• The Patriot-News

Earlier Saturday night, as Joe Paterno lay gravely ill in Mount Nittany Medical Center with his family at his side, false reports of the legendary's coach's death spread like wildfire around the Internet.

Now, the

exactly how the grossly false report happened.

It all began with

, which tweeted at 8:45 p.m., "Our sources can now confirm: Joseph Vincent Paterno has passed away tonight at the age of 85."

Minutes later, the blog tweeted again: "Football players received an email minutes ago informing them of Paterno's passing."

In other words, an unconfirmed rumor about an anonymous email was taken and reported as fact.

That was a blog. The next twist was far worse.

, whose reputation would carry its news far and wide, picked up the Onward State report. But instead of saying that "Onward State is reporting," CBS simply reported as fact -- its own, verified fact -- that Paterno had died.

Moments later, the website Huffington Post also picked up the Onward State "news" and, again without admitting that it was depending on it, reported Paterno's death as "fact."

With the weight of those two nationally known news organizations, the "news" spread to websites across the country, including in State College itself.

At 8:57 p.m., family spokesman Dan McGinn

that the report was "absolutely not true." But by then the report had its own momentum and continued to ricochet around the web until the truth finally overtook it.

At 9:13 p.m., sources close to the Paterno family told The Patriot-News that Joe Paterno, while 'very sick' was

. He was also still on a ventilator, contrary to another false report that he had been removed from breathing support.

Later Saturday night, in a

, Onward State Managing Editor Devon Edwards wrote on Facebook:

"I take full responsibility for the events that transpired tonight, and for the black mark upon the organization that I have caused ... I am so very, very, sorry, and we at Onward State continue to pray for Coach Paterno."

No such statement has come, to date, from CBS Sports which said only that it "went on" the Onward State tweet when it reported an unconfirmed rumor from an anonymous email about the supposed death of college football's most famous coach -- as fact.