Franco's letter is really awe inspiring. I think it is so cool that a man like that and I share a a common background.
"We have no deadline…and we are coming."
- Thread starter ericstratton-rushchairman
- Start date
JUNE 4, 2016
FRANCO HARRIS’S
LIONS PAW MEDAL
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.” Albert Einstein
Welcome everyone…friends…my family…my Penn State family…thank you for being here today.
To the Lion’s Paw…thank you for letting your awardee have a few minutes of free expression…after the last 5 years this is like a breath of fresh air! We have been experiencing quite a time in Penn State history and all of us should learn and grow from it.
When we Penn Staters look back over the last 5 years, the question that loomed over us is “Where are we headed?”
Along the way there were a lot of twists and turns, all with challenges.
But right now at Penn State we are at a crossroad, facing one last big challenge. What direction we take depends on the working relationship between the alumni and the current board of trustees; where we go from here is an inhouse problem…a Penn State problem.
No longer is our biggest challenge about the Freeh Report; everyone knows that was a sham from the start and the basis for nothing.
No longer is our biggest challenge with the NCAA. Everyone knows they broke their own protocols and procedures and had no grounds to penalize Penn State so viciously.
We know they were wrong and they know they were wrong.
No longer do we care about what the media puts out. They have lost their credibility in our eyes. They print allegations and then fan the flames, all without proof or validation and they have no accountability.
On Nov 9, 2011 we saw the results of unchecked power here at Penn State. Beware of power that has no boundaries. Before that night, I did not know that the BOT could fire the President in the blink of an eye. When I heard that President Spanier was supporting Penn State and our Penn State people, I was confident that someone had a command of the situation. Then BOOM! John Surma led the firing of Graham Spanier and Joe Paterno. This made me realize that there were no checks and balances in place…this was unchecked power at its worst.
There were no checks and balances and Penn State lost….and we’ve been losing ever since. And let me point out that not one of those people on the board that night have been held accountable. I take that back, WE, the alumni, held our alumni elected trustees accountable and we replaced every one of them with people who DO represent us.
That night the members of the board thought they could control and contain the damage they were doing, but they could not. And the damage continues to roll across our campus and will continue to roll if we don’t set up some checks and balances.
When you have a small group of people with money and connections and they know how to leverage power, they become detached and arrogant…they are above it all. So now we add arrogance and self-interest to the unchecked power and we have a dangerous situation.
How did we get here???
Where do we go from here? Right now we are divided and we need to start the healing. Where do we start? We start with a formal apology from those board members to Sue Paterno. Now. It’s already long overdue.
Let me tell you a story…
I see a lion’s paw scratching at the ground outside Beaver Stadium and it’s trying to find it’s home…trying to find where it belongs. The lion knows it belongs here but he’s confused…something here isn’t right… something has changed.
The lion knew that our BOT made the decision to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and lawyer’s fees and the Lion knew that our BOT agreed to the sanctions and the vacated games.
But the Lion didn’t know that the BOT also took down Joe’s statue and the player’s wall. That’s why the Lion didn’t recognize his home…they had erased the Lion’s history and his home was empty.
They erased the Lion's history and tried to fill it with lies, lies and more lies. I ask you today, are we a lie? Is our Penn State history a lie? Is Success With Honor a lie?
Success With Honor…
A game changing vision never before undertaken.
It was not just about football or being famous it was about education, contributing to the world and making something of yourself.
It was about having the greatest graduation rates for your athletes and being one of the best in Academic All Americans.
This was unbelievable.
And to top it all off…409! The greatest number of football games won in NCAA history.
So, you better believe that we will fight for our history and we will not let anyone rewrite it for us.
No, this is not right. We know who we are. WE ARE LIONS.
We will erase the lies,
We will claim our home,
We will rebuild our wall because this is our home.
We hope the Paterno family will allow us to put Joe’s statue back in it’s rightful place because this is his home.
People are trying to destroy Success With Honor and everything we stand for, but we will fight for our history. Will you fight with me?
To the members of the BOT:
Yes, right now you have unchecked power—but we know what we must do and we know who must do it. We, the Penn State Alumni, will do it.
We see the goal line and we won’t stop until we cross it.
We have no deadline…and we are coming.
FRANCO HARRIS’S
LIONS PAW MEDAL
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.” Albert Einstein
Welcome everyone…friends…my family…my Penn State family…thank you for being here today.
To the Lion’s Paw…thank you for letting your awardee have a few minutes of free expression…after the last 5 years this is like a breath of fresh air! We have been experiencing quite a time in Penn State history and all of us should learn and grow from it.
