Built into the by-laws of most sports Halls of Fame is something called a "character clause."
Within 24 hours, Joe Paterno's statue at Penn State University came down and his record as the winningest coach at the top level of college football disappeared.
Penn State is removing the statue of Joe Paterno from outside the stadium.
The NCAA will not levy the so-called "death penalty" against Penn State, a source familiar with the case tells CNN, but there will be "significant, unprecedented penalties" that are "well beyond what has been done in the past."
Over the past couple of days, I've listened with mounting frustration as people debate whether Penn State University should remove from its campus the 900-pound bronze statue of Joe Paterno, its once-legendary football coach. It's as if, to the folks who demand action, taking away a metal JoePa would serve as another blow to the real JoePa; one last spear in the heart of the fallen hero who apparently looked elsewhere as Jerry Sandusky, his longtime assistant coach and friend, molested one child after another.
Pressure is mounting on the Penn State Board of Trustees to tear down the statue of the late coach Joe Paterno.
The fate of a 900-pound statue of Joe Paterno remains unclear as the Penn State community debates the former head football coach's legacy in light of a recent report that said several Penn State officials helped empower Jerry Sandusky in sexually abusing minors.
In the forecourt of his palace, the Roman emperor Nero kept a statue of himself, 10 stories tall. The Colossus of Nero, as it came to be known, was 120 feet of upright bronze, self-commemorating a tyrant who had -- among other acts of depravity -- murdered his own mother. The statue was eventually moved to a spot outside the Flavian Amphitheatre, which became known, by its proximity to the Colossus, as the Colosseum.
It's still not clear what the future holds for Nittany Lions football after a child sex abuse scandal implicated top Penn State officials and placed a former assistant coach behind bars.
CNN's Erin Burnett talks to the son of Joe Paterno about the latest investigation into the Sandusky sex scandal.
After years and years of over-the-top stories attesting to the character, honor, integrity and moral fiber of the late Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, we now know, after reading the 267-page Penn State internal report on child predator Jerry Sandusky, that Paterno was nothing more than a narcissistic, arrogant coward.
The day after an internal review blasted Penn State for its handling of a child sex abuse scandal that implicated top administrators, including the school's iconic head football coach, the board of trustees made it clear that a lucrative deal the university made with Joe Paterno that now benefits his estate will still stand.
An extensive internal review of the debacle at Penn State that left a child sex abuser in place on campus for years forever casts a shadow over a heroic figure at the school: Joe Paterno.
Purported emails between Penn State officials raise questions about Paterno's influence in handling Sandusky sex abuse.
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh's investigation into possible wrongdoing at Penn State University appears to be examining football coach Joe Paterno's apparent preference for handling scandalous issues internally, and what role that may have played in a potential cover-up involving former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, convicted on 45 counts of child sex abuse on June 22.
Former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno may have played a greater role than previously known in a decision made by university officials not to report a 2001 incident involving former coach Jerry Sandusky and a boy in a locker room shower, according to e-mails written by university officials.
Seven months after former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was indicted for molesting and raping young boys, raising questions about the moral responsibility of school officials and of Joe Paterno, jury selection in Sandusky's trial begins on Tuesday. The former Penn State defensive coordinator faces 52 counts of felony and misdemeanor offenses. His trial is expected to begin on June 11 and last several weeks. If convicted of multiple felonies, the 68-year-old would almost certainly spend the rest of his life in prison.
Penn State University has paid out $5.76 million to the estate of Joe Paterno, its heralded head football coach who lost his job as part of a spiraling sex abuse scandal involving one of his former assistants, a school athletic official said Thursday.
In a Washington Post interview, the former Penn State coach says he felt inadequate to deal with the abuse allegations.
The funeral procession carrying the remains of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno traveled Wednesday past Beaver Stadium, where he paced the sidelines for more than five decades.
Joe Posnanski is writing a biography about Joe Paterno, called PATERNO, that will be published by Simon & Schuster in September. Posnanski interviewed Paterno and family members multiple times in the last days of Paterno's life. He wrote a short piece for the Jan. 30 issue of Sports Illustrated about those final days and the lack of bitterness he found.
Penn State students, alumni, players and supporters filed past the casket of Joe Paterno on Tuesday, paying their respects to the school's late legendary football coach.
Joe Paterno died Sunday. He was affectionately known as "JoePa" by generations of his players and football fans alike.
Hours before legendary football coach Joe Paterno died, some media outlets pounced on an early, inaccurate report and announced that he was dead .
Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno will be buried Wednesday in a private family service, with a public memorial service to follow the next day, his family said Monday.
For so long, even as his hair turned from black to salt and pepper, even as several of his limbs were broken and battered when he stepped in the path of fully-geared gladiators nearly seven decades his junior, Joe Paterno seemed indestructible, more icon than man, as immutable as the Nittany Mountains near State College where he made his home for the better part of six decades. But when the end came, it came with such breathtaking suddenness that even non-believers must pause for moment to wonder if it wasn't part of some cosmic script. For the bare bones of Paterno's obituary read thusly:
I am sitting here in front of my computer, looking at the headline that former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has died, and I honestly don't know how or what I should feel. If he had passed a year ago, it would be a no-brainer. For a World War II soldier who dedicated more than 50 years to one institution and one wife during a time in which examples of both grow rarer by the decade, it seems flags should be flown at half staff.
CNN's Susan Candiotti reports on the sad farewell to a heralded football coach with a tarnished legacy.
