Penn State fans are pushing to have Joe Paterno’s name crown the stadium in which so many of his 409 career victories were won.

Alumni trustee candidate Col. Vincent Tedesco, Jr., said that if he were elected to the Penn State Board of Trustees in the upcoming spring election, he would introduce a resolution to rename Beaver Stadium in honor of the former head football coach who died Sunday morning.

“It would be the best way to memorialize Joe on campus,” Tedesco said.

Tedesco, Class of 1964, said he proposes to change the name to “Beaver Field at Paterno Stadium.” The order of the names in the title is important, he said.

“Back in the old days, the playing surface was called Beaver Field,” Tedesco said. “I don’t want to disrespect Governor [James] Beaver, but there’s no way the stadium would have gotten 107,000 seats without Paterno. Joe did that.”

While acknowledging that Paterno has previously stated that he didn’t want to have the stadium named after him, Tedesco said that he was just being modest. However, he said that he would make sure Sue Paterno approves of the idea before putting it into action.

“The last thing I would want to do would be to offend her,” Tedesco said.

Tedesco said he wants to introduce the resolution, if elected to the board, during the first meeting he sits in. The best time for the name change to take effect would be at the pep rally the night before the first football game of the 2012 season, he said.

While Tedesco and others continue to push for a renaming of Beaver Stadium, officials at the university have yet to weigh in.

University Spokeswoman Lisa Powers said that the university is considering a number of ways to honor Paterno, and administrators are aware of the name-changing initiative.

“There are discussions that will be ongoing, but at this particular juncture, just one day from [Paterno’s] passing, we are focused on assisting the family with the plans for a memorial service,” Powers said. “There will be future discussions about a variety of ideas.”

And the idea of renaming Beaver Stadium is nothing new.

More than two years ago, Warren Armstrong, Class of 1960, took on his own initiative to rename the field by starting the group, “The Committee for Joe Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium.”

Armstrong said that his organization, which also includes a student group called “Students for Paterno Field,” has been writing letters to Penn State officials, staging on-campus demonstrations, and advertising their message.

“[Paterno] has done more for Penn State University than anyone else since the university was founded,” Armstrong said. “I don’t mean just football. I mean building the university to become a place where young people can get an exceptional education.”