Two downtown restaurants were silent Thursday afternoon, except for the buzz of televisions playing "A Memorial for Joe."
Wait staff at The Deli, 113 Heister St., could be seen peering over counters or paused in booths, staring in awe as speakers praised late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.
Patron Emily Gordon (senior-media studies) said her favorite speaker was Jay Paterno, who finished his speech by revealing his final words to his father.
"He had an inside view of those last days... that last thing he said, 'You won,' " she recalled. "I think [Joe] deserved to know that he did win all of our hearts."
Gordon went into the restaurant with her sister to escape the rain, but ended up staying when they saw that the memorial was showing.
Thomas Salvucci, Class of 1976, watched from The Deli's, bar as well, where even the bartender was silently facing the screen.
"The footage of Joe was the most touching. I was fighting back tears, really," said Salvucci.
Meanwhile, in the Inferno Brick Oven & Bar, 340 E. College Ave., Adela Price, Class of 1957, sat at the bar with her son, Robert. Both graduates of the university, their eyes were glued to the screen.
Though she said she did not know Paterno personally, she recalled a time when her husband got him to approach her at a dinner and speak to her by name.
"That was just the sort of person that [Paterno] was," she said. "Someone asked him to do a silly favor, and he would do it."
Adela Price also said that she and her husband went to at least 9 bowl games, including the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl in 1987, where the Lions defeated the Miami Hurricanes to win their second national title.
Robert Price, Class of 1985, attended Penn State's first consensus national championship win in 1983 against the Georgia Bulldogs and held fond memories of Paterno as well.
"He affected so many people in so many ways," he said. "Not just football players, but students."
Another Inferno patron, Christina Runkle, a former Penn State student, remembered growing up all around the love of Joe Paterno.
"To have him pass away, it's a piece of my family I watched go away," Runkle said.
