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… Sandusky did terrible things to children, and even after hearing that Sandusky was discovered in the shower with a boy of about 10, Paterno didn’t call the police. He didn’t seek to have Sandusky barred from Penn State’s athletic facilities, or apparently even question his assistant about what he had been told, even though the two men had been colleagues for decades.
May 6th, 2016 at 11:43PM
Can someone please explain why Jerry Sandusky was bulletproof for so damn long? It’s apparent that quite a number of people knew who he was, that he was, at one time, under investigation by the local DA, that victims approached PSU functionaries, yet nothing. Nada. I get that Sandusky was a great DC, but he wasn’t the only one. Couldn’t PSU have found someone else just as good, and eased the creep out of his job? What hold did this guy have on PSU and, as it turns out, on the state, as well?
May 7th, 2016 at 12:56AM
charlie: Just guessing, but I’m thinking Sandusky was very much Paterno’s man, part of his team, even a kind of servant. Ultimately I doubt Paterno and many other athletics personnel thought Sandusky raping boys amounted to much. Especially since the boys were powerless unimportant people.
May 7th, 2016 at 7:30AM
it’s a culture of infallibility thing.
May 7th, 2016 at 8:09AM
john: Yes: Complete with (currently mothballed) statues of the great leader.
May 7th, 2016 at 8:41AM
I doubt if Paterno made the link in any concrete way, we are capable of all sorts of truly tragic blind-spots, part of the many cognitive-biases that go into making up the cults of personalities, cultures of infallibility.
http://worldchannel.org/programs/episode/independent-lens-my-nazi-legacy/
May 7th, 2016 at 10:41AM
UD, you make valid points. But, in a way, Paterno served Sandusky in that JoPa was on the BOT of Sandusky’s charity, The Second Mile Foundation, which worked with troubled boys. That’s one thing that made no sense. SMF had nothing to do with football, nothing compelled JoPa’s involvement, nor any other PSU functionary, as well. PSU football may have needed Sandusky, but PSU football had no need for the SMF…
May 7th, 2016 at 5:11PM
Agree with everyone above. I half-recall a published timeline of the allegations/evidence against Sandusky. They seemed to me way beyond baseless gossip, unsavory rumor stuff.
A skilled administrator in a very strong position might have encouraged PSU folks to distance themselves from Sandusky’s foundation.
“Ultimately I doubt Paterno and many other athletics personnel thought Sandusky raping boys amounted to much. Especially since the boys were powerless unimportant people.”
UD’s statement may be outrageous to some folks. It may be closer to the truth than anyone wishes to admit.
May 8th, 2016 at 1:10PM
It’s amazing to see how much misinformation and blind acceptance is out there.
I think dmf is much closer to the truth here, not that I think we will ever know the full truth. Paterno hated Sandusky, at best tolerated SMF, and fought to prevent administrators from allowing Sandusky to bring SM kids on campus after his retirement, writing across his retirement proposal “No, liability problems”.
The most recent report from Ganim is “corroborated” by Bernie McCue, a local alcoholic and nutjob. Bernie has been arrested multiple times for harassing people around town, visits local restaurants and leaves obscenity laden diatribes written on newspapers after finishing his meal, has accused local business owners of being a “fascist spy ring” because they throw said papers in the trash, and on and on. He’s simply not a credible source that any responsible journalist would use.
Ganim and CNN have actually already amended the age of ‘Victim A”, because the original report would have made the victim 17/18 in the year this allegedly occurred, when the age of consent was 18–the age of the victim was edited dropped by two years after the initial report was published.
While it wouldn’t surprise me if the facts eventually showed Paterno at least suspected something, after UVa, Duke, and other events, people as smart as UD and her readers ought to be FAR more skeptical of the media’s rush to judge. Before accepting serious accusations like pedophilia, reasonable people allow the full story to be reported, in the press or in court.
May 8th, 2016 at 1:28PM
Anon: I appreciate your caution. It’s incredibly important in incendiary stories like these – and stories going back so many years – to be cautious. What I’ve said I’ve tried to make clear is reasonably informed speculation.
Still – as to your suggestion that Paterno “at least suspected something” — I think at this point we can argue with confidence that he must have known a great deal. I appreciate the efforts of the family and the fans to continue to try to deny this, but it’s a lost cause.
May 8th, 2016 at 2:11PM
Anon, some of the people that comprised the SMF Board were Cal Ripken, Lou Holtz, Mark Wahlberg Dick Vermeil, as well as former PSU players Jack Ham, Franco Harris and Matt Millen. If Paterno hated Sandusky and supposedly tolerated SMF, then why didn’t he approach those famous names and tell them not to get involved? The reason those folks were needed by Sandusky was for fund raising purposes and the creation of an aura of prestige for the organization. Why didn’t Paterno, if he knew that something was wrong, do all that he could to get the charity’s charter revoked, including telling PA Governor Tom Corbett, who was PA AG when some of the worst was going on? SMF was a major PA institution beginning in 1977 until 2008. JoPa, as well as PSU administrators, had plenty of time and ability to get the org shut down. Why didn’t they?
But you’re right to a point in that the MSM has been suspiciously quiet regarding SMF’s influence, not only at PSU, but within PA, as well. That’s where the real crimes, imo, took place, not PSU, and a hell of a lot more people should be implicated….
May 9th, 2016 at 7:05PM
FWIW-there was a very recent TV piece on a British pianist, James Rhodes, who’s published a memoir recounting his own sexual abuse as a youngster by a teacher. Horrific stuff. I knew a woman who was the victim of a non-sexual violent assault, robbery, and home invasion. Months afterward, she was still walking around with pepper spray in hand, frightened, etc., in broad daylight with no obvious threat around.