AP: Joe Paterno's family says he has passed away

[Nazgul_Hunter]

Just got the push notification on my phone. No article yet.

EDIT: On CNN's front page now too. Here's an ESPN article. Thanks Phoenix Dawn

Link

Joe Paterno has died at the age of 85 after experiencing serious complications from lung-cancer treatment.

The health of Paterno, who had fought the disease for two months, had grown progressively worse after he recently broke his pelvis in a fall at his home in State College, Pa.

The family announced his death Sunday shortly after 10 a.m. ET., The Associated Press reported.

Paterno died at State College's Mount Nittany Medical Center, where he had been undergoing treatment.

Paterno remained connected to a ventilator into Sunday, individuals close to Paterno's family told The Washington Post.

[+] Enlarge
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
Joe Paterno won two national championships and a Division I-record 409 games over 46 seasons at Penn State.
The newspaper reported the family had communicated to the hospital his wishes not to be kept alive through extreme artificial means.

Paterno's cancer diagnosis was revealed Nov. 18, nine days after he lost his Penn State head coaching job in the fallout of sexual abuse charges against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Jay Paterno, one of Paterno's sons, thanked fans for their support Saturday.

"I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight," Jay Paterno wrote on his own Twitter account.

Paterno won two national championships and a Division I-record 409 games over 46 seasons at Penn State and the family has donated millions of dollars to the school.

But his legacy was clouded in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that has resulted in 52 counts of child molestation against Sandusky. Paterno had announced his retirement early on Nov. 9, but the Penn State board of trustees fired him and university president Graham Spanier about 12 hours later. That day, Paterno called the scandal "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 scandal broke, Paterno recently told The Washington Post that he did not know how to deal with the situation when he received a report from a graduate assistant that his former defensive coordinator was accused of abusing a boy in the 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."

Police on Saturday night barricaded off the block where Paterno lives, and a police car was stationed about 50 yards from his home. A light was on in the living room but there was no activity inside. No one was outside, other than reporters and photographers stationed there.

About 200 students and townspeople gathered in State College at a statue of Paterno just outside a gate at Beaver Stadium.

Some brought candles, while others held up their smart phones to take photos of the scene. The mood was somber, with no chanting or shouting.

Jay Paterno tweeted, "Drove by students at the Joe statue. Just told my Dad about all the love & support--inspiring him."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

 

[Solo]

For real this time?

 

[Stet]

Weird. I expected them to keep it a secret for at least 10 years.

 

[Good Job Bob]

RIP

Let's not remember a man who lived 85 long years by one terrible mistake.

 

[Keyser Soze]

http://www.isjoepaternodead.com/

I still trust this

 

[BertramCooper]

RIP

Let's not remember a man who lived 90 long years by one terrible mistake.

Even though that one mistake resulted in the continued rape of children.

 

[entremet]

RIP

Let's not remember a man who lived 90 long years by one terrible mistake.

85.

RIP, you coward.

 

[PhoenixDawn]

RIP.

Even with all of this uncertainty swirling around his life the past few months, you can't just discredit all of the good he has done in the other ~85 years of his life.

Confirmation:http://espn.go.com/college-football...tany-lions-coach-dies-85-2-month-cancer-fight

 

[kingocfs]

Even though that one mistake resulted in the continued rape of children.

Yeah, seriously.

RIP, I guess.

 

[Weenerz]

Piece of shit enabler, good riddance.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

RIP.

Even with all of this uncertainty swirling around his life the past few months, you can't just discredit all of the good he has done in the other ~90 years of his life.

Confirmation (probably add to OP):http://espn.go.com/college-football...tany-lions-coach-dies-85-2-month-cancer-fight

No, I think you can.

 

[bigtroyjon]

RIP

Let's not remember a man who lived 90 long years by one terrible mistake.

lol, one mistake. he repeatedly allowed a man with multiple child rape allegations to hang around the program with kids.

Good riddance to a fraudulent piece of shit that built his legacy on a pile of lies and the innocent souls of raped children.

 

[Slightly Live]

Hmm

 

[kylej]

Good riddance.

 

[truly101]

The whole thing is a sad set of circumstances. Its unfortunate for the actions he chose (or didn't) its unfortunate for the victims that have to live with it every day for the rest of their lives, its unfortunate this is his legacy now.

 

[Cousteau]

Will Penn St have a patch on their jerseys next year is what I want to know.