When we Penn Staters look back over the last 5 years, the question that loomed over us is “Where are we headed?”
Along the way there were a lot of twists and turns, all with challenges.
But right now at Penn State we are at a crossroad, facing one last big challenge. What direction we take depends on the working relationship between the alumni and the current board of trustees; where we go from here is an inhouse problem…a Penn State problem.
No longer is our biggest challenge about the Freeh Report; everyone knows that was a sham from the start and the basis for nothing.
No longer is our biggest challenge with the NCAA. Everyone knows they broke their own protocols and procedures and had no grounds to penalize Penn State so viciously.
We know they were wrong and they know they were wrong.
No longer do we care about what the media puts out. They have lost their credibility in our eyes. They print allegations and then fan the flames, all without proof or validation and they have no accountability.
On Nov 9, 2011 we saw the results of unchecked power here at Penn State. Beware of power that has no boundaries. Before that night, I did not know that the BOT could fire the President in the blink of an eye. When I heard that President Spanier was supporting Penn State and our Penn State people, I was confident that someone had a command of the situation. Then BOOM! John Surma led the firing of Graham Spanier and Joe Paterno. This made me realize that there were no checks and balances in place…this was unchecked power at its worst.
There were no checks and balances and Penn State lost….and we’ve been losing ever since. And let me point out that not one of those people on the board that night have been held accountable. I take that back, WE, the alumni, held our alumni elected trustees accountable and we replaced every one of them with people who DO represent us.
That night the members of the board thought they could control and contain the damage they were doing, but they could not. And the damage continues to roll across our campus and will continue to roll if we don’t set up some checks and balances.
When you have a small group of people with money and connections and they know how to leverage power, they become detached and arrogant…they are above it all. So now we add arrogance and self-interest to the unchecked power and we have a dangerous situation.
How did we get here???
Where do we go from here? Right now we are divided and we need to start the healing. Where do we start? We start with a formal apology from those board members to Sue Paterno. Now. It’s already long overdue.
Let me tell you a story…
I see a lion’s paw scratching at the ground outside Beaver Stadium and it’s trying to find it’s home…trying to find where it belongs. The lion knows it belongs here but he’s confused…something here isn’t right… something has changed.
The lion knew that our BOT made the decision to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and lawyer’s fees and the Lion knew that our BOT agreed to the sanctions and the vacated games.
But the Lion didn’t know that the BOT also took down Joe’s statue and the player’s wall. That’s why the Lion didn’t recognize his home…they had erased the Lion’s history and his home was empty.
They erased the Lion's history and tried to fill it with lies, lies and more lies. I ask you today, are we a lie? Is our Penn State history a lie? Is Success With Honor a lie?
Success With Honor…
A game changing vision never before undertaken.
It was not just about football or being famous it was about education, contributing to the world and making something of yourself.
It was about having the greatest graduation rates for your athletes and being one of the best in Academic All Americans.
This was unbelievable.
And to top it all off…409! The greatest number of football games won in NCAA history.
So, you better believe that we will fight for our history and we will not let anyone rewrite it for us.
No, this is not right. We know who we are. WE ARE LIONS.
We will erase the lies,
We will claim our home,
We will rebuild our wall because this is our home.
We hope the Paterno family will allow us to put Joe’s statue back in it’s rightful place because this is his home.
People are trying to destroy Success With Honor and everything we stand for, but we will fight for our history. Will you fight with me?
To the members of the BOT:
Yes, right now you have unchecked power—but we know what we must do and we know who must do it. We, the Penn State Alumni, will do it.
We see the goal line and we won’t stop until we cross it.
We have no deadline…and we are coming.
Last edited:
Well done Franco. Bravo! Eloquent, powerful, and hard hitting, just like the man himself.
Damn, that was really powerful! Fantastic job Franco!
Maybe this should get passed around on social media, along with the explanation that PSU and the AA are too afraid to let people see it, to the point they won't even release the video.
Well done Franco! We Are with you and we will not stop until it is done.
Franco, you where my hero as a child and as a man! I love it. We Are!!!
There is an email writing/phone calling campaign that Anthony started on FB to get the PSAA to publicly release the video of Franco's speech (they are refusing). I already sent my email ... have at Mr. Clifford:
Paul Clifford, CEO PSAA
pjc37@psu.edu
814-865-6516
Two lines instantly came to mind after reading this ...
To one heart that loves thy name
May our lives but swell thy fame
Thank you Franco for being a real Penn Stater!!
Franco has been and still is "THE MAN!" Well done and we are..............with you Franco.
The Franco speech/letter levels those corrupt, self interested board fools.
