Jan. 29, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; January 29, 2012 - The public memorial service for legendary Penn State football head coach Joe Paterno, " A Memorial for Joe," will re-air Tuesday, Jan. 31 on BTN.
BTN will re-air the stirring service in its entirety Tuesday starting at 7:00 a.m. ET. The event, held last Thursday in the Bryce Jordan Center to honor the life and impact of Paterno, who passed away on Jan. 22.
"A Memorial For Joe" featured music, videos of Paterno through his 62 years on the Penn State coaching staff and 13 speakers, six of whom represented each of his six decades in State College. Charlie Pittman (1960's), Jimmy Cefalo (1970's), Todd Blackledge (1980's), Chris Marrone (1990's), Michael Robinson (2000's) and Michael Mauti (2010's) each spoke about Paterno's impact, as well as Kenny Jackson, who teamed with Blackledge to help the Nittany Lions win the 1982 National Championship.
Among the other speakers were Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman of Nike, Inc.; Susan Welch, Dean of Penn State's College of Liberal Arts; Penn State student Lauren Perrotti, a Penn State Fellow in the College of Liberal Arts and Jeff Bast, the first "mayor" of Paternoville, a student organization that camps out at Beaver Stadium prior to every home game.
The memorial service ended with Jay Paterno, one of Joe and Sue Paterno's five children, eulogizing his father and Kurtis Cleckner a Penn State Blue Band Trumpeter, playing "The Nittany Lion."
In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family requests that donations be made to the Special Olympics of Pennsylvania (http://www.specialolympicspa.org) or the Penn State-THON (The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon; http://www.thon.org or call 1-800-392-THON).