Paterno, Joe

▪ 2002

      On a cool autumn day, in a small American town called State College, Pa., in an area called Happy Valley, a group of young men in plain uniforms gathered to play amateur football. This game was no small affair, especially for a bespectacled old man on the sidelines in cuffed khaki pants. That man was coach Joe Paterno of Pennsylvania State University. On that day, Oct. 27, 2001, he became the winningest football coach in major college history, and he did it in front of a jubilant home crowd in the nation's second largest college stadium. Both the size of the stadium and the success of the football program were testimony to Paterno's brilliant reign as head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. In the final quarter of the game, the Nittany Lions roared back from an 18-point deficit to hand Ohio State University a 29–27 loss and to give their coach his 324th career win, surpassing the record held by Paul (“Bear”) Bryant of the University of Alabama.

      Paterno finished the year with 327 total wins over 36 seasons. His long career sparkled with highlights, including two national championships (1982, 1986), five undefeated seasons, and five seasons with only one loss. There were also 20 victories in bowl games, 20 top-10 finishes, and 34 shutouts. The Nittany Lions were especially dominant in the 1990s, during which the team joined the Big Ten Conference and posted 97 wins with only 26 losses. Paterno saw 250 of his players advance to playing in the professional National Football League. Known for his conservative, brass-tacks approach to the game, Paterno excelled at developing first-rate linebackers, some of whom were among his 31 players named to the All-America first team.

      In January 2002 Paterno became the first active coach in 20 years to receive the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award, the highest honour given by the American Football Coaches Association. A four-time winner of the association's Coach of the Year award, he was also the first coach to be named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine (1986). Not content only to build the football program, Paterno was an advocate for academic integrity and donated millions to build up the nonsporting programs of the university.

      Joseph Vincent Paterno was born on Dec. 21, 1926, in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he attended Catholic schools and played football. He served in the U.S. Army in the final year of World War II before accepting an athletic scholarship to Brown University, Providence, R.I., where he studied English literature and led the team as quarterback. Upon graduation in 1950 he intended to enroll in law school at Boston University but was lured away when his former coach at Brown, Charles (“Rip”) Engle, became head coach at Penn State. After 16 years as Engle's assistant, Paterno succeeded him in 1966.

Tom Michael

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▪ American football coach

byname of  Joseph Vincent Paterno , also called  JoePa 

born Dec. 21, 1926, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.

 

 American collegiate gridiron football coach who, as head coach at Pennsylvania State University (1966– ), was one of the most successful coaches in the history of the sport.

      Paterno served in the U.S. Army in the final year of World War II before accepting an athletic scholarship to Brown University, where he studied English literature and played quarterback for the football team. Upon graduation in 1950, he intended to enroll in law school but was lured away when his former coach at Brown, Charles (“Rip”) Engle, became head coach at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). After 16 years as Engle's assistant, Paterno succeeded him in 1966.

      Paterno made an immediate impact on the program, leading Penn State to consecutive undefeated seasons in 1968 and 1969; the team posted another undefeated season in 1973. However, Penn State was denied a national championship in each of these three seasons, as it failed to finish first in the final football polls following each season. Penn State won its first national championship of the Paterno era in 1982 and added another—as well as a fourth undefeated season—in 1986. Penn State started playing football in the Big Ten Conference in 1993, and they won a conference title the following year after Paterno guided the Nittany Lions to a record of 12 wins and 0 losses. In 2001 Paterno posted his 324th career win, surpassing the record for all-time major college coaching victories held by Bear Bryant (Bryant, Bear) of the University of Alabama. (Paterno's victory tally was bested by Florida State's Bobby Bowden in 2003, and the two coaches remained in a close race for the record throughout the decade.) Paterno also owned the record for career coaching victories in bowl games.

      In January 2002 Paterno became the first active coach in 20 years to receive the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award, the highest honour given by the American Football Coaches Association. A four-time winner of the association's Coach of the Year award, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007. Not content only to build the football program, Paterno was an advocate for academic integrity and donated millions to build up the nonsporting programs of the university.

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