Billboard Touts Paterno's 409 Wins

A billboard near a rural Pennsylvania highway is touting the accomplishments of late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.

Pennlive.com reports the two-panel board along Routes 22/322 in Thompsontown touts Paterno's 409 career victories beneath a blue sign with lettering that reads, “You can't cover up 61 years of success with honor.”

A group called Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship designed similar billboards that were placed across the state last fall, but a spokeswoman for the group, Maribeth Roman Schmidt, says the group isn't behind this one and doesn't know who is.

"No one has come to us to ask for approval to use the artwork," Schmidt told the paper. "But the more the merrier who are supporting. It's a very selfless mission. It's about the message."

The group and the billboard take issue with investigators who determined Paterno knew about past child sex abuse by former assistant Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted and imprisoned last year.

The NCAA has sanctioned the university for the scandal, but Paterno's supporters say he's not at fault.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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