In 2011 the world of college football was rocked with the news that Penn State’s former defensive coordinator, Gerald Sandusky, was being charged with numerous counts of deviant child molestation and sexual child abuse. With that news, Penn State administrators took it upon themselves to hastily convict the football team’s head coach, Joseph V. Paterno, and terminated him without benefit of judge or jury of his peers.
Judged, Juried, and Executed
A Brief History
State College. Happy Valley. Mount Nittany. Penn State. Joe Paterno. JoePa. All names that bring to mind, the Penn State Nittany Lions. Joseph V. Paterno came from a working-class, Catholic, Italian-immigrant family in New York State. Joe and his brother would spend hours playing football in Flatbush with the neighborhood kids. His father worked two and three jobs so that Joe and his brother, George, could attend an elite Brooklyn preparatory school. Joe also played baseball but his love was football. “During one (neighborhood) game he was so focused on catching a pass that he ran face-first into a tree and split open his lip” (Moushey & Dvorchak (2012) p. 9). The plan upon graduating was to attend college and become an attorney but after graduation in 1945, Joe was drafted into the US Army. Though he never saw overseas combat, he was sent to Korea where the Army saw the surrender of Japan. After being discharged from the Army in 1946, Paterno, along with his brother George, enrolled in Brown University thanks to a scholarship for students who played football. Despite the other Brown University’s student snobbery, Joe set “a school football record of 14 interceptions as a defensive back” (Moushey & Dvorchak (2012) p. 12) that hasn’t been beat. In 1950, despite the disapproval of his family, Paterno left Brown University to assist Charles “Rip” Engle coach at Penn State. The college hadn’t had consistent coaching over the prior four years and had hired Engle who had coached high-school and college football for 21-years, six of them with the Brown University Bears. Paterno was offered the job of head coach at Yale University in 1964 but Joe chose to stay at Penn State and became head coach just a year later.
Sandusky There is little doubt of the impact Gerald Arthur Sandusky had on Penn State. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Penn State and played defensive tight-end on the same football team where he joined the coaching staff in 1969. Sandusky was chosen to serve as defensive coordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions under head coach Joe Paterno. Sandusky created a charity called The Second Mile in 1977 to help “at risk” kids while serving on the football staff. Sandusky often showered his protégées from The Second Mile with expensive gifts, trips, and tickets to college and professional sports games. In Game Over, there are no mentions by authors Moushey and Dvorchak, that The Second Mile accepted “at-risk” children of both sexes and Sandusky has been accused and convicted of dozens of heinous acts against young boys met through his charity. Even after leaving his coaching post at Penn State, Sandusky was provided with a parking pass allowing him to park on campus and access to an office provided to him by the university, access to all recreational and football facilities allowing him to work-out with the team, shower in their locker rooms, access to the university’s computer system, and his name in Penn State’s faculty directory. There wasn’t a big send-off when Sandusky announced that he would be leaving Penn State, he said that he wanted to spend more time on his charity and when the opportunity for retirement came up, he jumped at it. After 32-years on staff, (http://www.biography.com/people/jerry-sandusky-20857249) why didn’t Penn State provide him with fanfare upon his retirement? And why did Paterno only offer this statement:
“We can’t say enough about what he has brought to the football program as an exceptional coach, a fine player and a person of great character and integrity. The success that the Nittany Lions have enjoyed of the last three decades is due in large part to the contributions of people on our coaching staff like Jerry Sandusky. Jerry always has dreamed big dreams and, as he’s proven with The Second Mile, he’s someone who can turn hope into reality.”
Sandusky was a football player for Penn State, received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University, was defensive coordinator, and is credited for two of Penn State’s national title victories.
It does seem odd that with all the approval and praise for his coaching abilities and his reputation within the community for The Second Mile, that there was so little done upon his retirement.
