Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 22, 2012

Joe Paterno, Longtime Penn State Coach, Dies at 85 in State College

Joe Paterno, longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone in major college football, but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal involving a subordinate coach that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday of lung cancer. He was 85 (Schlabach, 2012).

His family announced his death in a statement released Sunday morning. The cause was lung cancer, according to Mount Nittany Medical Center, where he had been treated (Goldstein, 2012). Mount Nittany Medical Center said in a statement that Paterno died at 9:25 a.m. Sunday, surrounded by family members. Paterno died of “metastatic small cell carcinoma of the lung” (Schlabach, 2012).

Two police officers were stationed to block traffic on the street where Paterno’s home stands. The officers said the family had asked there be no public gathering outside the house, so Paterno’s relatives could grieve privately (Schlabach, 2012).

During his 46 years as head coach, as he paced the sideline in his thick tinted glasses, indifferent to fashion in his white athletic socks and rolled-up baggy khaki pants, Paterno seemed as much a part of the Penn State landscape as Mount Nittany, overlooking the central Pennsylvania campus known as Happy Valley (Goldstein, 2012).

Paterno had a career record of 409 victories, 136 defeats and 3 ties. He was surpassed only by John Gagliardi, who has won 484 games at Carroll College in Montana and St. John’s of Minnesota, coaching below the major-college level (Goldstein, 2012).

"As the last 61 years have shown, Joe made an incredible impact," said the statement from the family. "That impact has been felt and appreciated by our family in the form of thousands of letters and well wishes along with countless acts of kindness from people whose lives he touched. It is evident also in the thousands of successful student athletes who have gone on to multiply that impact as they spread out across the country."

Penn State president Rodney Erickson said the university is grieving Paterno's death and plans to honor him for his contributions to the school. In a statement released Sunday, Erickson called Paterno "a great man who made us a greater university." Erickson said Paterno's "dedication to ensuring his players were successful both on the field and in life is legendary" (Schlabach, 2012)

FACEBOOK POST:  Joe Paterno, Longtime Penn State Coach, Dies at 85. A Giant among football coaches who left this earth tainted by the heinous actions of another man. 

References

Goldstein, R. (2012, January 22). Joe paterno, longtime penn state coach, dies at 85. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/sports/ncaafootball/joe-paterno-longtime-penn-state-coach-dies-at-85.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

McCarthy, E. (2014, March 27). New emails reveal erickson’s statement on paterno’s death was nixed. The Daily Collegian. Retrieved from http://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/article_6de6b75c-b53e-11e3-9480-001a4bcf6878.html

Schlabach, M. (2012, January 23). Joe paterno, 85, dies in state college. ESPN. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7489238/joe-paterno-ex-penn-state-nittany-lions-coach-dies-85-2-month-cancer-fight