Throngs of supporters lined the streets of State College, Pennsylvania, Wednesday to pay respects to legendary Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who was laid to rest on the second of three days of public mourning.
Publicly criticized in his final days for a sex scandal involving one of his assistant coaches, Paterno, 85, college football's winningest coach, has been lionized since his death Sunday after a brief battle with lung cancer.
One day after about 27,000 people, many of them adorned in Nittany Lion blue, streamed into the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center to view the body of the man everybody called “Joe Pa,” the line formed again, this time stretching near a quarter-mile long outside Bryce Jordan Center on the Penn State campus, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The best account of the procession making its way into the spiritual center to view the body was Ryan Jones’ piece in The Penn Stater:
"We entered the spiritual center through a side door, shuffled down a hallway and entered the main lobby, where a few more turns of the line finally led us into the main auditorium. The clumps of people thinned into a slow but steadily moving single file, which continued down the aisle on the left side of the large, high-ceilinged room. At the front lay a casket, adorned with flowers."
Well-wishers, students, alumni, players and supporters marched past the casket and paused if only for a moment. Tickets for Thursday's memorial service were snapped up within minutes, according to news reports.
At the same time, an outpouring of grief cascaded through the internet as well. On Twitter, the hashtags #GuideJoeHome and #PennState were trending Wednesday afternoon in honor of the coaching great.
Penn State’s women’s basketball team announced that it would wear Paterno’s initials on it s jersey for the remainder of the season.
After the public paid their respects, a private funeral and burial service followed. Paterno was set to be buried at Pine Hall Cemetery, according to the Inquirer.
Amid rumors that critics, especially the Penn State Board of Trustees which fired Paterno, would not be welcomed at the funeral, son Jay Paterno tweeted that the family welcomed all. “Our family looks forward to welcoming everyone to a celebration of Joe Paterno's life tomorrow afternoon.”
Paterno-related items for sale on eBay stirred anger among the Penn State faithful, according to Yahoo News.
On Tuesday, InSession’s Jean Casarez said Paterno’s passing would be a blow to prosecutors in the Jerry Sandusky case. “The defense can’t confront Joe Paterno. He is, because of his death, ‘unavailable,’ legally, that’s how they term it,” she said.
The memorial service Wednesday afternoon was scheduled to re-air on the Big Ten Network at 10 p.m. ET Thursday.
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