A push to name Penn State's football field for the late Joe Paterno has an ally in Lancaster.

Thomas "Tim" Beaver III, a financial adviser and planning specialist for the Granite Run Group at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, is the great-grandson of James Addams Beaver, a Civil War hero and former Pennsylvania governor for whom the university's famed Beaver Stadium is named.

And he likes the idea of naming the field in Paterno's honor.

"I think Joe's given an awful lot to that school," Beaver said Thursday afternoon. "My great-grandfather also gave most of his life to that school. So I think Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium is a wonderful idea.

"Both gentleman had a tremendous impact on Penn State."

Paterno, who died of lung cancer Sunday, joined the Penn State coaching staff in 1950 and became head football coach in 1966. During his storied tenure there, he raised the football program — and the university as a whole — from its "cow college" roots to national prominence.

Besides being the winningest coach in college football history, Paterno built his reputation on a philosophy of "success with honor" and stressed academics as well as athletics among his players.

He was fired from the college on Nov. 8, shortly after multiple charges of sexual abuse were filed against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Trustees, who terminated Paterno's long career with a phone call, have said the coach was aware of the accusations against Sandusky for years but did not take sufficient action to prevent young boys from being harmed.

The petition to change the field's name, posted Monday at Change.org by Schuylkill Valley High School student Blake Tobias Jr., received more than 9,000 signatures in less than a day and has since exceeded 34,000.

Tobias, who has no ties to the university beyond a passion for Penn State sports that he shares with his father, plans to present the petition to university trustees.

PSU spokeswoman Lisa Powers said university officials are aware of the petition but have not taken action on it.

The field currently is not named and no other designation has been proposed for it, Powers said. Some fields at University Park, such as the baseball and women's softball fields, have been christened.

The petition does not propose changing the name of the stadium, which was named for James Beaver in 1960.

James Beaver, a Perry County native who died in 1914, served as Pennsylvania's governor from 1887 to 1891. In 1895, he was appointed as a judge of the first state Superior Court.

He was elected to the PSU board of trustees in 1873 and served as acting president of the university from 1906 to 1908. Beaver Hall in University Park and Beaver Avenue in State College also were named for him.

Beaver Stadium, which can seat up to 106,572 Nittany Lions fans, is the second-largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere and the fourth-largest in the world.

Tobias has said he hopes to get 106,572 signatures on the petition, to match the stadium's seating capacity.

tknapp@lnpnews.com