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Paterno Most Victories NCAA Division I Only Coach 400

January 29, 2012 by · Comments Off on Paterno Most Victories NCAA Division I Only Coach 400 

Paterno Most Victories NCAA Division I Only Coach 400, Joe Paterno, the famed football coach who led the Pennsylvania State program for 46 years, has passed away due to complications from lung cancer, his family said on Sunday morning.

Paterno had been diagnosed with cancer last year shortly after being forced to step down from leading the Nittany Lions football team. The scandal began after an alleged child-sex allegations arose that involved one of his former defensive coordinators, Jerry Sandusky.

According to various reports and his family, Paterno had been coaching for over 61 years and of course, led Penn State for almost five decades.

The news hit both fans in Pennsylvania and here in North Carolina very hard. Despite his recent troubles with the scandal involving his defensive coordinator, Coach Paterno had been a father-like figure in the world of football and appealed to fans both young and old across the country.

For local Penn State fan Matt Bohn, the news of Paterno’s death was hard to take. Bohn now lives in the Raleigh area and works at a consulting firm, but grew up in Pennsylvania and attended games at Penn State as a child.

“I saw my first college football games at Beaver Stadium and have loved football ever since,” said Bohn in an interview with The Telegram on Sunday night. Bohn said that he had returned many times to his home state to watch games in person and was able to share one special game with his family.

“I’m happy to say that I saw Paterno’s 400th victory with my wife and daughter,” said Bohn. “I look forward to the day I can tell my daughter how much that meant to her father.”

Although he played football in college, interestingly, Paterno turned away from a career path as an attorney to pursue coaching.

“When he decided to forego a career in law and make coaching his vocation, his father Angelo had but one command: make an impact,” said his family in a statement.

Paterno had been accepted to the Boston University law school, but instead accepted a job working with Rip Engle as an assistant coach at Penn State University. Paterno had played football at Brown University, where Engle had been Paterno’s head coach.

Joe Paterno Penn State

January 29, 2012 by · Comments Off on Joe Paterno Penn State 

Joe Paterno Penn State, Joe Paterno’s “Penn State Way” was the way football at so many levels operated in Pennsylvania for nearly half a century.
Today, the menu features black coaching shoes, high-water pants and black, horned-rimmed glasses and a dash of …

Got to thinking on a long ride down and back from Baltimore the other day just how much Joe Paterno had permeated my life as a football enthusiast who’s resided in Pennsylvania for a half century plus one year and 300 some days.

JoePa’s influence is significant, actually, though I only might’ve seen him in person twice in post-game interviews in the 1980s.

Coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s, we dreamed of playing for two schools: Penn State and Notre Dame. Lunchtime arguments in school were fueled by which team was better, Penn State or Notre Dame (the Irish were defended religiously by the Coyle clan of Avona Heights).

In the pre-ESPN days — yes, there was such an era — college football’s TV slate included select regional rivalries and Joe Paterno’s weekly football show “TV Quarterback” hosted by Fran Fisher and televised on PBS WLVT-39.

We hung on every word uttered by Paterno, watched him diagram plays and answer listeners’ questions from every backwater town in a 300-mile radius of State College.

Few college teams wore fancy uniforms or included players’ names on the back of their jerseys so Penn State’s really weren’t distinctive like they are now. But look around the state today, especially outside the Lehigh Valley, and see how so many high schools wear uniforms that are near replicas of the Nittany Lions’ blue and whites.

The way we were taught to play football mirrored the “Penn State Way,” with the emphasis on fundamentals, hard-hitting defenses, rugged ground attacks and a priority on ball security.

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