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December 4, 2007
Dean of Libraries Congratulates Paterno on Hall of Fame Induction
University Park, PA—Penn State University Libraries Dean Nancy L. Eaton and her staff congratulate Joe Paterno on his induction into the National Football Foundation’s College Hall of Fame Class of 2007.
Penn State's Paterno and the others in the class were inducted during the Foundation's 50th Annual Awards Dinner on Tuesday, Dec. 4. The sold-out, black-tie event was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The class of 14 will be officially enshrined at the Hall in South Bend, Indiana, during ceremonies next summer.
A legendary coach, Paterno is also celebrated for his support of academics at Penn State and in particular the University Libraries. In 1993, Paterno and his wife Sue stepped forward to launch the Campaign for the Library. They helped to raise more than $13 million, which assisted the building of the Paterno Library and began an accelerated expansion of the Libraries collections and services. Today their active support of the Libraries continue.
Most recently, the Libraries honored Coach Paterno with a Libraries exhibit on display through December 28 in main exhibit hall of Pattee Library and the Paterno Retrospective Collector's Bookmark Series 2007. Details on how to receive the full, uncut collector’s sheet are available at http://alumni.libraries.psu.edu/bookmarks.html
In his 42nd season as head coach of the Nittany Lions, Paterno was selected to join the Hall in 2006, but his induction was delayed for one year after the legendary coach was injured in a sideline collision during the November 4, 2006 game at Wisconsin. He would have joined Florida State's Bobby Bowden and St. John's (Minn.) mentor John Gagliardi as the first active coaches to be inducted into the Hall.
Paterno received the Gold Medal, the Foundation's highest honor, along with Bowden, in a video presentation at the 2006 Hall of Fame Awards Dinner.
Former Central Michigan Coach Herb Deromedi joined Paterno as the two coaches gained induction this year. The 2007 Class was selected from a national ballot of 75 candidates and a pool of hundreds of eligible nominees.
A five-time National Coach of the Year honoree, Paterno has 371 career victories to rank second to Bowden (373) among major college coaches. Paterno's teams have recorded five undefeated seasons, 21 finishes in the Associated Press Top 10 and two National Championships. With a record of 22-10-1, he is the all-time leader among coaches in bowl appearances and victories.
Paterno has coached 73 first team All-Americans, 15 NFF National Scholar-Athletes, including Paul Posluszny in 2006, more than 300 future NFL players and seven members of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Paterno will become the 21st member of the Penn State Football family to gain induction into the Hall, joining four former coaches and 16 players, seven of whom he coached—John Cappelletti, Keith Dorney, Jack Ham, Ted Kwalick, Lydell Mitchell, Dennis Onkotz, and Mike Reid. Former Nittany Lion coaches Dick Harlow (1915-17), Hugo Bezdek (1918-29), Bob Higgins (1930-48) and Rip Engle (1950-65) also are members of the Hall of Fame.
For more information about the Libraries and Paterno’s support of it, call 814-865-2258.