Its a shame that with so much success, Joe will be remembered for this failing. He gave many young men a lesson in character and then failed his own.
Thanks for posting this.
The very sad thing about all this is the dam NCAA punished the community, and they PUNISHED THE KIDS for the whole debacle.
What the hell did the community and the college kids do to deserve this?
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Time could tell it was worse.
The reason Sandusky got away with it for so long is simple - he got others in on it. He participated in a ring of powerful people who passed the kids around. And in that way, he set up his insurance policy - not just against being caught, but against even being stopped.
Did JoePa know? Probably. He ran Penn State, and he couldn’t get rid of an assistant coach he didn’t like? Bull. He was TOLD he couldn’t get rid of Sandusky, when Sandusky sought help from his powerful “friends.” Sandusky figured he’d eventually be head coach. So, JoePa knew, but he also was trapped, like everyone else who knew.
Sandusky’s Ring of powerful people is what needs to be investigated. ALL of those creatures need to be found, dug up and exposed.
Problem is, who are THEY connected to? How deep does this rabbit hole go?
Especially if it involves rituals?
Looked at that way, it’s amazing Sandusky was exposed at all.
“his generation did not comprehend”
A friend of mine and I were discussing Paterno situation. Then we started talking about our own fathers. Both of the Paterno generation. We both agreed that neither of them would have probably understood the gravity of the situation. Sure there were “queers”, but child abuse was not discussed. No doubt it happened...but not discussed.
I’m sure not excusing Paterno on any level, but this does make some sense to me. He died before facing charges and was stripped posthumously of his titles. Does it help all those young men? No, but what punishment is left for a dead man?
Nonsense.
Sandusky was caught several times by Penn State employees. The administration knew & lied to a grand jury. Paterno knew & did nothing. His death is the only thing that kept him out of the witness or defendant chair.
The author is rationalizing 25 wasted years of photographing an enabler of a child molester. And that planned coffee table book of Paterno Football Pics is down the drain.
Paterno knew. The fact that he took such unprecedented drastic action against Sandusky, including making sure that Sandusky never got another coaching job, tells us that he knew.
But he let Sandusky continue to use the athletic facilities with young boys for years.
Anything new with this? or does the coverup by DPS and TSM still continue???
What really bugged me about all this with Penn State...was that the same media castigating JoePa for his inaction...were the same ones covering up the pedophilia going on at Syracuse University for many years
There was never a push to remove Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim, even though his long-time assitant Bernie Fine had been molesting boys for years, even bringing them with him on road trips...and Boeheim saw the boys in the hotel rooms with Fine
The reason the media gave Syracuse a pass was that many in the media went to school at Syracuse (it is a big broadcast-media school) .....not only they covered up for their alma-mater....but the older SU alums in the media hated Penn State because of their superiority over SU in athletics
Oh...and about the Paterno family lawsuit against the NCAA...
The Paterno family (Paterno estate) will win...and win quite easily...contrary to the talking-heads in the media
In the 1990’s case of Tarkanian v NCAA....the US Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA must give “due process” when dealing with individuals (coaches)
There was no “due process” given to Paterno when they stripped his wins from him. Also, he never signed the “consent” with the NCAA to accept any punishment (obvious reasons)
Paterno’s family is probably already quite aware of this...and it would behoove the NCAA to re-instate the wins....or face their findings be overturned by a court. I do not think the NCAA or Louis Freeh want that Freeh Report to be scrutinized in a court of law....it could result in all the punishment against the school be nullified.
Thanks for posting this.
I’ve been meaning to post about “what Joe knew” for some time. I’m not a PSU fan, I never met the man, I’ve never lived in Pennsylvania, and if Joe P. was as bad a guy as many here say, then he deserved punishment.
BUT
I was a Boy Scout from 1961-1968. During that time, we had not one but two homosexual predator scoutmasters (one right after the other). Both were fired (of course), one eventually went to prison, but not for acts committed while a troop leader. Neither one ever even suggested the slightest impropriety to me personally.
When I was 17 and JASM, I was a party to the deliberations of the men who adjudicated the matter of scoutmaster #2. I was too young to be involved with the end of scoutmaster #1.
The men who were volunteer troop leaders were all WW II veterans. (By the way, learning camping and survival skills from these men was an incredible privilege). These guys, born in the 1920s like Joe P., were tough as nails and had been places and seen and done things which people today cannot even imagine.
AND YET
To a man, they did not “get” what these guys were doing. Sandusky, his behaviors, what he did for gratification, would have been completely beyond the ability of these brave, worldly, experienced men to comprehend.
This has always been my take on Joe P. Born in 1926, from old world roots, a gentleman to boot by all accounts - I have always believed that this one was just beyond his ability to grasp. I believe that because I have first hand knowledge, albeit as a young man, of men like that and how they reacted to a somewhat similar situation.
I know and knew nothing about Penn State, never heard of JoePa. But from the original news stories told, I heard that he had been told about Sandusky and did not go to the police. I ASSUMED it was to protect the program. I thought that was his fatal sin, the one that killed and should have killed his legacy forever.
When good men do nothing, it is as if they had done the evil themselves. I do believe that statement is true.
But this essay, if true, may have me changing my mind about JoePa. However, I can’t be sure that just because he was elderly, he didn’t get what Sandusky was being accused of. And the first time Sandusly was caught with a boy was 20 years before JoePa was elderly, right? And not liking Sandusky would have made him MORE likely to turn him in, or even ask cops “Hey, I am not sure, and I heard this third hand, but could you investigate?”
This is a persuasive essay but I need just a little more info that JoePa was really that ignorant abou Sandusky.
Why did he THINK Sanduusky got fired? Why did he think that whatever he was fired for, still allowed Sandusky to bring boys to games and campus?
If Paterno truly didn’t understand, maybe he is innocent. But how could he have been that ignorant? Men have been doing that to boys since there were boys and men.