What Sean Lee Meant to Penn State
Sean Lee announced his retirement Monday, ending an 11-year career with the Dallas Cowboys marked by passionate playmaking and tortured stretches of injury. Had he been completely healthy, Lee might have retired in the annals of great NFL linebackers.
Lee remains in the annals of great Penn State linebackers, where injuries also derailed him. He missed the 2008 season with a torn ACL, played quietly hurt at other times, but ultimately pushed himself to become a second-round pick.
Certainly, Lee was a memorable player on the field, able to match his ability to diagnose offenses with a sideline-to-sideline athleticism and nose for the ball. That was evident in his 14 career interceptions with Dallas.
But Lee was memorable off the field as well. Having covered Lee through his career at Penn State, here are two moments I won't forget.
In September 2007, after a 59-0 season-opening victory over Florida International, the Penn State football team returned to Beaver Stadium the next morning with brooms and garbage bags. They were there to help clean the stadium, a team-wide disciplinary action administered by Joe Paterno in response to a fight involving some players earlier that year.
The players ultimately helped clean the stadium for several Sundays, received pay, and donated that money to Penn State's club sports programs. No one smiled that first Sunday morning, especially when Paterno arrived for inspection.
As the players began boarding the buses to go home, a voice rang from the stadium tunnel.
"Joe says we didn't do a good enough job," Lee said. "We have to go back in."
So they did, spending another 15 minutes cleaning Beaver Stadium before leaving at about 10 a.m. Lee led even in the unpopular moments.
The following year, two days before the 2009 Rose Bowl, Lee sat in a Los Angeles hotel ballroom explaining how much he wanted to play. It was Rose Bowl Media Day, and Lee was discussing the game against USC about eight months removed from the ACL tear.
Lee was antsy, as he had been all season, saying he wanted to be on the field. Further, Lee insisted that, had it been his last college game, he would have found some way to play.
But in the next breath, Lee explained his guilt at feeling that way. And ultimately why he shouldn't play, even if he could.
"Believe me, I'd love to play," Lee said. "If this were the national championship game, or my last game, we probably could have done something [to get him on the field]. I don't know how effective I'd be, because eight months is pushing it.
"But I don't want to want to take anything away from the guys who earned a spot in this game. It's their game, they deserve it. I wouldn't want to do that. I wouldn't even try."
For more on Sean Lee and what he meant to Penn State, check out this clip from the "Penn State Football Story" in 2009. It underscores Lee's impact on the team and the university.
