Joe Paterno statue
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''Joe Paterno'' is a
bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...
of
Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2 ...
, former
head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...
of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team. It was located on the northeast side of
Beaver Stadium Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the campus of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. It has been home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference since 1960, though some parts of ...
on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University in
State College, Pennsylvania State College is a home rule municipality in Centre County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is a college town, dominated economically, culturally and demographically by the presence of the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania Sta ...
until it was removed in 2012 in the aftermath of the
Penn State child sex abuse scandal The Penn State child sex abuse scandal concerned allegations and subsequent convictions of child sexual abuse committed by Jerry Sandusky, an assistant coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, over a period of at least fifteen years ...
.


Background and description

The statue was commissioned by friends of Paterno and his wife Sue in recognition of his contributions to the university and was unveiled on November 2, 2001. It was sculpted by Angelo Di Maria of Reading, Pennsylvania and took 2–3 months to complete. The statue is high and weighs . It was accompanied by a stone wall in three sections. The left section of the wall read, "Joseph Vincent Paterno: Educator, Coach, Humanitarian". The center section showed a
bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
of players running behind Paterno. On the right was a quote from Paterno, "They ask me what I'd like written about me when I'm gone. I hope they write I made Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach." The right section also featured plaques with lists of games Paterno had coached at Penn State from 1966 to 2011.


Removal

Following the 2011
Penn State child sex abuse scandal The Penn State child sex abuse scandal concerned allegations and subsequent convictions of child sexual abuse committed by Jerry Sandusky, an assistant coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, over a period of at least fifteen years ...
, there were widespread calls for the statue to be removed, including by Paterno's friend and longtime
Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
coach
Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...
. At one point, an anonymous individual chartered a plane to fly over State College for several hours with a banner that read ''Take the Statue Down or We Will.'' On July 22, 2012, six months after Paterno's death, the university announced it had removed the statue and "store it in a secure location", citing that it had become a "source of division and an obstacle to healing". The accompanying plaques, bas-relief, and quotations were removed as well. According to Penn State President Rodney Erickson, "were it to remain, the statue will be a recurring wound to the multitude of individuals across the nation and beyond who have been the victims of child abuse".


See also


Other sports-related statues taken down due to controversy

*
Statue of Calvin Griffith A statue of former Minnesota Twins baseball team owner Calvin Griffith stood in front of Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 2010 until 2020. History Griffith inherited the Washington Senators from his adoptive father in 1955. The team c ...
*
Statue of Jerry Richardson A statue of Jerry Richardson was installed outside Charlotte, North Carolina's Bank of America Stadium in 2016. Richardson, the former owner of the National Football League's Carolina Panthers, was involved in a controversy involving allegedly se ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joe Paterno Statue 2001 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Pennsylvania Cultural depictions of American men Cultural depictions of players of American football Statue Penn State Nittany Lions football Pennsylvania State University campus Relocated buildings and structures in Pennsylvania Sculptures of men in Pennsylvania Statues in Pennsylvania Statues of sportspeople Statues removed in 2012