STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (Associated Press) - Former Penn State University athletic director Ed Czekaj, who was credited with helping coach Joe Paterno build the football team for its success in the 1970s and into the 1980s, has died at age 87.

Czekaj died Monday at a retirement home in State College, the university said.

The native of Mount Pleasant, Pa., was a three-year letterman on the Penn State football team in the 1940s. He became an employee of the athletic department in 1953 and held several positions before becoming athletic director in 1969. He held that job until 1980, when Paterno took that position. Czekaj retired in 1982.

Current athletic director Tim Curley said that besides helping to build the football program, Czekaj presided over an expansion of women's sports.

Czekaj also oversaw four expansions of Beaver Stadium, raising the capacity from less than 50,000 to 83,770 for the 1980 season.