The First Signs
There were a number of things that were “off” about Sandusky and the relationship with those from “at risk” families that were a part of The Second Mile. In 1998 a young single mother called campus police after Sandusky had brought her son home with wet hair. When she asked her son why his hair was wet, he stated that he had showered with Sandusky in the Penn State locker room. Campus police took the complaint as seriously as they could but this incident was outside the norm of what was reported to campus police. Detective Ronald Schreffler called in Children and Youth Services who deferred to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare due to their relationship with Sandusky’s charity. Covert actions took place at the home of the child and his mother. Schreffler enlisted the State College Police Department’s detective, Ralph Ralston, and hid in the closet when the child’s mother questioned Sandusky. Sandusky admitted that he shouldn’t have showered with the boy but stated that it wasn’t sexual in nature and promised that he wouldn’t do it again. At the conclusion of a subsequent encounter, Sandusky told the mother, “I understand. I was wrong. I wish I could get forgiveness. I know I won’t get it from you. I wish I were dead” (Moushey & Dvorchak (2012) p. 37). When Sandusky was questioned by Schreffler and Jerry Lauro, the state-agency investigator, he stated, “It wasn’t sexual, honest” (Moushey & Dvorchak (2012) p. 37). Game Over states that “his facial expression it was unclear whether Sandusky was concerned about the accusations” and at no time did Sandusky ask for legal counsel.
Despite promising investigators that he wouldn’t shower with the boys he mentored from The Second Mile, Sandusky went right back to what we now know was his pattern.
Hasty Decisions
Jerry Sandusky was arrested on November 5th, 2011 and “booked on criminal charges of sexually assaulting eight boys from The Second Mile over a thirteen-year period” (Moushey & Dvorchak (2012) p. 91). While the young mother’s claim of sexual deviancy by Sandusky was taken seriously, the case was closed following the investigators talk with Sandusky. In 2002 an assistant coach, Dan McQueary entered the locker room to place new sneakers in his locker on the Friday before spring break and encountered an uncomfortable situation taking place in the showers. There are a few things that are odd about McQueary and what he did upon encountering to what he called, “sexual noises”. He did make a lot of noise to make himself known but when he realized the noises were coming from an adult and a child, why didn’t he question Sandusky or the boy? Instead, McQueary went home and phoned his father and then met with the elder McQueary and a family friend who is a medical doctor. Why did the two advise him to tell Paterno and not the police or campus security? The morning following this incident, McQueary phoned Joe Pa and requested to meet with him where he claims he told Paterno about the incident without spelling anything out. He claimed, under oath, that Paterno knew what he meant and there was no doubt about what was going on. Despite the fact that Joe Paterno told his superiors, Tim Curly, the athletic director and Gary Schultz, the administrative officer regarding rumors of sexual misconduct at the university he would be fired, by telephone after the scandal went public.
After joining the Penn State football team as assistant coach in 1950 and becoming head coach, (the most winning coach in Penn State history) in 1965, he faithfully served Penn State and led the football team to numerous wins; Paterno was cowardly terminated and with just one game left of the season and after 60-years with the organization.
Instances
From 1998 to the time that Sandusky was arrested in 2011 there are a number of instances that, if carried out appropriately, could have prevented this sexual deviant from harming other boys and young men. In 1998 when the young mother called campus police and campus police alerted the State College Police Department and Pennsylvania State’s Child Welfare department; why was this never investigated further? In 2002, when McQueary went to his father and his doctor friend; why did the senior McQueary nor his friend advise Dan McQueary to phone the police but advised him to tell Paterno instead? Why did the high school coach not question Sandusky in the weight room when he was found with a young man? Why did the school allow Sandusky to meet individually with his Second Mile protégés and allow him to pull them out of class? What if the DA had actually filed charges rather than disappearing without a trace? There needs to be some type of repository for all law enforcement personnel. Regardless if it’s campus security, campus police, local or state departments. If this was the norm, the incidences following 1998s complaint might have not happened and Sandusky couldn’t have terrorized numerous young boys and men in the years following.
References
Moushey, B., & Dvorchak, B. (2012). Game over: Jerry Sandusky, penn state, and the culture of silence. (1st ed.). New York: HarperCollins.
Rita, W. (2013). Joe paterno, hastily tried, unjustly convicted. Createspace Independent Pub.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2011). Managing business ethics. (5 ed.). Hoboken: Wiley.
Retrieved September 5, 2013 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/penn-state-football-punished-by-ncaa-over-sandusky-scandal/2012/07/23/gJQAGNeM4W_story.html
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