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jimnyc
01-22-2012, 02:13 PM
I'm only creating another thread as I don't think the coach passing away needs a thread discussing anything other than honoring his legacy. I think the new coach of the PSU football team has summed up things perfectly.
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"It is with great sadness that I am compelled to deliver this message of condolence and tribute to a great man, husband, father and someone who is more than just a coach, Joe Paterno. First, on behalf of Penn State Football, we offer our sincerest condolences to the Paterno family for their loss. We also offer our condolences to the Penn State community and, in particular, to those who wore the Penn State colors, our Nittany Lion football players and alumni. Today they lost a great man, coach, mentor and, in many cases, a father figure, and we extend our deepest sympathies. The Penn State Football program is one of college football's iconic programs because it was led by an icon in the coaching profession in Joe Paterno. There are no words to express my respect for him as a man and as a coach. To be following in his footsteps at Penn State is an honor. Our families, our football program, our university and all of college football have suffered a great loss, and we will be eternally grateful for Coach Paterno's immeasurable contributions." - Bill O'Brien statement on the death of Joe Paterno

Sir Evil
01-22-2012, 02:17 PM
RIP coach...:salute:

Gunny
01-22-2012, 02:38 PM
He was an awesome coach. Always managed to come out of nowhere and play "spoiler". The fact Penn State wore black and white only with no names on the uniforms put me on his side from the start. Teams don't have individual names.

RIP, Coach.

ConHog
01-22-2012, 02:44 PM
More important than ANYTHING he did on the football field, Paterno was a generous man who gave MILLIONS to Penn State with the only stipulation being that it NOT be spent by the athletic department. No telling how many gained from his generosity.

And his wife's of course.

jimnyc
01-22-2012, 02:50 PM
He was an awesome coach. Always managed to come out of nowhere and play "spoiler". The fact Penn State wore black and white only with no names on the uniforms put me on his side from the start. Teams don't have individual names.

RIP, Coach.

I literally just read an article about him that touched on the uniforms, and the same with CH's response about his generosity...


He was a bridge from a simpler time to the cutthroat business college football has become, somehow serving as both a progressive force (he believed in players’ rights, a playoff system and welcomed advancements in television) and a stubborn traditionalist (the Penn State uniforms remained basic, he never learned how to send a text message and he still used old-school discipline).

In 2007, when a group of his players got into a fight at a party, Paterno determined it would best if the entire team had to clean Beaver Stadium after home games. “I think that we need to prove to people that we’re not a bunch of hoodlums,” he said at the time.

That was Paterno at his best, this singular figure offering simple lessons. He was the rock. He was the constant. He was the conscience. He was JoePa, his nickname suggesting a fatherly quality to not just his players, not just Penn State students who could still find his number listed in the local phone book and not just Nittany Lions football fans.

He was a larger-than-life figure in the small, bucolic town of State College, and if you wanted to draw something good and decent from college football, well, here’s where you always could. Don’t worry, he’d still be there, as unchanged as ever.

He gave millions of dollars back to the school – the library is named after him and his wife, Sue. He raised millions more at speaking engagements across the country. He encouraged vibrant alumni to take incredible pride in their university, unusual for many state schools in the east. Yet he was still this guy out of Brooklyn, with a thick accent and even thicker glasses. He was humble. He was approachable.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-wetzel_joe_paterno_obituary_012212

ConHog
01-22-2012, 02:55 PM
I literally just read an article about him that touched on the uniforms, and the same with CH's response about his generosity...



http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-wetzel_joe_paterno_obituary_012212

Still lived in the same house he did when he was first hired at PSU.

jimnyc
01-22-2012, 02:56 PM
Last night into this morning, students, players & the entire community have been coming to the stadium, to the entrance where a life sized bronze statue of him stands. This is where they are leaving notes of their condolences, candles or just coming there to say "goodbye" in their own way. It's a little eery but shows the amount of respect that this man has gained in the past 60yrs at PSU.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/201201/20120122wap_paternovigila_500.jpg

Abbey Marie
01-22-2012, 03:38 PM
His passing brought me to tears.