Posted on 06/17/2013 3:00:44 PM PDT by FlJoePa
In a dramatic show of support for their old coach, more than 300 former Penn State football players are now publicly backing the Paterno family's lawsuit against the NCAA. Former Nittany Lion Brian Masella released a letter on Monday demanding due process and the truth.
"We're glad we're able to show these guys – the Penn State alumni, the student and the trustees willing to step forward that we're behind them 100 percent," Masella tells Statecollege.com. "We want to show them they're not standing there alone, all by themselves, on a cliff."
On May 29, the Paterno family, along with 20 other plaintiffs including former Penn State football players, coaches, trustees and faculty members, sued the NCAA. They have asked a judge to abolish the consent decree which would reverse Penn State's sanctions.
Those sanctions include a $60 million fine, a significant loss of scholarships for the football team, a four-year postseason ban for the football team and all wins vacated under Paterno between 1998-2011.
Masella says the letter is not sanctioned by Penn State. At the trustees' meeting in March, several former football players addressed the board, voicing support for Paterno. Later, they decided they had to do something more. The letter is intended to show the plaintiffs that a large contingent of Lettermen is in their corner.
Masella started with the contacts he had in his email, and it grew from there. Players forwarded his email to other players, and it traveled around the country.
"We wanted to do something for them, to bolster what they have done. We think it's totally brave we do this, obviously, with the intent of finding the truth," Masella says. "We support them 100 percent."
Masella believes this is "the right thing to do."
"We thought it would be a great gesture," Masella says. The more than 300 signatures span six decades of Penn State football, and include signatures from some Penn State greats, including Franco Harris, Todd Blackledge, OJ McDuffie, Kerry Collins and Paul Posluszny. It also includes the signatures of former coaches Dick Anderson and Booker Brooks. Both men testified for the defense in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse trial last year.
The letter and the names of those who signed it appears below:
Letter from Former Penn State Football Players:
On May 30, 2013, twenty people – including five Penn State Trustees, four faculty members, two former coaches, and nine former student-athletes, filed a lawsuit challenging the NCAA's sanctions against Penn State.
On the same day, the plaintiffs sent the former Penn State football players a letter explaining their rationale for taking legal action. The letter notes that the plaintiffs intend to fight for Penn State's honor and that they hope the former student-athletes "will be supportive of these efforts."
We, the undersigned, indeed support the plaintiffs' action in launching their suit.
Like them, we reject the NCAA's assertion that a "culture of reverence for the football program" allowed Jerry Sandusky's crimes to occur. We agree with the plaintiffs that the Freeh Report, which formed the foundation for the sanctions – was fundamentally flawed.
We stand with our nine brother Lettermen and the other eleven Penn Staters in demanding "fairness, due process, truth, and a just outcome." Everyone – Sandusky's victims, Penn Staters, and the public at large – deserves to know the complete truth."
The Media and those who believe everything they present, succeeded in tearing down a good man, a good college football coach and a football program they detested. They just didn’t count on the biggest Alumni Association to fight back. The BOT and Admin of Penn State didn’t count on the biggest Alumni Association (and that’s not the official alumni association but the real alunni and current students who are the real numbers) to fight back. And we are fighting back. That seems to enrage many people, lol. I love it. I’m not pissed off at Paterno. I’m pissed off at the liberal admin and BOT and politicians and Media and academia. I’m pissed off at so called conservatives who continue to fall for this stuff.
Like I said, I expect more from some on this forum. Ignorance is one thing. Petty jealousy is another. If you could see some of the freepmails I’ve received over the past 18 months, you’d swear they were from DU posters.
Sad, sick, and unwarranted. Just like Marco Rubio, who I once had great faith in, screw them all - right to to the wall.
The entire Penn State Board needs to be dismissed and replaced immediately.
What’s pathetic are kneejerk morons like you.
Actually,
1. The state of PA investigated Sandusky in 1998.
2. Despite the state not charging him with a crime PSU and Paterno force him out at the end of the 1998 season. So they did in fact do something.
So what else exactly are you claiming that Paterno or PSU should have done?
A. Should they have executed Sandusky?
B. Should they have made up evidence so the state would charge him?
C. Should they have shamed him in addition to firing him and banned him from campus?
I am not exactly sure what one should do if a long time colleague/friend is investigated for a heinous crime, BUT NOT CHARGED.
This is a misconception. Joe and PSU did not force JS out after 1998. Joe told him he was spending too much time with the second mile and that he would never be the HC at PSU.
At the time, the state was offering a sweetheart retirement deal for state employees, and JS took it. With no defensive coordinator, PSU hired JS back for one year in 1999 as an independent contractor.
At that time, JS was in serious negotiations with UVA for their head coaching position. If the Jets hadn’t lost nearly every game in the last half of that season he would have had the job if he wanted it. Al Groh bailed on the Jets before he was fired and jumped JS for the UVA job.
It’s everywhere. I’m getting used to it even though I hate it. I don’t get online much and don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of me (other than my family and friends) so it’s easy to walk away from the computer or other things.It’s easy to walk away from toxic people after venting or discussing it with people I care about.
I’m glad you’re posting about this stuff even though I don’t understand why you do it. It seems primarily heavy in the anti-Penn State, anti-Paterno realm just like DU and Huff Post is...hey, they share that, lol. Conservatives and Liberals agree. Shame neither deal with facts in this case.
I figure the most obnoxious people must contrbute the most since they’re allowed to stay regardless of how they ignore facts, lol. I don’t care either way. I say what I think and everyone else can KMA.
That’s disgraceful! You shouldn’t be receiving nasty freepmails. You’re much nicer than I am. I would (and have) told them to GFY. ;)
Why do you think PSU told Sandusky he would never become the head coach. That is a signal to resign/retire in those types of jobs. That is how you force someone out.
