Penn State

A PERSON CLOSE to Joe Paterno's family has told the Associated Press the former Penn State football coach is undergoing treatments and progressing after being diagnosed last month with lung cancer. The person requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Paterno's son, Scott, last month requested privacy for the family after revealing that doctors discovered his father's treatable form of lung cancer during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness. School trustees fired Paterno on Nov. 9 in the aftermath of child sex abuse charges against retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Gerald Hodges' football career has been about adapting, persevering, and producing. And now it will be about adjusting - to the NFL. The Penn State linebacker and former all-South Jersey performer from Paulsboro was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round, the 120th player chosen. "It's a blessing when my name was called, and now I get a chance to put a franchise on my helmet," Hodges said by phone. The 6-foot-1, 243-pounder began his college career as a safety but moved to linebacker.

A youngster grows up with a single athletic purpose: He wants to play linebacker at Penn State. His high school coach, recognizing the youngster's physical talent, asks him to play quarterback. But the boy wants to hone his skills at linebacker so he can move on to Penn State to do the same. No thank you, he says to the coach. Penn State recruits him as a linebacker after he has made just about every high school all-America team that matters. The plan is still intact - until three days before his first game as a freshman.

Penn State's football program, thought to be on wobbly knees before its surprising 1985 season, apparently landed a second straight recruiting bonanza yesterday when the Nittany Lions signed 16 players, five of whom were rated among the top 100 scholastic prospects in the nation by the Terranova Report, a national scouting service. Meanwhile, Pitt and Notre Dame, two of the main rivals on the Nittany Lions' 1986 schedule, followed different tracks as the Panthers went for "skill position" players and Notre Dame stocked up with beefy linemen.

Back before it was in vogue to be throwing the ball all over the field in high school football, Tony Sacca was ahead of his time. During his senior year at Delran in 1987, Sacca completed 96 of 176 passes for 1,665 yards and 24 touchdowns. At the time, the touchdown mark was a single-season South Jersey record. (The current record is 40 by Holy Cross' Jason Amer in 1999.) Sacca also led Delran to an 11-0 record and the school's first South Jersey Group 2 title. Sacca became a four-year starter at Penn State, where he threw for 5,869 yards and 41 touchdowns, and he was drafted in the second round by the Phoenix (now Arizona)

It's a humid Wednesday night in July, and at least 50 young people are lined up outside a jam-packed bar called the Gingerbread Man, waiting to get inside for half-price drinks. The artist formerly known as Prince blares from the sound system inside. A young male voice from the crowd booms toward the two bulked-up bouncers at the door: "Let us in! This is how riots get started!" It is just a joke, but no one laughs. Two weeks ago, Beaver Avenue, around the corner, made history as the site of the worst riot in Pennsylvania State University history.

Penn State moved quickly Tuesday night to respond to a Sports Illustrated story that appeared to paint an unflattering portrait of the university's medical operation as it applies to football. The article is mentioned on the cover of this week's issue of the magazine with the headline "Do Athletics Still Have Too Much Power at Penn State?" It is expected to be released online Wednesday morning. A statement issued by Penn State said: "To characterize the medical care Penn State provides our student-athletes as anything other than the highest quality is erroneous.

All Jamil Pollard knew about his signing-day ceremony was that he needed to bring a Penn State sweatshirt, and that his parents should be there. When the 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive tackle walked into the small gym at West Deptford High on Feb. 1, his parents were there as planned, but their stern expressions indicated this might not be such a joyous occasion after all. They had already been told that Pollard's most recent grades had fallen short, putting his college future in doubt.

Joe Paterno had felt during the week that Penn State would be a better team in the long run for having had the opportunity to play Alabama. And now that the game is over with, the veteran coach could be correct. Then again, the Nittany Lions need significantly better play in key areas if they hope to compete with the class of the Big Ten starting in less than three weeks. Any chance the Lions had of staying with the top-ranked Crimson Tide was buried under four turnovers - three of which were claimed in the red zone - and the visitors were battered, 24-3, on Saturday night in steamy Tuscaloosa.

Pennsylvania State University geoscientist Terry Engelder spent most of his career toiling in obscurity, studying fracture behavior of rocks known as black shales. Even among geologists, he says, it was kind of a boring topic, and he was often slotted to present his papers on the last day of professional conferences. "Not only was it the last day, but it was in the afternoon of the last day," he said. But then, Engelder and Gary G. Lash, a colleague from New York, discovered natural gas in the Marcellus Shale.

