STATE COLLEGE —
One after another, they picked up their phones in far-off places like Florida and Washington or in nearby small towns of Pennsylvania to talk — not about a coach — but a man that former players viewed to be something closer to a father figure.
Many sounded angry.
Upset.
Sad.
That's how it has been for weeks — and now months. The story had turned from a legal case against Jerry Sandusky to the firing of Joe Paterno.
And now another sad chapter: The end of a life.
Paterno, a sainted figure at Penn State for almost half a century but scarred forever by the scandal involving his one-time heir apparent, died just 65 days after his son Scott said his father had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Friends and former colleagues believe there were other factors — the kind that wouldn't appear on a death certificate. "You can die of heartbreak. I'm sure Joe had some heartbreak, too," said 82-year-old Bobby Bowden, the former Florida State coach who retired two years ago after 34 seasons in Tallahassee.
Penn State students and State College residents
reflect on the death of legendary football coach Joe Paterno.
