By Dave Singleton
SouthernPigskin.com

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The end will come for all of us one day. The nature of the circle of life is that we all will, sadly, pass away. Sometimes sooner than we ever expect.

It seems weird to say that an 85 year old has passed away too soon, and yet for some reason I can’t seem to help but shake that feeling now that Joe Paterno has died at the age of 85 from lung cancer.

Obviously, the events of the last two months, and the scandal that continues to engulf the biggest thing in Centre County, Pennsylvania, is the first thing that comes to mind. The events that lead to the retirement/termination of Joe Paterno seemed to be the capper on a truly scandal-ridden college football year of 2011.

To be blunt, it was an abrupt and ignominious end to a great career.

But today just doesn’t seem like a day for that. Joe Paterno was the last of his kind, I think: a true lifer. He arrived in Happy Valley out of Brown in 1950 and didn’t leave his job until November of this year.

61 years as a coach at one school? That is just never going to happen again. Not in this era of college football.

I had the pleasure of living in State College/University Park for three years. Two of those years were among the worst seasons that Penn State endured under Paterno. They were bad. Comically bad. And then 2005 happened, and the great run to the Orange Bowl. You couldn’t help but get swept up in the magic of Penn State football and the love that that community had for the program and the coach in particular.

I saw the man quite often walking near campus. I never met him (although I did almost hit him with my car once). He had his good side and his bad side, and obviously he had his flaws. His flaws might have ultimately led to his undoing.

The word “legacy” is going to be utilized quite often over the next few days in discussions about Joe Paterno; it is unavoidable when you are one of the best of all time in your field. And while the end was ugly and ultimately tarnished his legacy, it did not erase all of the good that he did both on the field and in the community.

Rest in peace, Joe Paterno.