Updated: Tuesday, 24 Jan 2012, 6:58 PM CST
Published : Tuesday, 24 Jan 2012, 6:58 PM CST
(NewsCore) - Fans of the late Joe Paterno were bidding nearly $100,000 on eBay Tuesday for the chance to attend the former Penn State football coach's memorial service before the online market hub pulled them from its website.
Two tickets posted on eBay by a California-based seller with the screen name mollyswimom, skyrocketed, reaching $99,509 before they were removed by the site.
Penn State began issuing free tickets to the memorial -- which will be held at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center -- online and by phone at 10:00am ET Tuesday, but every seat in the 16,000-capacity arena was filled within minutes.
The university quickly issued a statement saying tickets were no longer available "due to a very high demand."
But the lure of attending the week's final farewell event was enough to make some fans of the iconic coach dig deep into their pockets.
"I can't tell you how reprehensible I find those kinds of actions," Penn State president Rodney Erickson said during a faculty meeting Tuesday, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. "We have tried to do everything within our power to stop that, but there are certain legal limitations on what we are allowed to do."
EBay prohibits members from selling tickets for free events. The online marketplace went on to remove a number of other ticket auctions for the same event.
In a statement emailed to the Daily News, eBay spokeswoman Amanda Coffee said, "In accordance with the policy, eBay will not allow the sale of tickets to Joe Paterno's memorial service."
Coffee told the paper she was unaware of how many tickets made it onto the website. At least two pairs of tickets were put up for sale on Craigslist, but were later removed, according to the Daily News.
Paterno died Sunday at age 85 due to complications linked to his ongoing bout with lung cancer. The legendary coach was diagnosed with the disease in November, a week after he was fired by the university's board of trustees amid the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
Public viewings are being held Tuesday and Wednesday, with a private family funeral service scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Thursday's memorial service begins at 2:00pm ET and will be televised by the Big Ten Network.
Paterno guided the Nittany Lions football program for 46 seasons, becoming major-college football's all-time wins leader with 409 victories.
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