, what was I going to do, a middle-aged man standing there, on disability for the rest of my life. I guess I could have gone after them with my cane, just that phrase, watch how the media who will visit this page and use my words to create something that I never said, "Tobias threatened to attack innocent men with a metal cane". I was told nobody wanted to hear about Joe Paterno, and nobody wanted to hear about honoring him with naming the field after him. I was told to leave the building, leave the campus, or campus security would be called. I did what was asked, just another slap in the face by the previous President of Penn State, and the previous Athletic Director, who both hated anything to do with Joe Paterno, and those who fight for his honor.

I have had contact with Jay Paterno over the past decade, as I'm sure everyone is aware, he was kind enough to send a beautiful sympathy card to my father after my mother passed away in 2013, just like Joe, he did something others wouldn't have bothered with, but that's what kind of man that Jay's parents have raised, respectful, human, caring. I saw Jay at the Blue White Game in 2012 and flagged him down as he was making his way through the parking lot, I told him via an online message that I was going to the game to gather signatures and hoped to see him there. Well, I did, that was my first meeting with him, and his exact words when he saw me coming at him with my clipboard and pen were, "you gotta be shittin me"! My wife was second on the scene and bobbled with her phone trying to get a picture of the two of us, after he had signed the petition. Jay looked at me and said, "I'm glad she doesn't work in ER", and I laughed and said yeah, we would be in trouble. From that point forward I have sent him updates on the petition, never asking for anything, after all, he was just a person signing the petition, he wasn't pushing for it, the family wasn't pushing for it, they have stood by and have always said that if Penn Staters want to honor Joe by naming the field after him, then we have no objections. I knew what they as a family were facing, there was a lawsuit, there were years and years of ugliness to follow, but as the years have gone by and the truth has come out a little at a time, things have now changed. There are always going to be the people who won't read, won't listen, won't change their minds about what could have, should have, might have been, and that's fine, we the real people who have followed this horrible ordeal since day one has come to understand just how unjust that Joe Paterno was treated, and we have the proof to prove it.

My late father always told me, there are so many people who literally hate Joe Paterno, and have been haters their whole life, all because Joe was a first-class man, he put academics ahead of his teams, he didn't do it their way, he did it his way. The Grand Experiment will go down as the greatest accomplishment of student athletes in the modern era, never will it be held to the standards of which Joe made it out to be, like Joe, it was just one of the many things which have made Penn State a better place, a landmark for honor and dignity. My father was right, growing up as a child during the 70's, 80's I was always taken back by the crude words said about Joe, especially by none other than Notre Dame fans, they were by far the worst of the bunch. I mean when I was only 10, I didn't understand it, but by the time I was 12 I figured it out, it came down to religion, it came down to knowing Notre Dame would never have a Catholic man by the name of Paterno leading them to National Championships, and undefeated seasons, it was that simple, and those fans still hate Joe today. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Pitt fans, that's another school who has, and always will have a deep-seated hatred for Joe. I mean I understand, Pitt will always be second best in the state, even now they still wine about Paterno, but now that hatred is directed at coach Franklin, ah, college football, isn't it great!

Back to my relationship with Jay, I'll be upfront and honest, I really haven't heard much from him over the past 4 years, not even when my father passed away in 2018. I couldn't understand why after all my work for honoring Joe, after him being there for my father when my mother passed away, why was I getting the silent treatment? I realized when I was turned away at the Board of Trustees meeting in Reading, that he, and the few others who were supporters of Joe were under strict orders to leave it go, to stop bringing up the topic of doing something to honor Joe. They were told in a closed-door meeting which was called by the now former President of the University to end any future mentions of Joe at any future meetings, or else. I wasn't the only one getting blacklisted, can you image board elected individuals being told to shut up, move on, or else by the President of the University. This is something that we see in movies, how corruption and money controls all evils, and this was case in point! I said since day one, follow the money, big money is behind Joe Paterno being shut out of the school where he spent over 61 years helping to plaster Penn State on every map. I was right, and like me, it doesn't take a genius to figure out those orders were probably coming from yet another source, or group higher on the food chain than the President.

It's time everyone knows what I have written above, I'm over the countless texts that have been sent over the years by cowards who threatened my life, my family’s life if I persisted with my petition to honor Joe. I'm over the letters written by cowards, and the endless trolls that post idiotic statements on Facebook, or twitter, I've come to the realization that we are always going to deal with an angry few, just like Joe dealt with angry fans over his career, and letters sent to him with death threats when he was in his prime as a coach. Joe didn't run away, he didn't hide from the bullies, he put them aside like the pieces of garbage that they were, and that's what we are all going to do now, it's our time to push aside the bullies, those who don't agree with us, those who want to taunt us, guess what, it's been over a decade and WE ARE... still here, WE ARE... still fighting, because that's what Joe did for over 61 years!

I feel a change a coming, I feel "Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium" becoming a reality now more than ever, the ball is in our hands, we are steps away from scoring one final touchdown for Joe Paterno, let's cross that BLUE LINE one more time, and secure WIN #410 for JVP.

Thank you all, Blake Tobias Sr, CEO, Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium

 

Take care of the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves.


Penn State, February 8th, 2013: The following download is a letter to all Penn State Letterman from Sue Paterno detailing just how wrong things were handled over by Penn State. I encourage all of you to read the letter, as it is well written, thought out and delivers the message that we are not going away until all the wrongs are put right. You can download a copy of the original letter below by using either link provided, using Word format, or Adobe PDF format.

   

 

Team Paterno Field

Crossing The Blue Line 1 More Time!

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