Joe Paterno Was Allegedly Told of Jerry Sandusky Sex Abuse by Child in 1976
Former Penn State Nittany Lions head football coach Joe Paterno was allegedly informed by a child about sexual misconduct by defensive assistant Jerry Sandusky all the way back in 1976, according to details of a court order released to PennLive.com's Charles Thompson on May 5.
The documents, which are part of Penn State's ongoing insurance case regarding Sandusky settlements, say "a child allegedly reported to PSU's head coach Joseph Paterno that he [the child] was sexually molested by Sandusky."
On Friday, Tom Winter and Hannah Rappleye of NBC News reported that as many as six assistant coaches witnessed the abuse.
ESPN provided a statement from Penn State on Friday:
"The university has no records from the time to help evaluate the claims. More importantly, Coach Paterno is not here to defend himself. Penn State does not intend to comment further, out of concern for privacy, and due to the strict confidentiality commitments that govern our various settlement agreements.
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On Sunday, Penn State president Eric Barron issued a letter to the university community in which he commented on the court order:
"I want you to know I am appalled by the rumor, innuendo and rush to judgment that have accompanied the media stories surrounding these allegations. All too often in our society, people are convicted in the court of public opinion, only to find a different outcome when all the facts are presented.
In contrast, over the last two days we have worked to be diligent in reanalyzing the record of reports and depositions to ensure that our reactions and comments are both responsible and trustworthy.
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Barron went on to say that the allegations are "not established fact," adding that "we cannot find any evidence, related to a settlement or otherwise, that an alleged early assault was communicated to Coach Paterno."
Jay Paterno commented on the news, defending his father in an article for StateCollege.com that reads in part:
"All of this was driven by one line in an insurance case decision. Even in the filing the judge carefully used the word allegedly because there is no established factual basis.
Facts, why wait for them? Rush out the story and a salacious headline and let’s go.
Have we learned nothing? The Rolling Stone UVA Rape case; the Duke Lacrosse Case; Patrick Kane... I could go on.
Four and a half years of allegations against Joe Paterno made by the media, The Freeh Report and the NCAA have all been proven false.
Yet here we go again.
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Paterno—who died in 2012, two months after being fired by Penn State amid the Sandusky controversy—maintained he had no knowledge of any previous acts. An investigation uncovered that former assistant Mike McQueary approached Paterno and claimed to have seen Sandusky molesting a child in a Penn State shower. Paterno reported the events to his superiors, but the incident was never reported to authorities.
The court order released Thursday indicated there were additional reports of misconduct by Sandusky in 1987 and 1988. One such incident allegedly found its way to Penn State's athletic director at the time, Jim Tarman. It's unclear if Tarman, who retired in 1993, ever took action.
"There is no evidence that reports of these incidents ever went further up the chain of command at PSU," Judge Gary Glazer wrote, per Thompson.
Sara Ganim of CNN provided details on Friday taking things a step further. An anonymous victim said two men, calling themselves "Jim and Joe," called him and accused him of making up the allegations against Sandusky.
"There was no question in my mind who Joe was," the victim said, per Ganim. "I've heard that voice a million times. It was [Joe] Paterno."
Sandusky was perhaps Paterno's most loyal assistant during his tenure at State College. He began as a defensive line coach in 1969, served as a linebackers coach from 1970 to 1976 and then was the defensive coordinator from 1977 until his retirement in 1999. Paterno and Sandusky won two national championships and went undefeated four times together.
The Sandusky scandal all but ruined Paterno's national reputation. Once viewed as a bastion of what is good about college sports, he has been pilloried despite protests from his family. Wick Sollers, the attorney from the Paterno family, released a statement Thursday denying the former coach acted inappropriately, per Thompson:
"Over the past four-and-a-half years Joe Paterno's conduct has been scrutinized by an endless list of investigators and attorneys.
Through all of this review there has never been any evidence of inappropriate conduct by Coach Paterno. To the contrary, the evidence clearly shows he shared information with his superiors as appropriate.
An allegation now about an alleged event 40 years ago, as represented by a single line in a court document regarding an insurance issue, with no corroborating evidence, does not change the facts. Joe Paterno did not, at any time, cover up conduct by Jerry Sandusky.
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Paterno remains major college football's winningest coach with 409 victories. The NCAA reinstated 111 of his wins in 2015 after having taken them away as part of sanctions against Penn State following the Sandusky scandal.
Paterno was never charged with a crime.
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