A person who was at the service offered some details from the private funeral Mass but spoke under the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publically: Two grandchildren shared a favorite memory from each of the 17 grandchildren, such as sharing popsicles at the beach, the time Grandpa ran over a bike and how he'd give candy even when mom said no. Son Scott's was among four eulogies; he told how Joe had followed his father's advice to "make an impact" and how the Paterno kitchen table was round, so there was always room for one more. Hymns included Be Not Afraid, Amazing Grace, On Eagle's Wings and Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.

The funeral Mass lasted almost two hours and about 750 mourners -- family, friends, players past and present -- filled every seat. The casket emerged from the back door of the campus spiritual center at about 4. Onlookers began taking their places along the processional route by 2:30.

The ones across the street from the driveway of the spiritual center stood 12 deep on a sloping sidewalk. As the hearse made its left turn out of the driveway, Oliver Sax, 80, Class of '55, raised his arm and waved a final goodbye salute.

He has lung cancer, the disease that took Paterno at 85, and Sax was in chemotherapy at 8 Wednesday morning. His daughter Bonnie picked him up at 2:30 so he could take his place on the sidewalk.

"Long day," Sax said, "but I had to say goodbye."

Following behind the hearse were two buses full of family, former coaches and players and friends. All were headed for a private burial of the Hall of Fame coach.

Jay Paterno, the coach's son and quarterbacks coach, sent a message of acknowledgment via Twitter.

"Thank you to all the people who turned out for my father's procession," he wrote. "Very moving."

Thursday at 2 p.m. ET will be a memorial at the campus basketball arena. Tickets were snapped up in minutes when they became available, two-per-person, on Tuesday morning. Some scalpers then tried to auction tickets on eBay.

"I can't tell you how reprehensible I find that," Penn State president Rodney Erickson said at a faculty senate meeting. (The auctions were taken down because eBay doesn't allow sale of tickets that are free to the public.) Erickson was asked at the meeting if the memorial could be moved to Beaver Stadium so more could attend; he said it wasn't possible because the stadium is filled with snow and the family requested the Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State said it received roughly 300 requests for media seating, more than it can accommodate. The memorial service will be carried live by the Big Ten Network and streamed online at GoPSUsports.com and BTN.com.

Perhaps suggesting an informal tone after several days of unrelieved grief, the event is called simply "A Memorial for Joe."