Sports

Former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno has Lung Cancer, Son Says

Former Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno has Treatable Lung Cancer

Former Penn State coach Paterno has a treatable form of lung cancer, according to his son. Scott Paterno the 84-year-old Joe Paterno is undergoing treatment and "his doctors are optimistic he will make a full recovery." (AP Photo File)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Joe Paterno was diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer the same weekend Penn State’s football team played its first game without the Hall of Fame coach in nearly a half century.

His son, Scott Paterno, said Friday in a statement to The Associated Press that his father’s doctors are optimistic the 84-year-old Paterno will make a full recovery.

The news came shortly after Penn State said the NCAA would look into the school’s handling of a child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Paterno was fired by the board of trustees Nov. 9 for failing to do more than simply report to his superiors an abuse allegation against Sandusky.

“Last weekend, my father was diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness,” Scott Paterno said in the brief statement. The medical exam came the same weekend the school played its first game since the 1960s without Paterno leading the Nittany Lions – a 17-14 loss to Nebraska.

“As everyone can appreciate, this is a deeply personal matter for my parents, and we simply ask that his privacy be respected as he proceeds with treatment,” Scott Paterno said.

Earlier Friday, The Citizens Voice of Wilkes-Barre reported that Paterno had been seen Wednesday visiting the Mount Nittany Medical Center and was treated for an undisclosed ailment and released.

Sandusky is charged with sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years – charges he denies. Critics say Paterno should have done more to stop his former assistant, specifically when he was told about an assault in 2002. But the longtime coach is not a target of the ongoing investigation of Sandusky.

Paterno initially announced his retirement effective at the end of the season, saying that the scandal was “one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.” The trustees fired him anyway, about 12 hours later.

Longtime defensive coordinator Tom Bradley replaced Paterno on an interim basis. He broke the news about Paterno’s cancer to the Nittany Lions after the team arrived in Columbus, Ohio, for Saturday’s game against Ohio State.

“I told them sometimes words pale at a time like this. I felt they should hear it from us, exactly what it was, that we were told that it was a treatable lung cancer,” Bradley said. “It’s just one of those things. It’s a tough time for the players.”

Former Penn State quarterback Todd Blackledge, now an ESPN analyst, said Paterno never mentioned the illness when he visited his former coach Thursday in State College.

“In a week or so of many surprises this was another one,” said Blackledge, who noted that Paterno was in good spirits when he saw him. A Penn State spokesman said that as far as he knew, Paterno never smoked.

To say health problems added to Paterno‘s troubles during a rough period doesn’t begin to capture the last two weeks. The lurid Sandusky scandal has tarnished the reputation of a coach and a football program that once prided itself on the slogan “Success with Honor.”

Paterno’s 409 career victories over a 46-year career are a Division I record. In all, Paterno guided five teams to unbeaten or untied seasons and won two national championships.

Sandusky was once expected to succeed Paterno but retired in 1999 not long after being told he wouldn’t get the job.

Two university officials stepped down after they were charged with lying to a grand jury and failing to report the 2002 charge to police, an assault which allegedly took place in a shower in the football building.

A grand jury report said the attack was witnessed by Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant at the time. Now the receivers coach but on administrative leave, McQueary told the grand jury he went to his father first and then to Paterno, who in turn spoke with his boss but didn’t go to the police.

When the state’s top cop said Paterno failed to execute his moral responsibility by not contacting police, public outrage built and the trustees acted.

Besides the criminal case against Sandusky, the university announced last week it was conducting its own probe – and that was before the NCAA said Friday that college sports’ governing body would also start an inquiry.

NCAA president Mark Emmert said in the letter to Penn State president Rod Erickson that the probe will look at “Penn State’s exercise of institutional control over its intercollegiate athletics programs.”

At one time, that would have never been a question with Paterno, widely regarded as college football’s model for running a clean program. He placed as much pride in graduating players as getting to bowl games, and consistently had Penn State among the top-rated academic programs in the country.

Paterno has donated millions back to the university, and his name graces a campus library – not a football facility or athletic complex.

Prior to his firing, Paterno pressed on with coaching in spite of a number of recent ailments. He often walked into news conferences fighting back sniffles, and Paterno often passed it off as nothing more than an annoying cold.

He was said to be in good health this preseason – getting back to his routine of walking around town – before a receiver accidentally blindsided him during preseason drills in August, leaving him with an injured right shoulder and pelvis.

Known for his stubbornness and high pain threshold, Paterno walked away from the collision and stayed on his feet for the rest of the practice period before being encouraged to get checked out by a doctor. The injuries forced him to spend most of the season in the press box.

During the 2010 offseason, Paterno scaled back personal appearances because of an intestinal issue and an adverse reaction to antibiotics prescribed for dental work.

