You didn’t have to be a seer to predict the imminent death of Joe Paterno once he walked away from the sidelines of the game he loved with all his heart.

His passing was likely accelerated by the scandal that crumbled much of his immense college football legacy.

I had never met the Penn State coach but talked with him on the phone a few times.

I will always remember his sense of humor.

Once I was asked to handle a phone interview with him for the Birmingham Monday Morning Quarterback Club. I told him a little white lie – that the club was serving ravioli in his honor that day.

He quickly deflected the attention to me by saying, “Oh, I thought they were serving it in your honor.”

Not too long ago he was being interviewed along with Florida State’s Bobby Bowden by ESPN’s Mike Tirico who said, “We thought there might be an announcement of a retirement or two.” 

Paterno, like one of his All-American linebackers, fired back with, “We thought there might be an announcement about your retirement.”

You will never know how much I enjoyed that response.

Nearly two years ago his wife, Sue, helped me speak with him over the phone but he wasn’t in a talkative mood. Despite Sue’s intercession he said he was waiting to hear from a couple of recruits and that was that.

The one word that described him over the past decade or so, was curmudgeonly. But you might be a curmudgeon if you were 83 or 84 or 85 and had to answer the relentless questioning about retirement.

He wasn’t ever going to retire and people (the media) refused to accept that reality.

He saw what retirement had done to many of his coaching compatriots, especially Alabama’s Bear Bryant.

 The words legacy and scandal unfortunately will vie with each other whenever Joe Paterno’s name is mentioned from here on.

He will always be remembered for the 409 coaching victories, the most ever in the Football Bowl Subdivision. That’s a mark that likely will never be approached for a variety of reasons – primarily because nobody will stick around or be allowed to stick around as long as he did.

Ultimately, he stumbled badly when he didn’t do enough to lead the charge against an alleged felon. Unfortunately the words, “I wish I had done more,” have become a part of his legacy and overshadow his devotion to Penn State and football.