Penn State remembers Joe Paterno

26 January 2012 Last updated at 22:03 GMT Mourners lined the streets of downtown State College, Pennsylvania for the funeral procession of Joe Paterno Thousands of mourners have attended a memorial for legendary Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno, one day after his funeral.

Paterno, 85, was buried on Wednesday in a private ceremony.

He died months after being fired by the university for failing to act over allegations an assistant coach molested a 10-year-old boy in a locker room.

Paterno won 409 games over his four-decade career at the school, the most in top-level college football history.

His funeral procession, lined by mourners, drove directly through the university town, popularly known as "Happy Valley".

Nike founder applauded

Paterno died of lung cancer, a diagnosis revealed only after he was fired by Penn State authorities.

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It's not an unusual sight at Penn State: men shuffling along the corner of University Drive and Curtain Road, muttering, "Tickets? Any extra tickets?"

But this time, they weren't trying to buy last-minute seats to the football stadium across the street. Instead, they were trying to gain access to the memorial service for coach Joe Paterno.

The service capped off three days of mourning at the university. Tickets for the event, free to the public, were claimed within seven minutes of becoming available.

Many of those in attendance wore skirts or suits, though some still sported blue-and-white Penn State athletic wear.

One student rolled the bottoms of his khaki trousers, both in homage to Paterno's signature game-day style and to keep his cuffs dry while he waited in the freezing rain to enter the building.

Inside, football players from different decades of Paterno's career addressed the crowd, as did members of the faculty, who praised Paterno's commitment to academics. Montages of the coach throughout the years, set to opera or inspiration music, played between speakers.

Despite the scandal surrounding his final months, Paterno remained a revered figure to many Penn State students and alumni.

At Thursday's memorial service, Nike founder and chairman Phil Knight earned a standing ovation from a crowd of 12,000 as he offered a rousing defence of Paterno's conduct regarding the sexual abuse scandal.

He said Paterno had acted appropriately, reported the information to his superiors and was punished for his honesty.

"Whatever the details of the investigation are, the response is clear to me: if there is a villain in this story, it lies in that investigation, not in Joe Paterno's response," said Mr Knight.

Ben Simasek, who graduated from the school in 2009, told the BBC that the sexual abuse case which ended Paterno's career should not mar the coach's decades of service to the school.

"A lot of people are focusing on negative aspects and talking of a legacy tarnished, but I don't believe that for one minute," he said.

"Joe Paterno will and should be remembered as a great person, a human being, and someone who was able to have an impact on a university on a great scale."

'His legacy is us'

Former NFL and Penn State wide receiver Jimmy Cefalo told the Associated Press news agency before Paterno's funeral: "What's Joe's legacy? The answer is his legacy is us."

Mr Cefalo was one of several invited speakers, one from different decades of Paterno's career, at Thursday's memorial.

Two of Paterno's sons, Jay and Scott, were among pallbearers at Wednesday's funeral

In a recent interview discussing the child abuse scandal for the first time, Paterno said he had alerted the university's athletic director about the allegation, but regretted not taking it further.

The athletic director, Tim Curley, and another university official, Gary Schultz, are accused of lying to a grand jury that investigated sexual abuse charges against Jerry Sandusky, formerly an assistant football coach.

Mr Sandusky is accused of molesting 10 young boys over an 11-year period. He met his alleged victims through his charity work.

He has denied the charges, but told NBC News in an interview after he was charged: "I shouldn't have showered with those kids."