Joe Paterno: Sports World Mourns the Death of Penn State Icon

Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died on Sunday at the age of 85, according to the Associated Press, after a fight against cancer.

Paterno's family released a statement following his death.

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"His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled."

"He died as he lived," the statement said. "He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."

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The college football community has lost one of the most successful and iconic coaches in history. His legendary coaching career includes 409 wins (a Division 1 record), two national championships with the Nittany Lions, and 250 players who he coached that eventually went on to play in the NFL.

The sports world reacted to Paterno's passing on Sunday, here is some of that reaction.

New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien, who as hired as the next head football coach of Penn State in December, released a statement on Paterno's passing Sunday.

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There are no words to express my respect for him as a man and as a coach. To be following in his footsteps at Penn State is an honor. Our families, our football program, our university and all of college football have suffered a great loss, and we will be eternally grateful for Coach Paterno's immeasurable contributions."

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Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer talked about learning from Paterno, via ESPN.

Pateron's son Scott tweeted the following message on Sunday.

Former Penn State quarterback and current Seattle Seahawks player Michael Robinson talked about Paterno's affect on him as a person.

Robinson also tweeted:

Former Super Bowl winning NFL coach and current Fox Sports NFL analyst Jimmy Johnson shared his thoughts on Paterno via Twitter.

Bleacher Report national lead writer Dan Levy wrote about Paterno's legacy on Sunday, here is an excerpt of that piece, which I recommend reading in its entirety.

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Paterno turned a rural school in the middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania into a national powerhouse with his special no-nonsense, East-Coast brand of moxie that helped endear him to generations of fans. The glasses, the black shoes, the white socks peeking out from a pair of slacks that were always a quarter inch too short.

For the last–what was it?–60 years, Paterno was one of the only men in all of Pennsylvania who could get the left side and right side of the commonwealth to agree on anything.

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Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey told his Twitter followers to keep their prayers with JoePa's family.

Former Florida and current Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer spoke about Paterno's place among the all-time great coaches in 2011.

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"He will go down as the greatest football coach in the history of the game," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said after his former team, the Florida Gators, beat Penn State 37-24 in the 2011 Outback Bowl.

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Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing met Paterno while being recruited.

In a Sports Illustrated article, Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Paul Posluszny talked about Paterno's affect on young men growing up.

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"He teaches us about really just growing up and being a man,'' former linebacker Paul Posluszny, now with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, once said. "Besides the football, he's preparing us to be good men in life.''

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Those who played for Paterno at Penn State didn't always go to the NFL, but many were very successful in their careers thanks to his teaching.

Per the New York Times:

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Former players who succeeded in professional life far beyond the football field had told of their debt to him.

“Look how many go to medical school or law school,” said Bill Lenkaitis, a dentist in Foxborough, Mass., who played for Paterno in the 1960s, then became a longtime center for the New England Patriots. “Look how many become heads of corporations.”

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Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum wrote about Paterno on Sunday.

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The pinnacle of Paterno's coaching career probably occurred on Jan. 2, 1987 (just before Paterno was named SI's "Sportsman of the Year"), when his undefeated though sometimes unimpressive Nittany Lions pulled into the Fiesta Bowl as an underdog against the unbeaten and seemingly unbeatable University of Miami, a collection of trash-talking, fatigues-wearing iconoclasts. To the traditionalist -- and what traditionalist wasn't a fan of JoePa and his Coke bottle glasses, high-tide trouser cuffs and small-town-schoolteacher ways? -- the game was nothing less than Good vs. Evil. Good won, Paterno's defense stuffing the high-powered Miami offense 14-10.

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Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson sent his prayers to Paterno's family, via Twitter.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports wrote a fabulous piece on Paterno Sunday, here are the opening two paragraphs.

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Truly great leaders are measured by the lives they reached, the people they motivated and the legacy of their lesson that can extend for years to come, like ripples from a skipped stone across an endless lake.

For Joe Paterno, the impact is incalculable, the people he connected with extending far beyond the players he coached for 62 years at Penn State, the last 46 as head football coach. Paterno always tried to be the giant who walked among the everyman both in the school’s greatest moments and, it turns out, in its worst.

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South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier talked about Paterno on Sunday, via ESPN:

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"I have the utmost respect and admiration for Joe Paterno. I've coached around 300 college games and only once when I've met the other coach at midfield prior to the game have I asked a photographer to take a picture of me with the other coach. That happened in the Citrus Bowl after the '97 season when we were playing Penn State. I had one of our university photographers take the picture with me and Coach Paterno, and I still have that photo in the den at my house. That's the admiration I have for Joe Paterno.

"It was sad how it ended, but he was a great person and coach."

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Nick Saban, head coach of this year's national champion, Alabama, spoke about Paterno on "Sportscenter" Sunday.

Per ESPN:

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"Joe Paterno gave his life to college football. He gave his life to the players and college football.

"Not just at Penn State, but when I was the head coach at Michigan State, we had a player who could get a sixth year because of an injury, and Joe was the head of the committee. He got it done for the player, and that player actually ran a touchdown against them that could have cost them the game later that season.

"But never I never doubted with him that he was going to do what was best for college football, and the players that played it, and I think that should be his legacy.

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Michigan State head coach Mike Dantonio talked about Paterno on Sunday as well, via the Detroit Free Press:

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“Joe dedicated his life to Penn State and college football. He had unparalleled success during his 46 seasons as the head coach at Penn State. Joe was a major player who helped revolutionize the game of college football. In his six-plus decades at Penn State, he influenced and impacted countless numbers of players and people at a championship level."

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Michigan head coach Brady Hoke also spoke with the Detroit Free Press regarding Paterno and what he meant to the sport.

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"I am certainly saddened by the news today of Coach Paterno's passing. College football has lost one of its greatest, a coaching icon. Even though I was just an assistant when our teams faced one another, I feel honored to have shared the field with Joe. His players' love for him, it shows how he touched their lives and it tells who he was as a man. He will be missed. His mark on Penn State and college football will never be forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Joe's family and friends and the entire Penn State community."

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Nicholas Goss is a Bleacher Report Featured Columnist, follow him on Twitter.

Follow @NicholasGoss35