Former Penn State coach Paterno dies

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., (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 today, 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.