Paterno ran practices from a golf cart in 2008 and spent much of that season in the press box after injuring his hip while trying to show players how to perform an onside kick in practice. Two years earlier, he broke his leg in a sideline collision during Penn State’s game at Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium.

“Anyone who has ever been around coach Paterno knows he has tremendous drive and fight,” acting athletic director Dave Joyner said in a statement. “The Penn State community will be in his corner and wishes him a speedy recovery.”

Lung cancer kills 1.4 million people around the world each year. In the United States, 221,130 new cases and 156,940 deaths are expected this year. The disease is typically diagnosed in older people. About 2 out of 3 people diagnosed with lung cancer are over age 65.

“There’s a significant number of people who are diagnosed in their 70s and 80s,” said chief medical officer Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, who has no involvement in Paterno’s treatment.

“Generally when I hear that a person has a treatable form of lung cancer, it means the person may very well benefit from surgery to remove a part of the lung,” Brawley said.

While the surgery can be invasive, people who undergo the operation “can do well after that,” he said.

The lights were dim Friday night at Paterno’s modest ranch home next to a park near the end of a dead-end street. A few TV photographers waited across the street for any sign of the coach.

About a mile away, a steady stream of fans arrived in pairs to take pictures at the life-sized bronzed statue of Paterno outside Beaver Stadium. Jill Varady, 24, of York, said she found out about Paterno’s illness after her aunt posted a comment on Facebook.

Despite the scandal, the school should now let Paterno “definitely let him finish the season, and then … let him retire,” Varady said. “We probably will never know everything that happened.”

The illness didn’t change the perception of how Paterno handled the Sandusky situation, said Tessa Drawbaugh, 26, of State College. “But as far as other than that, he’s an icon,” she said. “Everybody wants him to be well.”

Comments (32)

  • MUDFLAPS
    Posted on November 20, 2011 at 11:56pm

    ok so joe has cancer but did you hear about the assistant coach that was changing the lives of little boys???? oh yeah remember that story??? What a school full of rejects rioting over joes firing when little boys have been sodomized.

    Report Post »  
  • alwayshappy
    Posted on November 20, 2011 at 4:11pm

    How truly sad! But did you see what his retirement is? It’s a sin and a scandal! I should be lucky! We should be so lucky! The bottom line is if he knew the molestation was going on and did little or noting he should be punished accordingly as should Penn State and so should the police! Such behavior is unacceptable I don’t care who you are! Those who were molestated are scarred for life! This cannot be justified! Shame on Penn State if they knew this was going on and covered it up!

    Report Post »  
  • You Have Got to Be Kidding
    Posted on November 20, 2011 at 1:14pm

    Hey, its called…KARMA…enjoy ur ride Mr. Panterno!!!

    Report Post »  
  • mountainb
    Posted on November 20, 2011 at 12:02pm

    I do not celebrate the illness of anyone. This disgusting bunch of hypocrite pigs at penn state deserve public shame and humiliation as well as criminal prosecution where justified. I wish no ill on thier families if they were unaware and innocent. Those of you who continue to send your children to these institutions of “higher learning” deserve the losers you get. There is a reason pigs like this hide on the east and west coasts as they know they have friends who will support and protect them. Let fools like paterno and mcqueery come to the true middle America, and they will quickly get the justice they so deserve. You who support these swine, please continue to send your spawn to these cess pools while the rest of us continue to live in the American which will never permit this type of institutional crime. I see great Americans like Glenn moving away from the dc and coastal cess pools and believe they are the few who truely understand what, not is coming, but what has already happened to our once great educational system. Not to steal from the pigs at penn state, but “victory with honor” and unlike them, we mean it.

    Report Post »  
  • jfry85
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 11:59pm

    wtf is wrong with you people, he is elderly and has cancer…….give him a little respect…

    Report Post »  
  • WaltzingMtilda
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 10:32pm

    Wow, judge much, people?

    You are not Joe Paterno and I’m quite certain none of you are perfect. I am so over this scapegoating. Easy for everyone to say what they would or would not have done in his shoes.

    Now he is ill and facing a battle with cancer, and some posters say good?

    Sin has no ranking in the eyes of God, only in the eyes of man. Remember that next time you feel happy that someone who did not act perfectly has cancer.

    Report Post »  
    • B_rad
      Posted on November 20, 2011 at 4:26am

      I would agree that it is not the nicest thing to be pleased that someone – anyone – has a dreaded disease. That said, it is human nature to wish horrible punishment on people who have done horrible things. You say he did not act “perfectly”. Really? Scapegoating? Really? Tell that to the myriad of young boys whose childhoods were robbed from them because good ol‘ Joe didn’t take “perfect” action. No one is expected to be perfect, but decent people of character are expected to act in the best interest of children. Passing the buck and washing his hands of it permitted the RAPE of countless more boys who could have been protected. Unconscionable. All of you people who apologize and make excuses for Paterno and any of the rest of the sleezeballs who did nothing while the innocence was ripped from these children seriously concern me. It seems all of you would be cautious and worried about the consequences to the norm, to your job, to your friends or family if you were to come across information like this in your life. I sincerely hope none of you have children who will ever depend on you to protect their well-being, since it is all too apparent that you could not be counted on to act “perfectly”. Disgusting.

