STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Amy Miller rode her bike slowly down McKee Street at about 9 a.m. and came to a stop right in front of Joe Paterno’s house.

Miller, a senior engineering science major at Penn State, put her bike’s kickstand down and peered out from underneath her tightly fitting Penn State baseball cap at the media members that had gathered across from Paterno’s home at 830 McKee St. 

She then slid her book bag off her back and dropped it to the ground at her feet. Inside the bag was a gift for Paterno. A sign of respect for the legendary head coach who was fired Wednesday night in the midst of his 46th season, a year in which he became the winningest coach in Division-I college football history.

After grabbing the flowers from her bag, a somber Miller walked in a perfect line to Paterno’s front door. She bent over and laid the flowers on the door step before walking back to her bike in the same path she had traveled seconds before.

The act grabbed the media’s attention while they waited for a glimpse of Paterno, which they still had not gotten as of 12:15 p.m. Thursday. At about 10 a.m., a florist dropped off more flowers for the coach, who was relieved of his duties for his lack of action in reporting a sexual abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. 

‘The Paternos have done more for Penn State than anyone I know and this is really tough right now just with everything that’s been going on,’ Miller said. ‘I just wanted to show them that we support them, we care about them. The Paternos, you know, they are Penn State for us still. … I just wanted to say thank you.’

Miller did not go to Paterno’s house Wednesday night after learning of the firing like many Penn State students.

Instead, she was running the news off.

‘I guess last night it was just pretty late when all this happened,’ Miller said. ‘And one, I didn’t want to bother them. Two, I just kind of needed to get things out on my own. I went to the track and was just running laps.’

Miller said the rioting Wednesday night wasn’t something that could be prevented. But Penn State’s game against Nebraska at noon on Saturday is what will be tough for those in State College to handle. 

‘I think it’s going to be hard for all of us, but I also think it’s especially important right now that we go and show support for our team because they’re the ones that need it the most,’ Miller said. ‘They’re the ones that are going to be taking this the hardest.’

jdharr04@syr.edu

Published on November 9, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jon: jdharr04@syr.edu