Joe Paterno Timeline

Born in Brooklyn New York

Dec 21, 1926

Mother: Florence Paterno
Father: Joseph Paterno

Enters Brooklyn Prep High School

Aug 28, 1940

Gets "Most influential player award" at Brown University

Sep 3, 1949

Joining the PSU program

Jan 1, 1950

JoePa joins the program as an assistant coach.

Becoming sports information director at PSU

Jan 1, 1958

Joe Paterno becomes the SID at Penn State University. This was a step up from his previous position with the college, this is 8 years before he becomes the head coach with Penn State.

Marries Suzanne Pohland

Jun 23, 1962

Becoming head coach

Jan 1, 1966

Joe becomes coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football program.

First Undeafeated season when playing 11 games

Jan 7, 1968

PSU vs. Pitt game

Nov 25, 1974

Thanksgiving night 1975 Penn State played Pittsburgh University at Three Rivers Stadium, Penn State going in with an 8-2 record needed to win to make Joe Paterno's first bowl appearance. Penn State's best linebacker was injured by a thrown helmet in a pregame speech. Penn State pulled through and won 31-10.

Cotton Bowl (Joe's First Bowl)

Jan 2, 1975

Penn State scored a Cotton Bowl record 41 points to beat Baylor University 41-20 in the 1975 Cotton Bowl, played in Birmingham, Alabama.

Winning first National Championship

Jan 7, 1982

JoePa leads the Nittany Lions squad to the national championship and wins over Louisiana State University.

First Rose Bowl appearance

Jan 7, 1995

Earns win 324, which puts him as the career leader in Division I-A football

Nov 12, 2001

Most recent Rose Bowl trip

Jan 1, 2008