Joe Paterno, whose tenure as the most successful coach in major college football history ended abruptly in November amid allegations that he failed to respond forcefully enough to a sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant, died Sunday, his family said. He was 85.
Current and former members of the Penn State football program were among those offering condolences Sunday following the death of legendary ex-head coach Joe Paterno.
Fans braved a freezing January morning to pay their respects to the man known as JoePa, the coach who steered Penn State to two national titles and two dozen bowl victories.
Members of a Penn State alumni group who opposed how longtime football coach Joe Paterno was fired will question the university's Board of Trustees when it meets Friday.
Journalist Sally Jenkins talks about her recent interview with former ex-Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.
Legendary football coach Joe Paterno, who was ousted from Penn State University over an alleged child sex abuse scandal, told the Washington Post he felt inadequate to deal with the initial allegation of abuse.
Penn State is paying long-time coach Joe Paterno as if he retired at the end of the season, even though the university relieved him of his coaching duties on November 9, officials announced Thursday.
Penn State quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno says he has resigned from the university's embattled football program after meeting with the school's new coach.
The new coach of Penn State's embattled football program acknowledged criticism from alumni over his hiring, vowing to work to earn their trust and saluting the team's iconic former head coach Joe Paterno.
Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno has been released from a hospital, according to a source close to his family.
Fans react to the announcement that ex-Penn State coach Joe Paterno has lung cancer . CNN's Susan Candiotti reports.
Joe Paterno was admitted to a hospital Sunday morning after fracturing his pelvis when he slipped and fell at his home the previous night, a source close to the Paterno family said.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer and HLN's Mike Galanos report Ex-Penn State coach Joe Paterno has a treatable form of lung cancer.
CNN's Mary Snow visits the neighborhood where Jerry Sandusky lives and talks to neighbors.
Victims of child sexual abuse woke up Thursday morning to television broadcasts of angry and violent Penn State students rioting because football coach Joe Paterno had been fired - effectively immediately.
The events at Penn State University this week forced many instructors to toss their lesson plans into the trash. Students were interested in only one topic: Joe Paterno, the legendary Nittany Lion football coach, whom the Penn State Board of Trustees fired in midseason. My classrooms were no exception. My largest class, Introduction to Public Relations, which normally has 232 students, went far beyond that as former students and others joined us, interested in what my discussion of the unfolding events might be. I specialize in crisis communications and teach the class every spring semester. There is a host of lessons to be learned, and unfortunately, many of them are needed by the leadership, not the students.
CNN's T.J. Holmes talks to Athena Jones about the atmosphere at Penn State ahead of the first game without Joe Paterno.
Tens of thousands packed Penn State's football stadium Saturday, cheering the Nittany Lions for the first time since graphic child sexual abuse allegations rocked the university and led to the ouster of its president and iconic football coach.
A former Penn State linebacker explains why he's unclear if Joe Paterno should step down amid a sexual abuse scandal.
He's known to generations of football fans simply as JoePa, the hard-nosed Penn State football coach who peers through his trademark thick eyeglasses and sees something more in the young men he coaches -- and demands they see it, too.
Former PSU player and Second Mile honorary member Franco Harris says he's upset over the firing of Joe Paterno.
The state of Pennsylvania gave us Joe Montana, Broadway Joe Namath and Smokin' Joe Frazier. That's a lot of big-time Joes. But added together their moral authority would total a tiny fraction of that established over a half-century by Joe Paterno.
The Penn State football coach who alerted head coach Joe Paterno in 2002 that he'd seen a former defensive coordinator sexually assault a boy -- an allegation authorities didn't learn of until years later -- was placed Friday on indefinite leave, the school's interim president said.
A Penn State assistant football coach who reportedly told Joe Paterno in 2002 he witnessed a young boy being sexually assaulted in a shower won't be at Saturday's Nebraska game because of "multiple threats," the university athletics website said Thursday night.
Head football coach Joe Paterno speaks to supporters at his house after being fired by Penn State University.
This week has been like a movie ... messed up. --Penn State quarterback Rob Bolden on Twitter at 10:27 p.m., Wednesday.
Hundreds spilled into the streets at Penn State early Thursday morning following news that football head coach Joe Paterno and the school's president lost their jobs over a child sex abuse scandal at the university.
Coach Joe Paterno and the president of the school have lost their jobs, effective immediately, over a child sex abuse scandal at Penn State, university trustees announced Wednesday night.
The Penn State Board of Trustees discusses its decision to fire Joe Paterno.
Longtime Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno will retire at the end of the 2011 season, he said in a statement.
Former NFL player Heath Evans says Joe Paterno did the bare minimum when reporting Jerry Sandusky's behavior.
Penn State students and supporters of head football coach Joe Paterno rallied Tuesday evening outside his home amid growing calls for him to resign related to his response to child sex abuse allegations brought against a former assistant.
Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno said Sunday the string of sexual child abuse charges against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky are "shocking."
Penn State football coach Joe Paterno releases a statement regarding sexual abuse charges against a former assistant.
They stood together on stage Monday afternoon for a brief, somewhat historic photo op. To the left of Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany was Penn State's 83-year-old coaching bedrock, Joe Paterno. To the right, Nebraska's Hall of Fame coach-turned-athletic director, 73-year-old Tom Osborne.
Are you rooting for the old man? Or do you find yourself wincing watching him limp around?
On a beautiful spring day in State College last Saturday, a Penn State-record 73,000 fans turned out for the annual Blue-White game, and by all indications, they enjoyed themselves immensely.
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