
Joe Paterno could outtalk anybody in that Brooklyn beat cop’s voice of his. But the lung cancer and the chemo had left him breathless, and what emerged in two days of conversations with him, the last interview he would give, sounded like a series of sighs. Some of them satisfied, some of them regretful, all of them aware that his life was drawing to a close and 85 years were being relentlessly and reductively defined.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Of the half-dozen job interviews John Tecce has been on this winter, the subject has come up every time, in some cases dominating the entire interview: How does Tecce, a senior marketing major at Penn State, view the child sex-abuse scandal that shook the university in November? Does he feel the university acted appropriately in firing football coach Joe Paterno in the scandal’s wake? Where was Tecce on the night several thousand students rioted just off campus?

Joe Paterno, who racked up more wins than anyone else in major college football but was fired from Penn State amid a child sex abuse scandal has died. He was 85. (Jan. 22)

Students and Penn State fans in State College Saturday night expressed concern and showed support for seriously ill former Penn State coach Joe Paterno. (Jan. 22)

Reports of Joe Paterno’s death turned out to be greatly exaggerated Saturday night. But unlike Mark Twain’s famous declaration that he was still alive 115 years ago, the erroneous accounts about the former Penn State football coach’s demise traveled far and wide within minutes, whipped into a firestorm by social media.

Longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, the patriarch of the storied but wounded program, died early Sunday morning, his family said in a statement. His death came two months after he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Paterno was 85.
When reports began to circulate on Twitter that Joe Paterno had died, the former Penn State coach quickly became a trending topic on Twitter and Google. Online interest ratcheted up a notch when CBSSports.com, citing the Penn State student Web site Onward State, reported Paterno had passed away.

Joe Paterno opens up about the sex-abuse scandal that put an end to his 61-year coaching career at Penn State.
The Washington Post's Sally Jenkins discusses her exclusive interview with Penn State legend Joe Paterno, in which the former head football coach spoke at length about the child sexual abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. (Jan. 14)
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