The Penn State and college football world will pay tribute to the life of Joe Paterno Thursday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center. All of the tickets for the event went quickly and Penn State is expecting a full crowd of about 12,600 to attend the memorial tribute. In addition Penn State received 300 media requests for the event and is hoping some outlets consider reducing the number of media members attending with the broadcast being made available through satellite.
Former Penn State quarterback Michael Robinson was flying in to State College from Hawaii, and he will fly back after the ceremony as he preps to represent the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Pro Bowl. He is expected to speak during the memorial. A number of other former players will be in attendance as well, including 2011's top defensive player, Devon Still, who was to be playing in the Senior Bowl this weekend in Mobile, Alabama before he pulled out with a lingering toe injury. An estimated 800 former players who had played for Paterno returned to State College in the past couple of days for public viewings for their head coach, and many are expected to be at the memorial, with some speaking.
Charles Pittman, a player from Paterno's first recruiting class as head coach, is expected to speak as well. Pittman was an All-American running back for Penn State, and his son, Tony, went on to play cornerback for Penn State in the early 1990's and was recruited in the same recruiting class that brought in Kerry Collins and Kyle Brady, both in State College this week.
The memorial will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network, where available, and will be picked up by various media outlets throughout the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Check your local listings if you do not receive Big Ten Network. My FOX Philly (Philadelphia's FOX affiliate) and 6 ABC (Philadelphia's ABC affiliate) will stream the service on their websites. The Big Ten Network will also stream the memorial on their digital network.
For those attending in person, remember your ticket is required, the doors of the Bryce Jordan Center will open at 1 p.m. and the service will commence at 2 p.m. Parking for the service will be open in the Stadium West commuter parking lot, East Deck on Bigler Road, and Innovation Park. Shuttle busses will operate to and from the Bryce Jordan Center from the Nittany Lion Inn and Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel from 12 p.m. to two hours after the service, according to a Penn State spokesperson.
Kevin McGuire is a national college football writer for Examiner.com and the host of the No 2-Minute Warning podcast. He can be reached at cfbexaminer@gmail.com.
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