Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State will honor Joe Paterno before game against Temple this season

Published Oct. 20, 2016 4:36 p.m. ET

Pete Blackburn

Penn State plans to honor Joe Paterno before the Nittany Lions' game against Temple on Sept. 17, according to a promotional calendar published by the school on Thursday. The ceremony will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Paterno's first game as PSU head football coach, a position he held from 1966 to 2011.

It's the first time the school will recognize Paterno in an official capacity since his firing in 2011. The longtime coach was dismissed that November for his connection to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. Later investigations concluded that Paterno knew of Sandusky's abuse and didn't stop it, even going as far as to dissuade university officials from reporting Sandusky to authorities. Paterno's family disputes these findings.

At the time of his death in 2012, Paterno's 409 wins were the most-ever for an NCAA Division I football coach. However, the NCAA later vacated all of Paterno's wins from 1998 through 2011 (111 victories in total) as part of its punishment for the child sex abuse scandal, dropping Paterno from No. 1 to No. 12 on the all-time wins list. Those wins were later restored to Paterno's record in a settlement with PSU.

The school also removed a popular statue of Paterno from its campus following the sex abuse scandal, calling the monument "a source of division and an obstacle to healing."