STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) ? Legendary former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, fired in November after 46 years as head coach in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal involving an assistant, died on Sunday, his family said in a statement.
Paterno, 85, whose legacy as the winningest coach in major college football history was indelibly tarnished by his inaction in the abuse scandal, had been suffering from lung cancer.
“He died as he lived,” his family said. “He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been.”
Paterno was surrounded by his family when he died at Mount Nittany Medical Center, in the shadow of his former team’s Beaver Stadium. He disclosed he had treatable lung cancer shortly after university trustees ousted him for failing to tell police about a sex abuse allegation years earlier against longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
The sex abuse case at a highly respected football program like Penn State brought national attention to the issue of child sexual abuse in the same way that pedophilia charges involving Roman Catholic priests did years earlier.
Before the Sandusky scandal Paterno was a beloved institution in Pennsylvania known as JoePa as he made the Nittany Lions one of the most consistent winners in college football. His tenure was a rarity in collegiate sports and his legions of supporters shouted down critics who thought he was too old to be coaching as he entered his 80s.
In a Washington Post interview this month Paterno said he was unsure about how to handle the matter when one of his assistants came to him in 2002 after allegedly seeing Sandusky in the shower with a boy. “So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did,” he said. “It didn’t work out that way.”
While his inaction led school officials to fire him, it did not change how many fans felt about Paterno.
SHRINE OUTSIDE FOOTBALL STADIUM
Within minutes of news of his death on social media sites, dozens of sobbing students, alumni and fans streamed into the bitter cold to a makeshift shrine of votive candles and flowers at the foot of a statue of Paterno outside Beaver Stadium.
“He was more than half the reason I came here because of who he is,” said Katie Chwastyk, 21, a senior with tears streaming down her face and wearing a Penn State football sweatshirt.
Wearing a Penn State knit cap, freshman Cara Kirman, 19, of Harrisburg called Paterno “a father figure” and said, “In my mind, he is always going to be alive… It’s a very sad day.”
Paterno died hours after premature reports of his death were carried on Saturday by CBS Sports, which later apologized to his family and the Penn State community.
The university in a statement grieved the death of “a great man who made us a greater university. His dedication to ensuring his players were successful both on the field and in life is legendary and his commitment to education is unmatched in college football.”
Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, a group of alumni who objected to Paterno’s firing, said he inspired his “millions of fans … to be better human beings. When we lead our lives with generosity, commitment and humility, we carry on the legacy of Joseph V. Paterno, one of the truly great leaders of our time.”
Paterno had been in and out of the hospital since the cancer disclosure for treatment with radiation and chemotherapy, and also after he fell at home in December and broke his pelvis.
His family said on Saturday that his health had deteriorated in recent days and asked that the family’s privacy be respected “during this difficult time.”
409 WINS IN 46 SEASONS
“His ambitions were far reaching but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them,” the family said in a statement Sunday. “He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community.”
A member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Paterno was head coach of the Nittany Lions for 46 years. With 409 victories at Penn State, he won more games in big-time college football than any other coach in the sport’s history.
His downfall came with the disclosure of the charges against Sandusky, triggering one of the biggest scandals in college sports history. Paterno said he would retire at the end of the season but the university’s trustees fired him with four games remaining.
The move set off demonstrations by students who felt Paterno was treated unfairly and anger among some alumni. The two top officers of the university trustees stepped down this week.
Sandusky, who has maintained his innocence, faces 52 counts of sexual abuse of boys over a period of 15 years, including some incidents at the football complex on campus.
A Penn State graduate assistant testified to a grand jury that he told Paterno in 2002 that he witnessed Sandusky assaulting a boy in the showers at the football building. Paterno said he passed the information on to his boss, then Athletic Director Tim Curley. But no one told police, and the abuse continued for years, according to prosecutors.
University President Graham Spanier was fired along with Paterno, and Curley and a former finance official in the athletic department face charges of lying to a grand jury about the alleged abuse.
Sandusky is under house arrest awaiting trial on the abuse charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
(Writing by Phil Barbara and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Bill Trott)
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