Former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno who led the Nittany Lions since the 1950’s has passed away after complications stemming from lung cancer.
He was 85 years old.
The family announced the passing shortly after 10AM ET according to the Associated Press.
Paterno had been at State College’s Mount Nittany Medical Center undergoing treatment for lung cancer which was diagnosed on November 18th, nine days after he was dismissed from Penn State amid the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse allegations.
Paterno’s health took a turn for the worse this past week during the treatment and was confined to a ventilator into Sunday.
According to the Washington Post, Paterno’s family communicated to the hospital his (Paterno’s) wishes not be kept alive through extreme measures.
Speculation surrounding the health and well-being of Paterno started to swirl Saturday night with some reports indicating that Paterno had in fact passed away.
Paterno’s family later came out and refuted the reports saying that he was still fighting but in serious condition.
“I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight,” Jay Paterno wrote on his own Twitter account.
Despite the legendary career, Paterno’s legacy took a tremendous hit in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that has resulted in 52 counts of child molestation against Sandusky. As a result Paterno announced on November 9th that he would retire at the end of the season however the Penn State Board of Trustees decided that they would dismiss him and University President Graham Spanier. Later that day Paterno said that the scandal was “one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”
In his first public statements since the Sandusky allegations broke, Paterno admitted that he didn’t know how to deal with the situation when he received a report from then grad assistant Mike McQueary that Jerry Sandusky had been raping a young boy in the Penn State showers.
“I didn’t know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was,” he told The Post in an extensive two-day interview at his home. “So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn’t work out that way.”
Paterno leaves the game and life as the winningest football coach in major college football history. He won two national championships and a Division I-record 409 games over 46 seasons at Penn State.
Ref: Associated Press, Washington Post, ESPN, examiner.com (image)
