Yesid Gomez and Wilfer Buitrago have been sculpting, molding and chiseling away on a seven-foot, 1, pound statue. That statement is two replicas of the Joe Paterno statue that was long-standing at Penn State until The two cousins made the original statue and the University has not yet put it back.
Once again, the artists are taking the clay into their own hands despite controversy and threats from those opposed. We are not in politics. The plan is to donate one statue to the Paterno family and one will be taken to Penn State football games and elsewhere around the county. Erickson said the decision to remove the statute but keep the Paterno name on the library is one that "both recognizes the many contributions that Joe Paterno made to the academic life of our university while taking seriously the conclusions of the Freeh Report and the national issue of child sexual abuse.
Today, as every day, our hearts go out to the victims. Many of those watching the removal stared in disbelief and at least one woman wept, while others expressed anger at the decision.
She said she felt betrayed by university officials, saying they promised openness but said nothing about the decision until just before the removal work began. Dozens later gathered to watch and listen to the sound of sawing, scraping and shoveling as white-helmeted workers behind tarpaulins removed Paterno's name and various plaques from the walls behind where the statue had stood. Shortly before midday, all that appeared to remain was the bare concrete and stone. Much of the work was hidden by blue tarps strung across temporary chain link fences while barricades kept observers on the other side of the street.
Few watching said they understood the decision and feared what kind of punishment the NCAA would pile on. Derek Leonard, 31, a university construction project coordinator who grew up in the area, said the construction workers on the project told him it was like watching a funeral when the statue was lowered onto the truck and then rolled away.
He didn't completely agree with the decision but worried more that the NCAA would shut down the football program. Richard Hill, 67, West Chester, a Penn State alumnus, said, "If you punish the football program or Joe Paterno -- they're tied together -- this town is going to suffer. The revenue does an awful lot to keep this town viable and lively.
Colby Walk, 40, who grew up in the Penn State area, wondered why an NCAA punishment was necessary, given the criminal charges, officials fired or forced out, Paterno's death and now the statue's removal. Diane Byerly, who traveled from Harrisburg in the morning when she heard the statue was coming down, wondered if the university was trying to make a symbolic gesture in hopes of lessening the NCAA's penalty. It's just an incredibly emotional process," he said. He was a good man.
It wasn't that he was an evil person. He made a mistake. Don Van Natta Jr. He can be reached at don. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Paterno statue removed from outside stadium. Penn State Nittany Lions. The different roads to the College Football Playoff for teams just outside the top four. Cincinnati Bearcats. Baylor's Oklahoma test, Purdue's upset chances at Ohio State and more to watch in Week 11's biggest games.
Florida State Seminoles. UConn Huskies. Huskers without LB Domann for rest of season. Ever since that fateful summer morning when the curtains went up and the bronze JoePa was torn down, Onward State has been on a statue hunt of National Treasure-esque proportions. The fact is, the staff of this site has dedicated years of time and effort to finding this statue for you, our readers. A few days ago, that persistence paid off in the form of a cryptic email sent from a since-deleted psu.
That email in full below:. After receiving this e-mail, a red team was put together to investigate the situation. Penn State News Editor and resident architect Ted Hozza crunched the numbers, and realized the claim about relative size of the letters in proportion to a statue mold was absolutely correct. Our chief metals expert Zack Rickens, whose knowledge of steel beams and bronze statues is unparalleled, confirmed the material used in the letters.
Finally, Kevin Horne used all of his accumulated university contacts from his nine years on campus to search every possible previously known location of the statue to no avail. The bronze likeness of the winningest coach in major college football history is now being used to promote the president who graciously saved the school from its massive culture problem.
Next time you want to pay tribute to man who made Penn State football what it is today, all you have to do is take a trip down Curtin Road to the Rodney A. Erickson Food Science Building and pose with a finger raised to the air. He's a senior Supply Chain major, but is going to law school at some point in the future and masquerades as a writer for now.
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