Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno passed away in State College, Pa. Sunday at the age of 85 after a fight with lung cancer, ESPN reported.
Paterno was relieved of his duties as head football coach earlier this year amid a child sex abuse scandal that tarnished his sparkling legacy.
Aside from the scandal, Paterno won 409 games as coach of the Nittany Lions, which is the most in Division I history. He became head coach at Penn State in 1966, and went on to win 37 bowl games, including two national championships.
The coach known as "JoePa", built his program on the motto "Success with Honor", which yielded impressive results in player graduation rates and academic success.
Family friend Larry Foster told The New York Times that Paterno simply lost his will to live, because Penn State was everything to him.
Leave a comment