STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Thousands of mourners stood outside for hours on a winter afternoon, waiting to pay their respects to Joe Paterno. The line, a quarter-mile long or more, snaked down a lengthy block on the Penn State campus.

Inside a campus spiritual center, the coach’s body lay in a closed, hardwood casket topped by a spray of white roses. About 6 feet away sat a black-and-white picture of the man who became lovingly known as “JoePa,” smiling and peering out through his trademark thick-rimmed glasses.

Three days of public mour-ning began for a Penn State community already wracked by months of turmoil. The 85-year-old Paterno, a Hall of Fame coach and the face of the university, died on Sunday of lung cancer. He had been fired on Nov. 9 — just days before learning of his cancer diagnosis — in the wake of child sex-abuse charges against former assistant Jerry Sandusky.

“We’re not going to focus on the bad, we’re going to pull together and focus on the good,” said Brittany Yingling, 23, of Altoona, Pa. “He’s going to leave a lasting legacy on so many people.”

Many mourners paused for a moment of reflection at Paterno’s casket — which had an “honor guard” of two Penn State players, one past and one present.

Paterno won 409 games and two national championships over a 46-year career that was admired by peers as much for its longevity as its success. Paterno took as much pride in the program’s exemplary graduation rates.

“I came to pay my respects to a great man, and that has nothing to do with victories,” said Paterno’s longtime assistant and defensive coordinator, Tom Bradley, who succeeded Paterno on an interim basis this past season. “A lot of his victories people don’t even know about.”

Family members, including sons Scott Paterno and Jay Paterno, spent time shaking hands and thanking well-wishers.

Former and current players and coaches paid their respects privately. Members of the current team wore dark suits and arrived in Penn State buses that once carried Paterno and the team to games at Beaver Stadium.

Former Penn State and Pittsburgh Steelers great Franco Harris came to say goodbye, and Mike McQueary also was among the former players. As a graduate assistant to Paterno in 2002, McQueary went to the coach saying he had witnessed Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in the shower at the Penn State football building. Paterno relayed that to his bosses, including the head of campus police, but university trustees felt he should have done more.

The school’s basketball arena, the Bryce Jordan Center, will host a public service called “A Memorial for Joe” on Thursday. More than 10,000 free tickets available to the public were snapped up in just seven minutes. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 is expected, and the service will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.

Some tickets were offered for sale on eBay before the website pulled those ads.

“I think it’s absolutely repulsive that people are taking an event that’s supposed to be a celebration of life and trying to use it for monetary profit,” said Emily Ricken, a Penn State student who got two tickets.

Elsewhere, Penn State faculty members yesterday rejected a vote of no-confidence in the university’s trustees, a symbolic measure that had sought to chastise the board for its handling of the child sex-abuse scandal.