Former famed Penn State Football coach Joe Paterno died on Sunday after suffering from lung cancer.

Age 85, long-time football coach, Joe Paterno died this Sunday after a recent struggle with lung cancer and the stress caused by the child abuse scandal which was brought to light last year.

A statement released by Paterno’s family says that he “died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been”.

“He was the most successful head coach in the history of major college football”, writes Washington Post, “but the circumstances of his dismissal led to a stain both on the football program and the man who ran it for so long”.

Joe Paterno was fired at age 84 after the child abuse scandal surfaced in the media. One of his former assistants, Jerry Sandusky, had been observed abusing a young boy in a shower at the Penn State’s football facility. Although Paterno claimed he did not know how to handle it at the time, he did alert the Dean, who decided not to immediately alert the police. The college’s board of trustees decided to hold Paterno accountable for his abdication of leadership.

All in all, after Joe Paterno’s death, his legacy lives on. The teams he coached won 409 games during his 46 season tenure as head coach at Penn State.