What was Paterno’s greatest accomplishment?

As his death got me thinking about all of the good, I started to wonder what was his greatest accomplishment?

The more I thought about it, in a perverse way, his greatest accomplishment may have been bringing all of the issues of child sexual assault into a spotlight in a way that few others could.

If Joe Pa had done what he “should” have and what so many people wanted him to then the Jerry Sandusky saga never occurs and hundreds (or thousands) of victims (and their families) around the country, may not have gotten the courage to step up and report the situation.

Is this truly an accomplishment by which he wished to define his life, probably not.

But it may be one of this greatest last impacts.