JOE PATERNO LOSES BATTLE WITH LUNG CANCER

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who was battling lung cancer, died Sunday, his family said. He was 85.

The winningest major college football coach of all time, Paterno was diagnosed shortly after Penn State's Board of Trustees ousted him Nov. 9 in the aftermath of the child sex abuse charges against former assistant Jerry Sandusky. Paterno was getting treatment since, and his health problems were worsened when he broke his pelvis - an injury that first cropped up when he was accidentally hit in preseason practice last year.

The final days of Paterno's Penn State career were easily the toughest in his 61 years with the university and 46 seasons as head football coach.

Sandusky, a longtime defensive coordinator who was on Paterno's staff in two national title seasons, was arrested Nov. 5 and ultimately charged with sexually abusing a total of 10 boys over 15 years. His arrest sparked outrage not just locally but across the nation and there were widespread calls for Paterno to quit.