Saying Sanduski coulda woulda shoulda have gotten the UVa job is meaningless. Not everyone is Rutgers. I suspect that UVa would have caught wind of the investigation and not touched Sandusky. College do not hire people in even semi high profile positions like faculty members after such an investigation.
“As a conservative, I don’t believe in socialistic mass guilt, nor mass innocence, nor not much mass anything....and I don’t feel any now-and-future innocents in the Penn State football program as well as their now-and-future innocent fans should be punished for nothing just so the NCAA can proudly flex its muscles and scattershot its considerable firepower at the innocent and guilty at will.”
Bingo. The NCAA has gotten too big for its own britches.
God bless the entire Penn State community for the travesty they went through.
...please enlighten all of us unwashed peons...exactly what travesty has the Penn State ‘community’ gone through...?
and I don’t feel any now-and-future innocents in the Penn State football program as well as their now-and-future innocent fans should be punished for nothing just so the NCAA can proudly flex its muscles and scattershot its considerable firepower at the innocent and guilty at will...
...no doubt you would be utterly flabbergasted to know that many other ‘innocent fans’ have been ‘punished’ by the NCAA throughout the years by NCAA sanctions...I’m also sure you realize that the punishment is aimed at the school and its administration of the offending program...
And what exactly was it that he knew??? All he knew was the story that Mike McQueary told him — a story that has changed many times over the years and was not believed by the Sandusky jury...
...you apparently believe that in 1999 Paterno, the head coach, was not aware that his then defensive coordinator Sandusky, was being investigated for improper activities with a boy in a shower...the same Paterno who reportedly knew when his players were skipping a Spanish class or two, or that they got a speeding ticket in the summer...
...you are certainly well versed in legal matters, as your posts make evident, and you know baloney when you see it...yet somehow, this impossible supposition of Paterno ignorance escapes you...this is why Joe failed in this matter, because McQueary’s story should have set off the alarms in his head, and the possible damage to his beloved program should have been unbearable to him...but apparently he simply told Curley and washed his hands of the situation...
It was/is legal to inquire about one's players' grades but it was/is illegal for anyone in the administration, law enforcement, county, or state to tell anybody about an investigation of this type. If he had found out about it, both he and the one who told him would have faced criminal and civil prosecution.
but apparently he simply told Curley and washed his hands of the situation.
He was not an eyewitness -- just a messenger. He didn't see anything but had to take McQueary's word for it -- a guy who could have been making the whole thing up. However he followed procedures and contacted Curley who contacted Schultz and they met with McQueary and he followed up with McQueary to make sure that they met. What more was he supposed to do????????????
Schultz then went back to his office and contacted the Chief of Police of the PSUPD who was the lead law enforcement official in the 1998 investigation. This Chief of the PSUPD still had the 1998 report on his computer and pulled it up.
Paterno lit the fire that got all the right people involved -- athletic director, VP of PSU, Chief of Police of the PSUPD, President of PSU, legal counsel of PSU, the Director and Board members of Sandusky's charity TSM.
How the hell does anyone call that "washing your hands". Within days of his notification there were a whole lot of hands in the mix and his were not legally or morally or evidently required to be there.
Who else needed to know that any of the others who knew more than he did, including Mike McQueary, were incapable of contacting????
I met Curt Warner in NYC in 1985. He was going out with my fiance’s best friend. I am not surprised to see him missing from the 1980’s list after our conversation.
I have said this before, but I will say it again. Paterno did not know when to leave. He stayed too long and was surrounded by a bunch of “yes” men and hero worship types. This kind of thing leads to no good as it did here. There was a TV piece by a sports reporter (don’t remember who it was) that said he could just walk into most football offices, pro and college,but not Penn State.
I cannot believe, as a rational person that Paterno did not know at least the surface that Sandusky was a pervert and had been for a long period of time. I also know as a fact (knowing a couple of people that live in Happy Valley) that most of the town at least had a suspicion that Sandusky was a pervert long before it came to public light.
The BOT should have suspended the football program, totally changed the culture that Paterno installed and done it as soon as Sandusky was arrested. They did not and let the NCAA do so and take the heat. The current “movement” of those former players and graduates is nothing more than a “me, me” deal. Like it or not, not matter how it is spun, this scandal will always be with Penn State. So, defend away because that is most surely your right, but make no mistake- Paterno’s name will always be associated with this mess as well it should.
If you have friends in State College that knew js was committing crimes, you might urge them to contact the authorities. There are still several investigations taking place - most involving the second mile, as well as the failings of the CYS and DPW agencies. You know, the ones that allowed js to adopt 5 children and foster dozens of others.
None of these entities have anything to do with Joe Paterno and very little to do with the University.
As to Joe - many believe he DID hang on too long, but not at all due to what you cite. I think many fans were unhappy with his offensive play calling, and his refusal to travel to recruit in his later years. The “culture” he created and maintained was always one of excellence - especially in the classroom.
If Joe was so powerful, how did he get fired?
Curt’s son Jonathan is a current player on the Penn State squad (WR), so he must not have any problems with the “culture” at Penn State.
There are many other names that will be added to that list, and I expect Curt’s to be one of them. Many couldn’t be contacted in time to have them published with the others.
The people I know in Happy Valley heard the same rumors as most everyone else they say, and it was going on for a long time I understand. Rumors are not evidence, yet there were rumors for a long while.
There is no doubt that Paterno should have resigned before 2000 or earlier. Why hang on? I understand that they suggested to him that he retire, yet he refused. IMO, if he didn’t know then it is correct that he was out of touch and too old to be anything but a figure head, if he did know then what. You cannot have it both ways.
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