"So I sat around. It was a Saturday. Waited till Sunday because I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing."
It took a day to decide the best idea was not to call the police and tell them a naked 58-year-old man was in a shower with a naked ten-year-old boy doing something inappropriate of a sexual nature, but to tell an administrator and never to follow up on it. After 46 years as a head coach, making decisions in a snap second on the field. And Paterno was been held out for decades as an example of what a ethical teacher and leader of young men should be like.
“You know, [McQueary] didn’t want to get specific [Note: Did you ask him, Joe? Sometimes having the specifics - the facts - help you make the proper decision], and to be frank with you I don’t know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man.
My grandfather was born in 1902 and warned me about these things. I also wonder whether Joe Paterno parsed words - "rape". He had his attorney and a communications adviser present. His family was with him at the kitchen table. This was a tableau as well as an interview. (Sidebar: Ignore the Washington Post. King & Spalding is an Atlanta law firm, not a WDC firm.)
“You would think I ran the show here.”
This happened in 2002. In 2004, the Board of Trustees wanted you to retire. PSU President Graham Spanier and Athletic Director Tim Curley (yes, that Graham Spanier and Tim Curley) came to Joe Paterno's house and asked him to retire. Joe Paterno essentially told them "Get off of my yard." And the man who didn't run the show there told the Board of Trustees, the President and the Athletic Director no. No. Forget it.
Joe Paterno WAS NOT FIRED!
He remains a tenured employee of Penn State University and is currently negotiating his retirement agreement.
Everyone was duped. Here’s what Steve Garban and John Surma of the Penn State Board of Trustees had to say about Paterno’s continued employment on Thursday. From CBS:
“Coach Paterno remains employed by the University as a tenured faculty member,” they said in a statement released Thursday. “The details of his retirement are being worked out and will be made public when they are finalized. Generally speaking, the University intends to honor the terms of his employment contract and is treating him financially as if he had retired at the end of the 2011 football season.”
Paterno is still getting paid. Penn State is still honoring his contract. And yes, they plan on sending him off into the sunset just like they would any other employee who retired after years of service to the university.
And the more people talk about Joe, the more people ignore the real bad guys.
I recently read that author Stieg Larsson (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) had witnessed a gang rape of a girl when he was 15. He was haunted for his entire life by the event and for not helping the girl. His guilt shaped his books (The Millinium series). He was only 15 and possibly could never have helped the girl anyway against a gang. But, what a difference...Joe P had years and years to act, but did not..shame on him!
The phrase, "in hindsight" is the money phrase. No one I know, who was involved in the football program as a player, suspected anything unusual about Sandusky. In fact, he was personable and very well liked.
Once the SHTF, I think everyone wishes they had done more in hindsight.
I suppose he never watched Deliverance?
