UNIVERSITY?PARK (AP) - Joe Paterno's family said Monday the legendary football coach will get a two-day viewing and a public memorial this week on the Penn State campus, two months after the university summarily fired him over the phone.
The family gave no details on who might be invited or asked to speak at the memorial Thursday at the Bryce Jordan Center, which can hold 16,000 people.
A public viewing will be held today from 1 to 11 p.m. today at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the University Park campus near the corner of Curtin Road and Allen Street. A second public viewing will be held Wednesday from 8 a.m. to noon at the same location, followed by a private funeral service at 2 p.m.
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People stop by a statue of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno to pay their respects on Monday in University Park. Paterno died Sunday at age 85, less than three months after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
The funeral procession will leave the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center at about 3 p.m. Wednesday. It will proceed down Curtain Road past Beaver Stadium, turn right onto Porter Road, and then turn right again onto College Avenue and continue through downtown State College.
The burial is private.
The Thursday public service, being called "A Memorial for Joe," will be held at 2 p.m. at Bryce Jordan Center. Tickets will be required and will be available to the public for free beginning at 10 a.m. today. Those wishing to attend the Thursday memorial are encouraged to
Fact Box
MEMORIAL SERVICES
* Public viewing: Today, 1-11 p.m., Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, University Park.
* Public viewing: Wednesday, 8 a.m.-noon, Pasquerilla Spiritual Center.
* Private funeral service: Wednesday, 2 p.m. Pasquerilla Spiritual Center.
* Funeral procession: Wednesday, 3 p.m., will proceed down Curtain Road toward Beaver Stadium, turn right onto Porter Road, then turn right onto College Avenue and go through downtown State College.
* Public memorial: Thursday, 2 p.m., Bryce Jordan Center, tickets required, televised on Big Ten Network.
order tickets online at www.gopsusports.com/tickets. Those ordering tickets online must use the "print at home" feature. Tickets will also be available by phone at 1-800-NITTANY, also beginning at 10 a.m., and can be picked up at the Bryce Jordan Center will call window. There is a limit of two tickets per person, regardless of ordering method.
Thursday's tribute will also be aired live on Big Ten Network and streamed online at www.btn.com
Many alumni and students say Paterno was treated shabbily by the Board of Trustees in November, and trustees and other members of the administration might not be made to feel welcome at the memorial for the 85-year-old coach, who died Sunday of lung cancer.
"I don't think it's going to be heavily laden with administration and trustees," said trustee Linda Strumpf, who lives in New York and will not attend. "This is something the family is putting together and not the university. I don't think the university wants to be in a position to tell them what a memorial service looks like."
But trustee Al Clemens said he will be there to honor a man he described as a good friend.
"This is really a family thing, and so we're just going to go as individuals," Clemens said. "Joe's a great guy. No matter was the situation was in the last two months, it doesn't take away from what he's done through history for so many people. He's just been tremendous."
Michael Day, a 1973 Penn State graduate from Hagerstown, Md., whose father taught there and whose four children all have Penn State degrees, said the trustees were wrong to fire Paterno and he believes they will ultimately be replaced. He said he hopes they don't attend.
"I think the Penn State community is separate from the Penn State Board of Trustees," he said. "The Board of Trustees has separated itself from the Penn State community, and the Penn State community loves Joe Paterno and always will. So it's appropriate for the Penn State community to honor Joe Paterno in this service."
Paterno was fired Nov. 9 after he was criticized over his handling of child sex-abuse allegations leveled against former assistant Jerry Sandusky in 2002. Pennsylvania's state police commissioner said that in not going to the police, Paterno may have met his legal duty but not his moral one.
Bitterness over Paterno's removal has turned up in many forms, from online postings to a note placed next to Paterno's statue at the football stadium blaming the trustees for his death. A newspaper headline that read "FIRED" was crossed out and made to read, "Killed by Trustees." Lanny Davis, lawyer for the board, said threats have been made against the trustees.
Janice Hume, a journalism professor at the University of Georgia, said that staging an appropriate memorial creates a dilemma similar to the one faced by Paterno's obituary writers: how to address the scandal without letting it negate his entire career.
"I think it's probably very difficult to strike the right balance," she said.
Clemens said the board will later consider more lasting tributes to Paterno, including scholarships in his name. Because of his generosity to the school, his family name is already on the library and a spiritual center.
There has also been a movement over the past few years to change the name of Beaver Stadium, the football team's home field, to Joe Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium, and on Monday the man behind it, Warren W. Armstrong, a 1960 graduate and retired Allentown advertising executive, said he would renew his efforts. Some are suggesting renaming the street leading to the stadium Paterno Way.
A family spokesman said the Paternos' focus this week is on the viewing and funeral plans and they do want to weigh in on any ideas for a permanent memorial right now. But "I would say the family would welcome a conversation on that," Dan McGinn said.
