The legendary career of Joe Paterno will be memorialized in the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame in October.
Deified, disgraced, and then honored once again, Paterno’s fall from grace following the 2012 Sandusky child sex abuse scandal ended with the termination of his employment at Penn State and his eventual death from lung cancer complications.
His career, which spanned 62 years with the Nittany Lions, featured 409 wins (112 of which were recently restored after the NCAA sanctions stripped them) and two national championships. “JoePa,” a Happy Valley celebrity, currently holds the Division I record for most football wins.
The Pennsylvania Hall of Fame rules dictate that an inductee must have been born or played or coached most of their careers in Pennsylvania; the voting body is comprised of 7,000 active members who voted in Paterno over former Pitt coach Foge Fazio.
Twelve other nominees will be honored during the induction, including Neal Olkewicz, Bill Koman and Eric Crabtree.
Paterno was already inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006, when he was still coaching at Penn State.
Jay Paterno, one of the late coach’s five children and an outspoken lawmaker in Pennsylvania, is expected to accept the award on his father’s behalf at the induction ceremony on October 24 in the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia.
Photo Credit: lehighvalleylive.com