BEHIND HIM were many years of often brutally hard work, sometimes from dawn to dark; a family of eight children, some of whom became sports stars; service in the Army; many friends; and the acclaim and popularity of a friendly, jovial Irishman. Joseph "Moon" Conlin sat down in a grandstand in Schwenksville on Saturday morning to do what he loved most in recent years, watch a grandson play Little League baseball. In the bottom of the first inning, he fell over in his seat. A coach tried CPR. Joseph Conlin was rushed to Pottstown Memorial Hospital, but he died of a massive heart attack at the age of 79. When he ran his own tire-repair business, servicing customers from his truck, starting at dawn and not getting home until dark, Joseph would sometimes fall asleep while eating dinner.

HARRISBURG - A federal judge said Monday that she would decide in a few weeks whether to dismiss a lawsuit by Gov. Corbett against the NCAA over sanctions against Pennsylvania State University stemming from the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal. During a two-hour hearing before U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane, a lawyer for the NCAA said the suit had failed to prove there was an antitrust case and contended that the governor lacked standing to bring the suit. Lawyers for the state argued that "crippling" sanctions against Penn State had created an economic hardship that constituted a breach of antitrust law and that Corbett had standing because only he could bring such a suit on behalf of the citizens of Pennsylvania.

EIGHT AREA lacrosse players have been selected to play in the All-America Lacrosse Classic. The games will be played July 6 at Towson University. The girls' game will be played at 5 p.m. with the boys' game at 8. The boys' game will be televised on ESPNU for the eighth year. Here are the players selected (with their college in parenthesis): Malvern Prep goalie Matt Barrett (Virginia); La Salle midfielder Sean Coleman (Harvard); Episcopal Academy defenseman Kevin Gayhardt (Penn)

Former Philadelphia high school basketball star Jaylen Bond is transferring to Temple. The former Texas forward informed the Owls on Friday. He ultimately chose Temple over Penn State. Bond informed Longhorns coach Rick Barnes of his decision to leave Texas in March and was granted his release. According to NCAA rules, the 6-foot-7, 225-pounder will have to sit out next season before having two seasons of eligibility with the Owls. He will, however, be allowed to practice with Temple next season.

STATE COLLEGE - Penn State coach Bill O'Brien is fervently disputing suggestions raised in a report that player medical care has been compromised after the team doctor was replaced. Speaking in an angry tone that might be otherwise reserved for an argument with an official, O'Brien told reporters that the health and safety of his players were his top priorities. The athletic department has been responding to a story in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated that questioned the quality of care and the motivations behind the removal of longtime team doctor Wayne Sebastianelli earlier this year.

The Big Ten announced the conference schedule for the 2014 football season on Thursday, and Penn State will visit Rutgers on Sept. 13. The schedule consists of eight games for each of the Big Ten's 14 teams and features a new division alignment that includes the conference debuts of Maryland and Rutgers. Penn State will welcome Maryland and Michigan State back to Beaver Stadium and play at Rutgers for the first time since 1955. Here are the 2014 Penn State and Rutgers football schedules: Penn State Aug. 30    Temple Sept.

Bill O'Brien was angry. His voice rose often Wednesday on a conference call with reporters. Some folks swore they could feel the spittle through the phone. The Penn State coach spent much of a 20-minute call blasting a Sports Illustrated report implying that medical care for Nittany Lions football players had diminished because of recent changes that included the removal of Wayne Sebastianelli as head physician of the program, a post he held for 21 years. The story, which appears in SI's May 20 issue, also portrayed a rivalry between Sebastianelli and current athletic director Dave Joyner, an orthopedic surgeon who lost out to Sebastianelli in 1992 when the university created the position of head physician of the football program at the urging of Joe Paterno.

Former Penn State QB Matt McGloin tweeted Wednesday that he had signed a three-year deal with the Oakland Raiders. McGloin, who went from walk-on to full-time starter with the Nittany Lions, was not selected in last month's NFL draft. He worked out for the Washington Redskins and the Carolina Panthers before landing with Oakland. The Raiders also signed free-agent kick returner Josh Cribbs to a one-year contract. The 30-year-old has eight kickoff returns for touchdowns, tied with the New England Patriots' Leon Washington for the most in NFL history.