As Sue Paterno entered the Bryce Jordan Center Thursday, more than 10,000 people rose to their feet and broke into a round of applause.

The crowd, who was there to honor her late husband Joe, continued to stand as Sue hugged every member of her family. When Sue noticed her image displayed on the screens behind her, she buried her face in her hands.

Friends, former football players and Jay Paterno spoke at a “A Memorial for Joe,” a tribute to the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history.

The memorial began with a welcoming prayer by Father Matthew Laffey, thanking God for Joe, as many bowed their head in remembrance.

Following the prayer, the Penn State Glee Club sang the Penn State Alma Mater while many in the crowd stood swaying arm-in-arm. Sue sang along.

Kenny Jackson, Penn State’s first All-American wide receiver and a member of the 1982 national championship team, was the first of the former football players to express his gratitude for Joe in front of the somber crowd.

“He never took a compliment. He always deflected praise,” Jackson said. “He never thought he was the show — but today, my teacher, you have no choice. Today, we are going to show you how much we love you.”

When Joe’s son, Jay, reached the podium, he received a standing ovation from the audience before he even started speaking.

Jay used the opportunity to thank the thousands of people who offered support to his family over the last few days. He said people from five different continents spoke to him and his family, a sign of how far-reaching Joe’s support extended.

“He never sought celebrity,” Jay said. “Here is a man whose fame was accidental.”

While his father was dying of complications from treatment for lung cancer, Jay said he wanted one more lesson from him.

“He had no more advice to give. All I wanted was to hear one more word, to hear his voice,” Jay said. “His presence alone gave me one last lesson.”

Nike Chairman Phil Knight showed his love for Joe by publicly taking a stance against the Board of Trustees’ unanimous decision to fire Joe in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case.

Knight said one of the benefits of his job was meeting Joe Paterno, whom he considered his hero for the past 12 years. He said Paterno never let him down, not even in the past few months.

Long before Knight met Joe, former standout wide receiver at Penn State and Miami Dolphin Jimmy Cefalo said he met the coach when he was 17 years old.

Cefalo said Joe didn’t recruit him — he recruited Cefalo’s mother. Though Cefalo said he chose to attend another university, Paterno convinced Cefalo’s parents to choose Penn State.

“Joe promised my mom, ‘He will go to school, he will get a quality education and Gertie, he will go to church every Sunday,’ ” Cefalo said.

Cefalo said Joe’s selling point was complimenting Cefalo’s mother’s cooking.

“Joe said, ‘Mrs. Cefalo, this pasta is better than Mrs. Cappelletti’s,’” Cefalo said, referencing the mother of Penn State’s only Heisman Trophy winner, John Cappelletti.

Cefalo said when he was a freshman at Penn State, Paterno told him, “Cefalo, today you are going to get better or you are going to get worse, but you are never going to stay the same.”

He has continued to ask himself which it’s going to be everyday of his life, Cefalo said.

But Thursday, when Cefalo asked himself the question, he said he answered, “It’s going to be a little bit worse because of the sadness of not having Joe here, but the world is going to be a whole lot better from having known him.”

For former Lion and now ESPN broadcaster Todd Blackledge, the first thing that comes to mind when he thinks of Joe Paterno is “TLC” — team, loyalty and competition.

Blackledge spoke of his beginning at Penn State — when Joe hand-selected Blackledge’s roommate for him.

Blackledge said he quickly realized he and his roommate were not a good match. But through Paterno’s mediation, Blackledge and his roommate worked their problems out and focused on the team.

Paterno’s integrity is what separated him from his fellow college football coaches, as Paterno preached competing with honor, Blackledge said.

“It wasn’t just ‘compete hard and try to win,’ but ‘do it the right way,’” Blackledge said. “Always try to do it the right way.”

Current Seattle Seahawks fullback and former Penn State quarterback Michael Robinson, who led Penn State to win the Orange Bowl in the 2005 season, said the memorial was the only place he wanted to be at that moment.

He flew in from Hawaii, where he was practicing for the Pro Bowl, in order to speak in front of the crowd of mourners about his former coach.

Robinson said one of his favorite things about Joe was that he never lied to him.

He said the late head coach never offered him money or cars like other coaches did. He said Joe didn’t even promise him he would be a quarterback. But he did promise Robinson that his education would always be a priority. He also promised Robinson that he would play in front of the best fans in college football.

“Just because he’s not with us, don’t let the dream, don’t let the experiment, don’t let the values go away,” Robinson said. “He’s in all of us.”

Charlie Pittman , a speaker representing the 1960s, said he was one of Paterno’s first two black recruits. He said he received the news that Joe had died on Pittman’s birthday. Pittman said it was an “omen” to him, a signal that there is still much to do in the world.

Christian Marrone , a former football player representing the 1990s, spoke about his short football career at Penn State and long relationship with Joe.

Marrone came to Penn State in pursuit of a dream — one that ended shortly after it began because of knee injuries, he said. When Marrone thought he lost his purpose in life and considered leaving the university, Joe Paterno “would have none of it,” he said.

Current Penn State linebacker Michael Mauti said he had no plans to commit to the football team during his first visit, but Joe convinced him. Mauti said he was impressed with the personal relationships Paterno had and the memories he kept of everyone he encountered.

For now, Mauti said it is his and the football team’s job to uphold Paterno’s tradition of “Success with Honor.”

Penn State student Lauren Perrotti spoke of her relationship with Sue and Joe through the Paterno Fellows Liberal Arts Undergraduate Program. College of Liberal Arts Dean Susan Welch also spoke on behalf of the program.

The first “Mayor of Paternoville” Jeff Bast spoke about Joe even though he had never met him.

Bast thanked Joe for being a father figure to everyone at Penn State.

Jay led the crowd in reciting the Lord’s Prayer to end the service. Members of the audience held hands and recited the prayer, which Jay said was his father’s favorite because it used the words “we” and “us” and never the word “I.”

Following the prayer, a sole trumpet player, Kurtis Cleckner, representing The Blue Band played “The Nittany Lion.”

To end the memorial, the Paterno family filed out of the BJC to another roaring round of applause.