While at Death’s Door, Ex-Penn State Coach Joe Paterno Is Still Alive, Media Falsely Reported His Death — UPDATE: Paterno Has Died (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 22, 2012
UPDATE: Sadly, not long after this post was first written, it was reported that Joe Paterno died this morning.
ESPN has posted a nice tribute to the former head football coach of Penn State, as has USA Today.
Prayers go to his family, friends, and fans during this sad time.
Penn State's ex-football coach, Joe Paterno, passed away this morning
The following was posted earlier this morning:
Upon reading a premature obituary about himself, American author Mark Twain declared, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
Now American former football coach Joe Paterno can claim the same.
Reports yesterday that former Penn State coach Paterno had died were erroneous. While the 85-year-old man has been battling lung cancer and is listed in serious condition, he is still very much alive. Apologies from the media have been issued, and the managing editor of a Penn State student-run news organization has resigned.
In November, Paterno was implicated in a child sex scandal and was fired from his head coaching position at the university for not reporting child sexual abuse perpetrated by former assistant coach and child pervert Jerry Sandusky. Paterno had worked as PU’s head football coach from 1966-2011.
From USA Today, Ex-Penn State coach Joe Paterno’s health in ‘serious’ condition:
Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who is battling lung cancer, is in “serious condition” but continues to “fight,” according to his sons.
Scott Paterno tweeted around 9:20 p.m. ET Saturday night in response to reports that Paterno, his father, had passed away, “CBS report is wrong – Dad is alive but in serious condition. We continue to ask for your prayers and privacy during this time.”
Jay Paterno, Scott’s brother and a former assistant coach to his father, also tweeted Saturday night: “I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight.”
Family spokesman Dan McGinn said earlier in the evening that Joe Paterno was in serious condition after experiencing health complications.
Paterno, 85, has been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation. His family said last week he was being observed due to minor complications from cancer treatments.
“Over the last few days Joe Paterno has experienced further health complications,” McGinn said in a statement Saturday to The Associated Press. “His doctors have now characterized his status as serious.”
Students, Fans Show Support for Paterno
From Sports Illustrated, PSU editor quits after erroneous Paterno report:
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The managing editor of a student-run news organization that covers Penn State resigned Saturday after the publication’s Twitter account sent messages saying former coach Joe Paterno had died, according to a letter on the publication’s website.
Paterno’s sons refuted accounts of their 85-year-old father’s death in Twitter messages posted after those by Onward State.
“I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight,” Jay Paterno tweeted.
Paterno has lung cancer and has been in a hospital since Jan. 13. His doctors say recent complications have made his condition “serious.”
Onward State recanted its posts but not before the erroneous information was reported and amplified by many media organizations across the country and retweeted countless times. The Associated Press did not publish the report.
Devon Edwards said in the letter that he takes responsibility for the misinformation. He said the publication retracted its tweets after “the mountain of evidence stacked opposite that report became too much to ignore.” He also apologized to apologized to the Paterno family and the Penn State community.
“I never, in a million years, would have thought that Onward State might be cited by the national media,” his letter said. “Today, I sincerely wish it never had been.”
The incorrect information found its way onto media websites, including CBSSports.com, People.com and the Huffington Post.
CBSSports.com had run a photo of Paterno with a caption saying the longtime Penn State coach “loses his battle with lung cancer at 85.” The blurb did not include the source of the information.
In an apology on its site, CBSSports.com said the mistake “was the result of a failure to verify the original report. CBSSports.com holds itself to high journalistic standards, and in this circumstance tonight, we fell well short of those expectations.”
From CNN, Family: Joe Paterno in serious condition, inspired by support:
Throngs of Penn State students gathered in front of a statue of Joe Paterno early Sunday, braving freezing temperatures to pay tribute to the ailing legendary ex-coach.
Some shoveled snow so others could walk up and touch Paterno’s outstretched hand on the statue.
Paterno, 85, was in serious condition at Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pennsylvania, after suffering from lung cancer and a broken pelvis.
“Over the last few days Joe Paterno has experienced further health complications. His doctors have now characterized his status as serious,” family spokesman Dan McGinn said Saturday. “His family will have no comment on the situation and asks that their privacy be respected during this difficult time.”
Relatives said Paterno, 85, was able to communicate Saturday night.
ay Paterno tweeted that he drove by the statue late Saturday night. “Just told my Dad about all the love & support — inspiring him,” he wrote.
His brother, Scott, sent tweets saying a report their father had died were “wrong.” The family was upset about the misinformation, a source close to them said.
Several websites that reported Saturday night that Paterno had died later apologized for the error, including the Penn State student news website Onward State, the first to report the erroneous information.
“To the Penn State community and to the Paterno family most of all, I could not be more sorry for the emotional anguish I am sure we caused,” wrote Devon Edwards, Onward State’s managing editor. “There are no excuses for what we did. We all make mistakes, but it’s impossible to brush off one of this magnitude.”
The site had initially attributed the information to multiple unnamed sources. Late Saturday night, it said “it was still trying to figure out where our process failed.”
Edwards said he was stepping down over the error.
Paterno was fired in November amid outrage over the handling of accusations against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who faces more than 50 counts involving sexual acts with 10 boys since 1994. Sandusky has pleaded not guilty.
From Washington Post, Social media sets off firestorm of false reports that Joe Paterno died:
The false reports began Saturday evening, when Onward State, a student-run Web site affiliated with Penn State, apparently was the first to report that Paterno, 85, had died. The site said it based its report on an e-mail sent to the school’s football players.
The student report was picked up by a local Top 40 radio station, WBHV (94.5 FM), which added the detail that Paterno had died with his family by his side, according to the Poynter Institute, a journalism-education organization that itself tweeted the inaccurate report.
Within minutes of Onward’s story, the news appeared CBS Sports’s Web site, followed by the Huffington Post and Deadspin. Journalists began tweeting it, too, including Anderson Cooper of CNN and Howard Kurtz, the former media columnist for The Washington Post and host of a Sunday morning CNN program. Both Cooper and Kurtz later corrected themselves.
But Paterno, who is seriously ill with lung cancer, hadn’t died.
Family members and Penn State tweeted statements denying the media accounts. At 9:21 p.m., Paterno’s son Jay tweeted that Paterno “is continuing to fight.” Another son, Scott, told his Twitter followers, “Dad is alive but in serious condition. We continue to ask for your prayers and privacy during this time.” (The Post, citing individuals close to Paterno’s family, reported Saturday night that Paterno remained connected to a ventilator and that his family was weighing whether to take him off the ventilator Sunday).
Even as news organizations and journalists scrambled to correct their misinformation, the initial accounts touched off a massive wave of Paterno-is-dead postings on Facebook and Twitter.
“Say it ain’t so,” one Penn State student posted to Facebook around 9:45 pm. “RIP, JoePa.”
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