Post by ۞Quaalude™۞ on Jan 23, 2012 5:08:10 GMT -5
Joe Paterno dies at 85; transformed Penn State into football power ,During a six-decade career, Joe Paterno transformed sleepy Penn State University into a national football power, creating a legacy that no one thought could be beaten — or tarnished.
But the Ivy League-educated coach who demanded that his players excel in the classroom as well as on the field and was revered by generations of fans, was, in the end, forced out amid a scandal that broke hearts and stoked fierce national debate.
Three months after Penn State's board of trustees fired him after the arrest of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on multiple felony counts of sexually abusing boys, Paterno died Sunday in State College, Pa. He was 85 and had been diagnosed with lung cancer in November, just days after his abrupt dismissal.
"His ambitions were far-reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them," the Paterno family said in a statement. "He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."
Paterno was not implicated in a grand jury's indictment of Sandusky but was criticized for not acting more aggressively in 2002 after a graduate assistant informed Paterno he saw Sandusky sexually molest a boy in a locker room shower at Penn State. Paterno passed the information on to his superior, athletic director Tim Curley.
Paterno's inglorious exit shocked a community that watched him rise from a young assistant to become a national icon. His Coke-bottle eyeglasses and rolled-up pant legs came to embody the school's victories-with-virtue persona.
The coach was so beloved in State College that full-size cardboard cutouts of him were common sights around town. Even an ice cream flavor, "Peachy Paterno," was named after him.
In college football's fraternity, he was known simply as "JoePa."
But on Nov. 9, 2011, five days after the scandal broke, the board of trustees fired Paterno three games short of completing his 46th season as head coach QC
www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-joe-paterno1-20120123,0,3220518.story
But the Ivy League-educated coach who demanded that his players excel in the classroom as well as on the field and was revered by generations of fans, was, in the end, forced out amid a scandal that broke hearts and stoked fierce national debate.
Three months after Penn State's board of trustees fired him after the arrest of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on multiple felony counts of sexually abusing boys, Paterno died Sunday in State College, Pa. He was 85 and had been diagnosed with lung cancer in November, just days after his abrupt dismissal.
"His ambitions were far-reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them," the Paterno family said in a statement. "He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."
Paterno was not implicated in a grand jury's indictment of Sandusky but was criticized for not acting more aggressively in 2002 after a graduate assistant informed Paterno he saw Sandusky sexually molest a boy in a locker room shower at Penn State. Paterno passed the information on to his superior, athletic director Tim Curley.
Paterno's inglorious exit shocked a community that watched him rise from a young assistant to become a national icon. His Coke-bottle eyeglasses and rolled-up pant legs came to embody the school's victories-with-virtue persona.
The coach was so beloved in State College that full-size cardboard cutouts of him were common sights around town. Even an ice cream flavor, "Peachy Paterno," was named after him.
In college football's fraternity, he was known simply as "JoePa."
But on Nov. 9, 2011, five days after the scandal broke, the board of trustees fired Paterno three games short of completing his 46th season as head coach QC
www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-joe-paterno1-20120123,0,3220518.story