Joe Paterno Dead at 85

From the Wall Street Journal:

Joe Paterno, major-college football's all-time wins leader, died Sunday, according to a statement released by his family. He was 85. He had been undergoing treatment for lung cancer.

The man known by his Pennsylvania State University fans as JoePa will be remembered both for his legendary career leading one of his sport's top programs and for the abrupt way that career ended in November. Mr. Paterno was fired by Penn State's board of regents as part of the fallout from the arrest of former longtime Nittany Lions assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Mr. Paterno's 46 years in charge of Penn State's program, starting in 1966, earned him 409 victories, a pair of national titles, a statue in front of his team's home field and a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame. His ties to the school extended to 1950, when he started as an assistant there.

During his time in State College, Pa., he and his wife Sue donated an estimated $4 million to the university. His Nittany Lions were also held up as a rare marquee football program that won without ever having been found guilty of major violations by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, college sports' governing body. (The organization defines "major" violations as those involving acts that give a team a competitive or recruiting advantage.)

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