      Report Post » B_rad  
    • B_rad
      Posted on November 20, 2011 at 4:39am

      One other thing… “Wow, judge much, people?” – WaltzingMtilda
      Ummm, yeah. Know why? Because we are on this earth to JUDGE right from wrong. We cannot judge his soul, only God can do that, but we have a responsibility to judge his actions. I am ever so sick of sanctimonious people who say things like ” who are you to judge?”. I’m a human being with the intellect and the character to be able to make a decision that something is WRONG. Next time you want to make such an asinine statement or pose such a BS question, ask yourself if you would judge the actions of your would-be rapist or murderer as wrong, or if you would simply say “who am I to judge?”

      Report Post » B_rad  
  • Parnell3rd
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 9:01pm

    Very Interesting! The Pan Am Lockerbie bomber also had cancer.

    Report Post » Parnell3rd  
  • B_rad
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 8:32pm

    I would wish horrible disease on no one, but I have no sympathy for this man. To stand by when you have ANY reason to believe evil is being done to children IS evil. There is not a single person in this organization who acted properly. The man who witnessed the rape (McQuery?) should have immediately saved the boy and called the police. Failing that, Paterno should have called the police when he was told the story. The administration should have called the police when they were alerted. Every single one of these people should not only be out of a job, but put on trial for allowing the continued victimization of children while they did nothing. And yes, simply passing the buck and washing your hands of it is doing NOTHING. Shame on every one of them, and shame on everyone who dares defend the non actions of a man who should have known better. Before you dare defend Paterno again, imagine your child was the one victimized AFTER Paterno was alerted to the problem and didn’t take drastic action. Disgusting and evil.

    Report Post » B_rad  
    • Highlander
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 7:45pm

      My Frustration has finally reached a boiling point. B_RAD, READ THE INDICTMENT!!!!! READ the fact that Paterno took it to Campus Security. Wake up to the fact that the Pennsylvania State Police commissioner DOES NOT WEAR A BADGE! You just fell into the trap of believing what the news media fed you and you did not check the facts. It makes me sick to see Americans WHO KNOW BETTER absolutely blind to the lies of the media that they routinely bash. It is not a wonder that the U.S. is in such a mess.

      Report Post » Highlander  
    • B_rad
      Posted on November 23, 2011 at 4:30pm

      They went to security and washed their hands of it while the piece of garbage continued to RAPE CHILDREN for nearly a decade. Had I formed my opinion solely on what the media fed me, I would still be thinking “Well, he told people, that’s good enough.” IT WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH. Joe was aware of the danger to children and stood by for another DECADE while this piece of $h!# RAPED MORE CHILDREN. So, to follow your logic, if you see a rapist getting his rape on, as long as you tell someone, you should continue to let him rape until the “authority” gets around to doing something about it???? Heaven help any child who needs you to do the right thing. IT MAKES ME SICK that so many Americans are willing to stand by while children are victimized or to apologize for those that do. Wake up and smell the coffee. An eye witness told Paterno that he saw Sandusky raping a child. Joe took it to the next level and washed his hands of it. During the DECADE it took for something to be done, COUNTLESS more boys lost their childhood. Those boys owe their victimization to many people, including Joe Paterno for NOT acting to prevent it.

      Report Post » B_rad  
  • B-Neil
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 6:20pm

    He had the power to take action when he was told. He should be charged with complisity. His age and reputation has no bearing on his inaction. God better have pity for him, I sure as hell don’t. CARRY ON McDUFF

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  • hillarie
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 3:07pm

    Good.

    Report Post »  
  • Sinka
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 2:11pm

    wow…this is the blaze? what happened to this man’s constitutional rights? innocent til proven guilty or is it trial by media that only counts now? where is the evidence against this man? the person who says he was told paterno “graphic details” has since changed his story about how he handled the situation, and the police have no record of a report from mcqueary. what kind of credibility does mcqueary have now? i think it’s time that people remember that sandusky is the perv who molested these boys, not paterno. quit villifying this man without concrete evidence. if paterno had pursued on the basis of hearsay, he would have set himself up for legal action if the report proved false.

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    • CarolinaGirl
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 3:29pm

      Paterno himself stated that in looking back he wished he had done more (concerning Sandusky). That statement alone says he KNEW about it and basically did NOTHING!