Getting diagnosed with lung cancer the days after getting fired was something. Dying not long after is something also.

 

[Derrick01]

I see the garbage from the other thread is going to continue here.

RIP

 

[truly101]

Will Penn St have a patch on their jerseys next year is what I want to know.

It will be better if they just do nothing.

 

[Cousteau]

It will be better if they just do nothing.

A tribute? Do nothing..hmm. Like he did.

 

[Salvor.Hardin]

RIP.

Even with all of this uncertainty swirling around his life the past few months, you can't just discredit all of the good he has done in the other ~90 years of his life.

Confirmation (probably add to OP):http://espn.go.com/college-football...tany-lions-coach-dies-85-2-month-cancer-fight

Yes you can.

 

[kylej]

Will Penn St have a patch on their jerseys next year is what I want to know.

Let's not forget that the Penn State football program was going to wear a special color in remembrance of Joe Paterno the week after the scandal exploded.

http://www.tmz.com/2011/11/10/penn-state-team-wear-white-support-paterno/

An old douchebag and a sport is worth more than raped children, I guess.

 

[SteveO409]

RIP Joe Pa

 

[Gaborn]

RIP JoePa. It's a shame his legacy is going to be judged from this late revelation.

 

[TheSeks]

Let's not remember a man who lived 85 long years by one terrible mistake.

Nope. Lets.

 

[Stet]

RIP JoePa. It's a shame his legacy is going to be judged from this late revelation.

And yet it would have been a greater shame had he taken his secret to his grave.

 

[DY_nasty]

RIP JoePa. It's a shame his legacy is going to be judged from this late revelation.

Same, RIP Joe

 

[Ourobolus]

RIP JoePa. You did a lot of good, it's sad that most will only remember you for what you should have done.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Even though that one mistake resulted in the continued rape of children.

Well the iffy thing is that we do know he followed procedure and did what he was required to do. The issue mainly are the people above him that didn't care. Paterno definitely should have followed up and done more of course just from a moral perspective.

 

[Maxim726X]

RIP JoePa. It's a shame his legacy is going to be judged from this late revelation.

Well, it showed a lot about what his priorities were. That was his program, and he clearly cared more about his program than the safety of children.

It is sad... But he could have done something. Even if it damaged the program, he would have been more fondly remembered for putting an end to the abuse.

 

[bigtroyjon]

RIP JoePa. It's a shame his legacy is going to be judged from this late revelation.

Yeah, it's too bad that Sandusky isn't still freely raping kids so that Paterno's legacy would look better.

 

[Cousteau]

Bobby Bowden coming out of retirement confirmed.

 

[Gaborn]

And yet it would have been a greater shame had he taken his secret to his grave.

That's certainly true. I think Paterno's biggest fault is he didn't follow up after passing the report of the abuse on. Do I think he acted correctly? No. But I think people are reacting too harshly to him when his biggest mistake was trusting the process his university had. There were a lot of failures in this, Paterno's included but too many people seem to put too much of it on him.

 

[Maxim726X]

That's certainly true. I think Paterno's biggest fault is he didn't follow up after passing the report of the abuse on. Do I think he acted correctly? No. But I think people are reacting too harshly to him when his biggest mistake was trusting the process his university had. There were a lot of failures in this, Paterno's included but too many people seem to put too much of it on him.

He was more powerful than the president of the University. No excuse, sorry.

 

[crowphoenix]

RIP JoePa. You did a lot of good, it's sad that most will only remember you for what you should have done.

No, it's not sad that people will remember him for that. It's sad that he didn't do everything he could to stop it. If he had made one choice different, everyone in here would be mourning the death and celebrating the life of a great couch and a great man. That's the shame of the situation, and I hope his family is allowed at least a few days of peace to deal with the death before the media descends.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Well the iffy thing is that we do know he followed procedure and did what he was required to do.

This should be the procedure:

1) Learn that your right hand man is raping kids.

2) Have the police been called? No?

3) Call the police.

 

[POWERSPHERE]

And yet it would have been a greater shame had he taken his secret to his grave.

Correct.

 

[Sol..]

Well the iffy thing is that we do know he followed procedure and did what he was required to do. The issue mainly are the people above him that didn't care. Paterno definitely should have followed up and done more of course just from a moral perspective.

He shoulda took two samurai swords and started cuttin' bitches up JOEPA STYLE.

