Paterno funeral draws legions four days after death (Reuters)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa (Reuters) ? Thousands lined the frigid streets while family and friends of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno gathered inside a private funeral hall on Wednesday to mourn a man whose towering image was shaken by his inaction in a child sex abuse scandal.

Fired in November after 46 years as head coach, a major college record 409 victories and two national championships, Paterno was celebrated by fans who chose to remember a triumphant coach with a motto of "Success with Honor" rather than a man dismissed unceremoniously by the university board of trustees.

The burial was set for later on Wednesday, with a final public memorial due on Thursday. Paterno died of lung cancer on Sunday. He was 85.

Tens of thousands of people lined the street outside the campus Pasquerilla Spiritual Center in response to a campaign on Facebook to "Guide Joe Paterno Home," forming a gantlet covering much of the mile and half to Beaver Stadium, where Paterno coached for over four decades.

"It shows how much of an icon he was and how many hearts he touched directly and indirectly," said Christina Flanaghan, 21, a junior at Penn State from Philadelphia.

"It means that this man means a lot to people," said Devon DeGilio, 19, a freshman from Morristown, New Jersey.

The massive outpouring attempted to wash away the tarnished image of Paterno, who exposed himself to criticism by failing to intervene more forcefully when he was told in 2002 of an accusation that former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky molested a young boy in the Penn State football showers.

Sandusky, 67, who maintains his innocence, faces 52 criminal counts accusing him of molesting 10 boys over 15 years, using his position as head of The Second Mile, a charity dedicated to helping troubled children, to find his victims. The court has placed him under house arrest.

Among those attending the funeral was former quarterback Mike McQueary, who as a graduate assistant in 2002 told Paterno he walked in on Sandusky molesting a boy in the showers.

Paterno told university officials but not police.

Also attending was former Penn State and Pittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris, perhaps the biggest star to play for Paterno, who was better known for turning out great linebackers with Sandusky's help.

Some 27,000 mourners passed by Paterno's closed casket for a viewing on Tuesday and a further 10,000 on Wednesday, said Bob Smith, director of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center.

Wednesday's viewing was to have begun at 8 a.m., but the doors opened closer to 7:30 a.m., Smith said, because of a line that at one stage stretched for more than a block from the center, three and four abreast.

"When we got here at 5:30 a.m.," he said, "the line was already forming."

Among the final mourners was actor Billy Baldwin, who did not attend Penn State but who attended many wrestling matches at there in the 1980s. During that time, he said, he got to know Paterno, and had had dinner at the Paterno home.

"I can't use words to describe the enormous, immense level of respect I have for the guy," Baldwin said.

(Reporting by Dave Warner; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/us_nm/us_usa_paterno

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