Alumni Association Leadership Asks Penn State Administration to Honor Paterno

By Alex Robinson, Onward State

The Penn State Alumni Association’s leadership is calling on university administration to honor late football head coach Joe Paterno and his accomplishments.

Paul Clifford (CEO of the Alumni Association), Kevin Steele (President), Steven Wagman (Vice President), and Kay Frantz Salvino (Immediate Past President) hand-delivered a letter to President Eric Barron, Board of Trustees Chairman Keith Masser, and Paterno’s widow, Sue Paterno on Thursday asking for the school to honor Paterno and his accomplishments by this fall — the 50th anniversary of him becoming head coach of the Nittany Lions football team.

In thanking the Barron and Masser for their efforts in moving Penn State forward in the years since the Jerry Sandusky scandal and its ensuing fallout, the Alumni Association Executive Board asks them to meet with Sue Paterno ‘to discuss a plan to honor our history and formally recognize the contributions of Joe Paterno… and his 61 years of service to Penn State.’

They write that a recent alumni survey shows overwhelming support honoring Paterno not only for his work as a coach but for his significant contributions to academic life. 

‘As representatives of the Penn State alumni community, we believe there is no better time than this fall to recognize our 1973 honorary alumnus, Joe Paterno, and the impact he has made on generations of student-athletes — now proud Penn State alumni — and through his vision of a Grand Experiment that, in part, helped to elevate our University,’ the letter reads

Onward State was able to obtain a copy of the letter, which can be found below.