 

[Brinbe]

Made poor decisions, and should rightly be criticized for that, regardless of his legend, but he lived a full life and died surrounded by his loved ones.

 

[BertramCooper]

Well the iffy thing is that we do know he followed procedure and did what he was required to do. The issue mainly are the people above him that didn't care. Paterno definitely should have followed up and done more of course just from a moral perspective.

That sort of conclusion makes JoePa look like a mid-level cog in the Penn State administration. He was not.

He was the god of Penn State. There was nobody above Joe Paterno.

 

[woolley]

RIP Joe Pa. You were a great man.

 

[DY_nasty]

That's certainly true. I think Paterno's biggest fault is he didn't follow up after passing the report of the abuse on. Do I think he acted correctly? No. But I think people are reacting too harshly to him when his biggest mistake was trusting the process his university had. There were a lot of failures in this, Paterno's included but too many people seem to put too much of it on him.

Beat me to it.

Enabling isn't the word to describe what happened here. He could've done more at the end of the day, but before it fell to him it was on others. Just a sad situation all around.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

This should be the procedure:

1) Learn that your right hand man is raping kids.

2) Have the police been called? No?

3) Call the police.

Yeah, but that wasn't company protocol for whatever reason. And weren't the police involved at least in the mid 2000s or so?

 

[Gaborn]

He was more powerful than the president of the University. No excuse, sorry.

He wasn't though. He was more revered, he had a stronger public image, but do I think he saw himself that way? No. I think there is a lot of schadenfreude going on with this, people like to see major public figures brought down. I'm not going to play that game. He did not do all he could and for that he was wrong, but he was far from the worst actor in this situation.

 

[Good Job Bob]

No, it's not sad that people will remember him for that. It's sad that he didn't do everything he could to stop it. If he had made one choice different, everyone in here would be mourning the death and celebrating the life of a great couch and a great man. That's the shame of the situation, and I hope his family is allowed at least a few days of peace to deal with the death before the media descends.

Its both sad that he didn't do more to stop it and that people will remember him by this.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Anyone watching ESPN right now? They just showed a family laying flowers at the statue and touching it.

So creepy.

 

[Maxim726X]

He wasn't though. He was more revered, he had a stronger public image, but do I think he saw himself that way? No. I think there is a lot of schadenfreude going on with this, people like to see major public figures brought down. I'm not going to play that game. He did not do all he could and for that he was wrong, but he was far from the worst actor in this situation.

...Seriously? He was one of the most pompous people on the planet. When he was asked to step down, he refused. When this scandal broke out, he wrote that ridiculous statement about retiring at the end of the season.

Why? Because he cared about that program more than doing the right thing. That was Joe Paterno.

He was there for 60 years. Of course he ran that University and he knew it.

 

[Ourobolus]

That sort of conclusion makes JoePa look like a mid-level cog in the Penn State administration. He was not.

He was the god of Penn State. There was nobody above Joe Paterno.

Maybe from a public image standpoint, but there was a huge failure of leadership at the administration level. People just wanted to see JoePa taken down I think since he was the "face" of PSU. He still should have done more, I'm not going to argue that.

EDIT: Damn, beaten by Gaborn.

 

[pxleyes]

He wasn't though. He was more revered, he had a stronger public image, but do I think he saw himself that way? No. I think there is a lot of schadenfreude going on with this, people like to see major public figures brought down. I'm not going to play that game. He did not do all he could and for that he was wrong, but he was far from the worst actor in this situation.

My post from the other thread

He was THE face of Penn State football. Hell, maybe the whole university. When you assume that kind of role, you take on a bigger burden when something goes wrong at that institution. I don't think you can say that is right or wrong. It is simply one of the downsides that comes with that kind of leadership (worship?).

 

[BertramCooper]

Anyone watching ESPN right now? They just showed a family laying flowers at the statue and touching it.

So creepy.

He's the Kim Il-sung of Penn State.

I wish I were joking.

 

[Gaborn]

My post from the other thread

He was THE face of Penn State football. Hell, maybe the whole university. When you assume that kind of role, you take on a bigger burden when something goes wrong at that institution. I don't think you can say that is right or wrong. It is simply one of the downsides that comes with that kind of leadership (worship?).

Ridiculous. People like to pretend that football coaches are more than they are but the buck stops with the President of the university. Paterno is far from blameless but just because the PUBLIC knows Joe Paterno's name but probably has no clue who the president of Penn State was that doesn't actually give Paterno more power or responsibility.