Joe Paterno, Procession

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

To start my day on Wednesday I went to the statue. The pile of mementos was continuing to grow. Several new ones caught my attention as people circled the area.

I stopped in at the All Sport Museum, which is located in the stadium to find an area where they were asking people to write a favorite memory on a paper cut out of Joe's glasses. They were hanging them on the window in the shape of glasses also.

On the other side of campus a private service was occurring for Joe. After the service a procession would circle through campus and downtown before going to his final resting place. The crowd started to grow as the afternoon wore on. Some brought flowers and some had signs, while these young boys paid tribute to the coach by rolling up their khaki pant legs.

The sunny afternoon started to fade as people lined the street by the stadium, listening to the helicopters circling above waiting for the procession to arrive.

The procession was led by several cop cars, then the royal blue hearse. Behind the hearse was one of the Penn State Blue Buses that the team arrived at football games on. Joe's seat on the bus was left empty, as Sue and the rest of the Paterno family rode on the bus.

College Avenue was lined with people, as the procession turned onto South Atherton.

On my way home from work I saw the stadium still illuminated and was inspired to stop and capture the glow from different locations then I first had.

Joe Paterno, Saying Goodbye

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Thousands of people waited outside in the cold for the public viewing of the legendary Joe Paterno. A private viewing was held for former and current players, coaches, friends and family. Then it was open to the public for the majority of the day. The line outside of the Pasquerilla Spiritual wrapped around the building and down the street, at times for blocks.

Former and current football players took shifts standing on either side of the casket through the day.

I was creating a video for the Allentown Morning Call on Tuesday, so those were the few snapshots I took through the afternoon. The video shows how largely attended the viewing was.

Joe Paterno, Welcomed to the Heavens

Monday, January 23, 2012.

To honor Paterno the lights and score board at Beaver Stadium stayed on throughout the week. It was an uplifting feeling having the lights fill the sky.

I was driving by the statue daily to watch as more and more things were added to the area. With rain showers many of the candles had been extinguished, but some still glowed as visitors left more, and relit others.

Joe Paterno, Day of Sadness

Sunday, January 22, 2012.

I received the call that Joe had passed in the morning hours and immediately headed to the statue. Some candles from Saturday night were still burning, and people were leaving more and more candles, flowers and mementos. The national media had swarmed to town also and Porter Road was lined with more news trucks and live broadcasts.

Mid afternoon passerby's could see the score board in Beaver Stadium glowing with a photo of Joe as the stadium sat peacefully covered in snow.

Students and fans organized a candle light vigil Sunday night that was spread through social media. Thousands stood in the cold and snow to honor the great coach, as the blue band and several players spoke. The images from the front of the crowd by my fellow colleagues were very powerful. I wandered through the crowd and watched the glow from the stadium illuminate the sky.

From Old Main the crowd walked through campus to the statue where many left their candles.

As I was standing chatting with another photographer a familiar face passed by, Jay Paterno. I followed he and his wife as they quietly walked around the crowd, taking in the moment. I knew they were going through a hard time, so I stayed out of their way and tried to be as respectful as possible.

Some students decided that crowd around the statue was too large, and started to leave candles at Beaver Stadium's Gate A, the home of Paternoville.

Joe Paterno, Gravely Ill

State College, commonly known as Happy Valley, hasn't been as happy as usual in the last week. Over the weekend the legendary football coach Joe Paterno passed away. The week was full of events and mourning and the national media swarmed to town. I am going to share some of my photographs from the week in several entries.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

It was Saturday afternoon when rumors that Paterno was gravely ill started to circulate. By the early evening it was confirmed that family members and close friends were at the hospital where was battling lung cancer. After the news spread students and community members started to flock to the Joe Paterno statue that sits next to Beaver Stadium. They brought flowers and candles in support of the 85 year old.

I also made a short video everyone who gathered at the statue.

PSU Hoops

The Penn State men's team played at home over the weekend and after going back through my images today when our internet was down at work, I realized how many of the images I liked. So, a few days late, but still good!