Joe Paterno has died. Those words were as unexpected as the headlines that once read, “Joe Pa fired.”

His death came quickly and surprised the sports world. It surprised me. As I turned on ESPN the first thing I saw was, “Joe Paterno died today.” Shock was the only thing that registered in my brain.

The night before he died, an article on Bleacher Report informed me that his illness had gotten so bad that the doctors called his family to say their final goodbyes. What I wasn’t expecting was less than 24 hours later for the man to actually be dead.

Now, there’s a lot of talk going on about how Paterno will be remembered. How can you honor a man who was just fired amidst a scandal? I wish that I could answer any of the questions that arise for you. I wish I could tell you that they’d do the honorable thing and remember him as one of the greatest coaches in the National College Athletic Association, but I don’t know if that is what will happen.

The end of his career may have been overshadowed by what happened with Jerry Sandusky. But Paterno did amazing things for the Penn State football program and created a legacy that, even though some may say is tainted, will never be forgotten.

His death may have been a surprise to the sports world, but he didn’t have superpowers and was not immortal. We were going to lose the man eventually, but under the circumstances it is unfortunate to see him ago.

Paterno’s name had finally started becoming less of a topic of conversation on ESPN and now he’s back in the headlines again and this time fans of every kind have to determine how they will remember Joe Pa.

[WRITER’S NOTE: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON WWW.SAUPULSE.COM]