FWIW - the 865-6516 number that Paul Clifford lists is the PSU AA office number. As of now, it is going straight to automatic voice mail (call anyway - and leave a message)
Mr Clifford is very active on Twitter - so if you Twitter, message him directly there
Kevin Steele - the lowlife non-alumni attorney who was installed as the PSU AA President - should ABSOLUTELY be deluged with calls as well
If anyone has a good contact number and/or social media contacts - - - PLEASE provide them. TIA
here's what I sent:
Paul,
I'm (my name here), class of 1972.
I suspect-no, that's not right- I know that I'm not alone in being an alum who has been sitting on the sidelines regarding rejoining the Alumni Association. I do understand that you must be in a tough spot, that the Association isn't independent, and that it isn't really what most people would expect an Alumni Association to be- an organization serving the wishes of the alumni. You are no doubt in the unenviable position of trying to serve two masters- I can see that.
But doing the right thing is never the wrong thing to do. Please release the video- consequences be damned. No need to get back to me, I'm already watching.
Paul,
I'm (my name here), class of 1972.
I suspect-no, that's not right- I know that I'm not alone in being an alum who has been sitting on the sidelines regarding rejoining the Alumni Association. I do understand that you must be in a tough spot, that the Association isn't independent, and that it isn't really what most people would expect an Alumni Association to be- an organization serving the wishes of the alumni. You are no doubt in the unenviable position of trying to serve two masters- I can see that.
But doing the right thing is never the wrong thing to do. Please release the video- consequences be damned. No need to get back to me, I'm already watching.
One of the top 3 Penn State speeches in my opinion. Right there with Cappys Heisman speech and Joes speech to BoT after winning 1982 championship.
So you are saying that those Penn Staters not living in the past aren't "a real Penn Stater".
I find that extremely insulting but have come to expect it from those of your ilk.
No one is currently trying to destroy PSU's past or future. The NCAA did try but failed.
Franco may see "the goal line" but it is far away and keeps moving further. You guys can keep
doing your thing if it makes you happy but there is no need to insult other Penn Stater's who
have moved on.
.
I called. Spoke with a nice lady named Glory. Asked her to take a message, and told her that I require no personal response from Paul Clifford. I told her that there were others who were better people for him to respond to, and that the word of his response would get out that way. Told her that the video needs to be released, and that I never heard of an acceptance speech being withheld because it was "too divisive." LOL. I told her I did not think that they would be hearing from very many people who agree it should be withheld. She laughed and said, "I think you are right about that."
Newsflash: It is pretty clear that you have not moved on, especially not if your feathers are so easily ruffled. Glad you are still with us, whether you know it or not.
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I like it. It shows them you're not interested in their bs responses.
This speech may have to get framed and take its place amongst the other two prominently placed speeches on the walls in my Penn State room.
When I saw the headline, I thought this was about the White Walkers.
Great speech. Maybe he'll be able to get more than 50 people to turn up for his next event on campus.
I don't think complimenting a person belittles those who aren't the same (Me: Steph Curry is a good 3-point shooter. You: So I suck?). The poster thanked Franco for being a real Penn Stater. He did not address you and others who blindly accept circumstances. I don't think this thread is about you.
Great idea, especially if they are all 6 foot something and in excess of 225 lbs. All ages.
bwifan
Well-Known Member
In the last couple of months, the BoT tried to hijack ways to manipulate data so that the entire, legitimate board members, couldn't see it. They continue to claim attorney client privilege for someone who was hired as an investigator and just happened to be an attorney. I could go on and on. These are current events and do not live in the past.
Sadly, we live in a world with some men and woman who are evil. From time to time, we need to stand up to evil. We need to mitigate and control it. If not, we become sheep...sheep who will eventually get slaughtered. The solution to this is checks and balances and total transparency. Franco nailed it....the BOT wants zero transparency. This has nothing to do with Paterno, 409 or football. These may be rallying cries. But Fanco's point is that the BOT is corrupt and hoping to get even more corrupt. Paterno's situation simply exposed that corruption.
My point is, it isn't the past, its the present.
Egg - F&cking - zactly!
These move on Bastards don't want to "move on"......they want all of us to move on, so that they can "keep on, keepin' on" with their corruption and prostitution.
"I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion's roar." Winston Churchill
And so it is with Franco Harris. God Bless the man and his efforts.
And so it is with Franco Harris. God Bless the man and his efforts.
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Per Bill O'Brien, Franco's speech isn't helping.
That's one of your top 3 sig pics, too.
Makes me want to take up a new summer art hobby with the wife...
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