Longtime Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno, who transformed from admirable football icon to the center of controversy to bedridden victim in a span of two months, died of lung cancer early Sunday morning at age 85.

The well-respected ex-coach experienced a startling downfall when he became immersed in the center of a sex abuse scandal and was fired from his job after failing to contact police in 2002 when told a young boy was molested inside the football complex. While the official cause of Paterno’s death was a metastatic small cell carcinoma of the lung, many students attribute his death to the scandal that led to the end of his career.

‘Football and Penn State were his life, and when you take that away from him, it’s kind of understandable why all of a sudden his health would be bad,’ said Imani Wimberly, a junior writing and rhetoric major. ‘It’s like how when someone’s spouse dies, they die soon after. It’s a huge blow to football, and a bigger blow to Penn State.’

It was announced in mid-November that the ex-coach was seeking treatment for lung cancer, which was diagnosed during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness. A few weeks after that revelation, Paterno broke his pelvis after falling. He had been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation for minor complications from chemotherapy and radiation treatments, according to a Jan. 22 article from The Chicago Sun-Times.

Paterno, known as ‘JoePa,’ built his football program around the motto ‘Success with Honor’ and won 409 games, taking the Penn State Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships. More than 250 of the players he coached continued on to play in the NFL.

The scandal broke in early November when Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator expected to succeed Paterno before retiring in 1999, was charged with sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years. Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant at the time, witnessed an alleged rape committed by Sandusky in a shower in the football building and testified he told Paterno, who waited a day before alerting authorities. Paterno failed to execute the moral responsibility of contacting police and was fired from the university soon after, according to the article.

But the general reaction of students is one of remembrance for his legendary coaching career rather than the scandal.

‘Of course he did something wrong, we all do something wrong,’ said Armoni Collins, an undeclared freshman in the David B. Falk College for Sport and Human Dynamics, who said he was upset upon hearing the news of Paterno’s death. ‘But he shouldn’t be remembered for the scandal — that’s really sad.’

Joe Pugliese, a sophomore information technology major, agrees and said he believes Paterno should be remembered as an icon for Penn State and football programs across the world.

‘He really should be remembered by the first 84 years of his life, as opposed to the last one,’ he said. ‘The scandal shouldn’t take away from his fantastic coaching career and his remembrance.’

Jeff Cullen, a sophomore sociology major, said it’s unfortunate Paterno’s death took place immediately after the scandal unfolded. But, he said, he won’t let that ruin his view of the coach, and it should not ruin people’s view of the university.

Said Cullen: ‘He was Penn State.’

meltagou@syr.edu

Published on January 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Marwa: meltagou@syr.edu | @marwaeltagouri