Penn State honors Paterno at game

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - A "Joe Paterno Forever" sign hung off a tent in the Beaver Stadium parking lot. Off another: "We tailgate at the house that Joe Pa built." Some fans donned "409" shirts, referring to the late coach's number of wins.

And at the former site of Paterno's statue, a small crowd gathered, leaving balloons and signs to mark the 50th anniversary of his first game as head coach. Lettermen, hundreds of whom were in town, left bricks to symbolize the "players wall" that was removed along with the statue in 2012.

Inside the stadium, Penn State's first public honoring of Paterno since 2011 consisted of three brief videos highlighting the coach's academic and athletic contributions to the university. Members of Paterno's 1966 team were also introduced at halftime, and that team's cocaptains, Mike Irwin and John Runnells, participated in the coin toss.

The Paterno videos were met by a standing ovation from most of the 100,420 spectators, including a group of male students in the first row who had painted "Joe Paterno" on their chests.

In a section of the upper bowl, where the blue and white was replaced with Temple red, folks stood, too, but looked away.

"He turned his back," read a sign draped behind them. "We'll turn ours."

Paterno was fired in November 2011 after the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal broke. He died two months later. A 2012 university-commissioned investigation found Paterno and other university officials covered up the assistant coach's crimes. His family has denied the allegations.

On Saturday, Phil Keeney, 57, wore a blue No. 1 jersey with "Paterno" stitched on the back. A native of State College, Keeney said he "grew up" with Paterno, often walking by the coach's house as a child.

Despite his loyalty, however, Keeney said he wished the university had waited to honor the coach until details of the scandal became more clear.

"It hurt us all," Keeney said, "but we are going to celebrate the man."