Penn State will honor Joe Paterno during game on 50th anniversary of his coaching debut

It appears the late Joe Paterno will be officially recognized during a Penn State football game for the first time since he was fired during the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

In a press release announcing the football team’s promotional events this season, the university revealed Thursday that the 50^th anniversary of Paterno’s head-coaching debut would be commemorated during the Temple game on Sept. 17.

Unspecified “activities during the game” will take place at Beaver Stadium that day to mark the event, the release states.

Sandusky, who was on Paterno’s coaching staff, was convicted in June 2012 on 45 counts of child sexual abuse (he was granted an appeals hearing on the conviction in May). Criticized for not acting more aggressively after a witness told him of seeing Sandusky molest a boy in a locker room shower at Penn State, Paterno was fired by the university’s board of trustees in December 2011.

Three months later, the legendary coach died. In July 2012, a statue of Paterno was removed from outside the stadium. According to the student-run Penn State blog Onward State, JoePa’s image still appears in some videos played at the facility but he has not been officially recognized during Nittany Lions games since his coaching career ended.