Paterno's induction is tonight

A year after a broken leg prevented him from doing so, Joe Paterno officially will walk into college football history tonight in New York.

Penn State's 80-year-old coach heads a list of 14 who will be inducted into the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame during ceremonies at the Waldorf-Astoria.

The honor for Paterno, who has 371 victories and will coach his 500th game, against Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29, will come a year after it was intended.

The Brooklyn native was supposed to enter the hall last December with a class that included Florida State's Bobby Bowden, the only coach with more career victories. But Paterno broke his leg in a sideline collision at Wisconsin that November.

"I think it's a tribute to what college football can do for an individual. I really do," Paterno said of the honor last week.

Other hall honorees at tonight's dinner include Army's Pete Dawkins and Navy's Roger Staubach. They are cowinners of the organization's Gold Medal. Notre Dame's Rocky Bleier will receive the Distinguished American Award.