      Report Post » CarolinaGirl  
    • Sinka
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 7:37pm

      have you ever looked back on something you did not know you could have changed and wished you could have? if you can honestly say no you have lived a charmed life. all i’m saying is that everyone is so eager to string paterno up without any evidence. if it comes out that he did, in fact, know, then by all means, throw everything you can at him…but if not, will you feel any remorse in villifying a man who did what he was supposed to? turning in his friend of how many years on hearsay? i’d say that speaks more to his integrity than anything. can’t say that about anyone else in this matter.

      Report Post »  
    • B_rad
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 8:47pm

      First, when he goes to trial he will be legally considered innocent until proven guilty. He will not be punished by society’s law until such time as he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That being said, there is no such law that prevents me (or anyone else) from judging his actions as wrong based upon the evidence provided, and stating that opinion. It is a very immature position to get on a high horse about “innocent until proven guilty” because people voice their opinions.
      As far as his “innocence” in this matter, you must be joking. I have a strong suspicion you would have an entirely different attitude if your child was the one victimized AFTER Paterno was alerted and did nothing but pass the buck and wash his hands of it. How many children were raped between the time Paterno was first told about this and when it all blew up? Look them in the eye and tell them how ol’ Joe did the best he could be telling on his old friend and expecting the higher-ups to take care of it. Pathetic, disgusting and evil. I’ll let you figure out who I mean by those discriptors.

      Report Post » B_rad  
    • Shakira Law
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 11:09pm

      Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Guilty here! Hang him, string him up by his ******! This isn’t a forum for guilt or innocence. This is opinion and the opinion is: Hang him.
      That’s my opinion. Anyone who see’s a child being molested and does nothing, should get the chair!

      Report Post » Shakira Law  
    • Sinka
      Posted on November 20, 2011 at 10:18pm

      wow. hope you’re never called for jury duty b_rad. and if you think i’m pathetic, disgusting and evil, god bless ya for you really need it.

      Report Post »  
    • B_rad
      Posted on November 23, 2011 at 4:40pm

      Well Sinka, when I’m called to jury duty, I’ll examine the evidence presented to me and make an informed decision, just as I have here. You accuse the Blaze or it‘s readers of somehow infringing on Joe’s constitutional rights when you obviously have no concept of those rights or how they can be violated. And for the record, you assigned those descriptors to yourself. I might give you pathetic, but I certainly don’t know enough about you to call you disgusting or evil. I reserve those for people who have actually harmed children or stood by while someone else did, not for those who merely don’t understand enough that they apologize for them.

      Report Post » B_rad  
  • wilmo
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 1:47pm

    Paterno and PSU’s lucrative football enterprise are the principal reasons this horrific, despicable
    scandal was allowed to go unchecked for over a decade. Paterno was more powerful than the
    university president or the board in deciding when and how to deal with this criminal activity. While
    the cover-up continued, the victim count went up. Sandusky is the main criminal here, but many
    others were complicent and must be punished.

    Report Post »  
  • hineni
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 1:12pm

    Criminals love to play the cancer card.

    Report Post »  
    • Sinka
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 2:32pm

      really? cite your evidence that paterno is a criminal.

      Report Post »  
    • dsind
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 6:51pm

      Lokerbie(sp) comes to mind.

      Report Post »  
    • jnobfan
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 10:53pm

      IMO its a bad sign that Jo Pa is playing the C card. Its obviously a ploy by his legal team to gain sympathy for poor old Joe. Her knew about the *** club for years and did nothing to stop more kids from being abused. I do feel sorry for the PSU nation but Joe can go to hell tonight for all I care.

      Report Post »  
    • Sinka
      Posted on November 20, 2011 at 10:31pm

      again, cite your evidence. where is this ***club? there is nothing other than hearsay and malicious gossip in regards to this. there was no mention in the grand jury report (if you‘d read it you’d know) and every bit of the paterno witchhunt is based upon testimony from a man who has since changed his story.

      Report Post »  
  • trickball
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 1:10pm

    Is this damage control?

    Report Post »  
  • teddrunk
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 12:57pm

    Guy pushing 90 is found to have a disease that may or may not kill him…..shocking news! Stop the presses

    Report Post »  
  • Ravings of a lunatic planet
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 12:50pm

    For the love of the game Mr. Paterno, you turned a blind eye………………However, I am happy that your cancer is treatable.

    Report Post » Ravings of a lunatic planet  
  • The10thAmendment
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 12:48pm

    Never happy to hear about someone facing a horrible disease. Prayers to Paterno and the entire PSU community.

    Once he has been treated and cleared I might have something to say, and how that relates to the witness of the Spirit.

    Report Post » The10thAmendment  
  • YepImaConservative
    Posted on November 19, 2011 at 12:29pm

    Glad he has a treatable form of cancer… so can live a little longer to ponder what he should have really done in helping defend defenseless young boys from a child predator. But on the other hand, maybe Dr Conrad Murray can be placed under house arrest at Paterno’s place.

    Report Post » YepImaConservative  

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