Hours after false reports circulated across the media, former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno has apparently died at age 85.
Paterno’s family released a statement Sunday morning confirming the death of the longtime coach. Paterno served as Penn State coach from 1966 until his firing in 2011 for his involvement in the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
Paterno had been battling cancer.
Late Saturday night, the website Onward State posted a message to Twitter indicating that Paterno had died. Based on that post, the official website of CBS Sports reported Paterno’s death, but did not explicitly cite Onward State. With an ostensibly legitimate source reporting the story, news of Paterno’s death spread nationally.
Onward State retracted the story late Saturday night and the organization’s managing editor resigned.
