Petition Calls for Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium

Over the past few days, there has been an outpouring of support from the Penn State community to honor the late Joe Paterno. Another special recognition could ensure that the man who helped build Beaver Stadium will forever be linked to the football program.

An online petition has been created on the website Change.org to add the Paterno name to Beaver Stadium, making it “Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium.”

The petition was created by Blake Tobias who hopes to reach 107,282 signatures, which would match the capacity of Beaver Stadium. Once this number is reached, Tobias told 6abc.com that he hopes to present the petition to the Penn State Board of Trustees.

As of publishing time, the petition has over 25,000 signatures since being created on Monday, just one day after Paterno tragically passed away from lung cancer.

Tobias described his thinking for starting the petition in a statement:

“This is a simple way of giving back to a man who spent basically his entire life giving making sure that the students who went to Penn State would have the tools they needed, and the professional buildings that they needed to do their jobs. He was so much more than just a football coach, he was a mentor to thousands of students over the years, probably in the hundreds of thousands, and this is a way to honor the legacy that he worked so hard to create. We will stand tall, we will right the wrong that has been done to his name, we will not stop until this goal has been finalized, like Joe Paterno, we will not give up the fight!”

Personally, I have signed the petition and think that it is a fitting and necessary way to honor Coach Paterno. I also think it is important to keep the Beaver Stadium name intact. After all, Paterno was a big proponent of tradition. He wouldn’t want to rename the place completely.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments if you will sign the petition and support this idea.

image Shawn Inglima

Football - The Penn State Nittany Lions football program currently resides in the Big Ten conference and has won two National Championships. Known for tradition, Beaver Stadium, and Joe Paterno, the program is a point of pride and solidarity in the community. Read more

Torn

I’m not sure which idea to support. There have been many good ones:

- Rename Park Ave to Paterno Way- Rename The College of Liberal Arts to The Paterno College of Liberal Arts- Rename the field to Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium- Add an Eternal Flame at the JoePa statueAll are good ideas but certainly doing all four would be overkill, no? Which is best? Are there other ideas?
Gary wallace

I say name the field And add a flame!!
TR

I’d be just fine with all four, honestly.
Michael Day

Joe himself always said he didn’t want the football stadium to be named after him. He wanted his name to appear where it is today, on the library. I would prefer to honor his wishes.
Bob Frost

Naming the field is kind of silly, I think, but if they want to change it, let the alumni decide by putting it to a vote.

There are also petitions out there to change the stadium name, which I think goes against the customs and tradtions of the university.

Penn State is all about tradition, and the name of the stadium is Beaver Stadium. Not everybody thinks it’s such a wonderful idea to change the name, either.

If there is a motion to change the name of the stadium itself, then it must be voted on by the alumni, so as not to disenfranchise the people who do not want it changed. I say put it on the next allumni association ballot.
Bob Frost

As an alumnus of the College of Liberal Arts, I do not support the renaming of the college. I never once saw Paterno’s name on any course that I took, and he never taught a class that I’m aware of during my days at Penn State.

The flame is a good idea, and so is naming a road. It should be “Paterno Avenue”, though, to keep with the conventions of other streets in the area. In State College, avenues run East-West, streets run North-South, and Drives make curves. On campus, they change the names to Roads. Parkway might be consistent, though. Paterno Parkway has a ring to it. I don’t think it’s up to the university, though. Who maintains Park Avenue? Is it a county road?
Carl

What if they were to name a foundation after him, which goal is to follow the philosophy of performance both on and off the field?
Elaine Brofft

I like the eternal flame idea and naming a street in honor of Joe. If Joe didn’t want the stadium named after him then so be it.
guest

I don’t like changing the stadium name if in fact he said he didn’t want it renamed after him. I don’t care either way about the field. I am much more proud that his name is on the library! I do like renaming Park Ave to Paterno Way because it connects the street he lived on and Beaver Stadium. And when asked how do you get to Beaver Stadium the answer would be take the “Paterno Way”!
Sarah McFadden

I feel it is a befitting tribute to a great coach and human being.
Mike Reyes

How about building a small park around his statue since that part of the stadium is not used for parking and calling it Paterno Park. Something like that would be awesome. I also like Joe Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium, but his wishes are his wishes.
Dark Years

This is a stupid idea. It is the exact opposite that he would want. Isn’t that the whole thing Penn Staters pride themselves on, that his name is on the library, not the stadium
Jamaal

your an idiot, its not a new idea, its been talked about for almost a decade now, GTFO
marta

Joe did not want athletic facilities named for him! Stop pushing this issue
mpc

Joe had been the record stating that he had no wishes to have the stadium/field named after him. He said that the wins and losses were not that important to him, but rather, the impact on others.

A library is arguably the most central and important part of a university system – to have his name on one of the libraries, next to Patee, one of the early leaders of the school, is as permanent and deep an honor as anyone could have.

Students who never even care for football will see his legacy every time they walk through those doors (assuming that by 2020 we don’t have crypto-zombie robots who do our research for us)
levi Z

Yes I agree name the field at beaver stadium ‘Paterno field’
thanks
levi
Ephrata,pa.
levi Z

Yes I agree name the feild at beaver stadium after Joe Paterno ‘the paterno field’
thanks
I have no face book or twitter contacts
K. Robert Conrad

Iagree. name the stadium for JOe.