Mourners bid farewell to Paterno

State College, Pennsylvania — They stood outside for hours on a winter afternoon, waiting to pay their respects to the late Joe Paterno. The line snaked down a long block on the Penn State campus.

Inside a campus spiritual center, the coach's body lay in a closed, hardwood casket topped by a spray of white roses. About six meters away sat a stylized black-and-white picture of the man who became lovingly known on campus as "JoePa," smiling and peering out through his trademark thick-rimmed glasses.

Three days of public mourning began Tuesday for a Penn State community already racked by months of turmoil. The 85-year-old Paterno — a Hall of Fame coach and the face of the university — died Sunday of lung cancer. He had been ousted just days before learning of his diagnosis in November, forced out of his job in the wake of child sex-abuse charges against a former assistant.

"We're not going to focus on the bad, we're going to pull together and focus on the good," said Brittany Yingling, 23.

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