Paterno treated at hospital

Coach dehydrated, back home after tests

By Mike Joseph

- mjoseph@centredaily.com

Joe Paterno was taken by ambulance to Mount Nittany Medical Center at 10:30 a.m. Thursday where he was treated for dehydration, said Guido D’Elia, spokesman for Penn State football.

The 81-year-old Penn State football coach returned home with his wife about 6 p.m., after a day of medical tests to ensure there was no other problem.

The trip to the hospital came after Paterno complained of nausea, weakness and fatigue, D’Elia said.

“He was dehydrated,” Paterno’s wife, Sue, said after they returned home Thursday evening. “Now he’s fine. He’s home.”

Paterno was never admitted to the hospital, and he spent the afternoon “tapping his fingers, waiting to get out,” D’Elia said.

Paterno remains scheduled to travel to Austin, Texas, today to give the keynote speech at a dinner honoring University of Texas football coach Mack Brown. D’Elia said at 2 p.m. Thursday that he still expects to make the trip, and a University of Texas spokesman said at 6 p.m. that they had not heard otherwise.

Paterno had been on a busy schedule of late. He traveled to the Philadelphia area Saturday for a Nittany Lion Club fundraiser, returned to State College, then flew Monday to Chicago for a three-day conference with Big Ten Conference coaches.

He was on the phone Thursday morning talking to two recruits before he went to the hospital, D’Elia said.

“It’s a busy time, and he’s been pushing it,” D’Elia said.

Paterno is entering his 43rd year as head coach of the Nittany Lions and is in the last year of his current contract, but he and university President Graham Spanier have said that his coaching status would be decided after the season ends.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.