Posted on 01/30/2012 5:00:54 AM PST by Kaslin
January 22nd was a sad day in America. A pitiful and depressing episode that confirms how a lawyer-controlled and weak-kneed society, ended with the tragic death of Joe Paterno. As sure as day turns into night, the actions taken last November by the Board of Trustees of Penn State University were responsible for the premature death of this great man.
I grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, next door to Paterno’s domain: Pennsylvania. My father graduated from Ohio State, and I was – and still am – a born-and-bred Buckeye fan. I clearly remember the emergence of Joe Pa at Penn State, which had not yet joined the Big Ten – that wouldn’t happen for another 25 years.
In that time we had the great Woody Hayes, but now we were butting heads with this scrawny- looking guy with goofy glasses who was somehow stealing a number of our recruits. Because he wasn’t in the Big Ten – and, of course, because Michigan was the center of everything evil in the world – I developed a mild liking for the guy. If the Buckeyes weren’t winning the national championship, then Penn State and Joe Pa seemed to be an acceptable alternative. It was certainly better than some others (like USC). Sure enough, it didn’t take him too long to produce undefeated seasons – reeling off three very quickly in 1968, 1969 and 1973 – but he had to wait until 1982 to win his first national championship.
Paterno went on to become a national icon. There have been many great college coaches with stellar, decades-long careers, but Joe Pa was beginning to set records. From the time he turned 70 – and then 80! – we all participated in the annual rite of speculation about whether he would or should retire.
Whenever I was asked about it, my answer was always the same: the Bear Bryant Syndrome. Joe knew very well that Bryant had passed away a little over a month after his retirement, and in fact had told sportscaster Brent Musburger that Bryant’s untimely death was one of the reasons he continued coaching. His team, school, and community – along with his wife of nearly 50 years – had become his life.
The Jerry Sandusky scandal shocked everyone; it always smacks your senses when someone is accused of such despicable acts. I read the transcript of the grand jury testimony with utter horror, and yet the fact that it engulfed the entire Penn State University made this sordid story even more appalling and disgraceful. Still, something seemed to be missing.
Mike McCreary, a young staffer for the football team, had walked into the locker room in the Penn State athletic complex while Sandusky, now a former employee, was sodomizing a young boy in the showers. McCreary claimed that he reported it to Paterno, who promptly informed his superiors, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Vice-President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz. When Curley and Schultz testified that they had heard a different story than what McCreary related to the grand jury, the two men were indicted despite no further verification by the grand jury and then summarily fired by the Board of Trustees. Then McCreary changed his story, telling the press something different than he told the grand jury. The Trustees still fired Paterno.
The most iconic person in Penn State history, an employee for over 60 years, was fired via telephone call. He was not given the chance to explain his side of the story. A group of weaklings who were more concerned with protecting their jobs and fending off lawsuits just started canning people. Even someone who has been with the University for one year deserves to have their side heard. Someone with 60 years of exemplary service merits a little extra consideration.
The villain in this story, Jerry Sandusky, was now lost in the shuffle and the focus of the sports world was on Paterno and the Trustees. Every sanctimonious sportscaster started whimpering about how they would have done more and how everyone involved should have done more. They, of course, were only thinking of the children.
When Joe Pa finally broke his silence, it was accompanied by yet a third version of McCreary’s story. Apparently, he never really told Paterno what actually happened in the shower. He justifiably couldn’t bring himself to tell a 76-year-old legend the ugly details. The fact that an aging Paterno wasn’t really able to comprehend the whole matter will not convince some of his lack of blame. Some people will insist that he should have been able to understand such despicable behavior, and they will never accept that some among us come from an era where such repulsive activities were utterly inconceivable. So Coach Paterno reported what he had heard from McCreary, and that was all he knew.
Some say Joe died of a broken heart. I say he died from a knife in the back. Does it shock me that the man is now dead? No – there is, after all, the Bear Bryant Syndrome.
There will always be those who maintain that Paterno should have done more. There are those who claim that if they were in the same situation, they would have done more. But the only thing anyone should really say is if they are ever in the shoes of the Trustees, that they would give everyone the decency and fairness of an honest hearing, that they wouldn’t jump to conclusions, and that they would never, ever try to cover their own butts by ruining the lives of others.
Why are there even academicops at all? Other than for the sake of immediate security on campus. If a crime happens, the very possibility that it might embarrass the school is reason enough that policing and prosecution should be carried on by a hopefully impartial force of the state, county, and/or city government that has physical jurisdiction.
Maybe you’re beginning to see the light.
The facts are, that NO ONE reported it to the police.
BINGO!!!!
The then-attorney general, now governor, knew about it;
the president of the university knew about it; the state police knew about it.
And to quiet the howling media mob, Joe was made the the sacrifice. The BOT hoped that by throwing Joe to the wolves, the media would back off.
Those of us (I’m taking liberties here) who are questioning the way Paterno was handled, wouldn’t for an instant defend him if we were to find out he was complicit. But by focusing on the most visible player, the others may not be getting the scrutiny they deserve. (Read Spanier)
Maybe the judicial system will work and we’ll get our answers.
Certainly more than Joe deserved “being thrown to the wolves” but this doesn’t excuse his spot in the pass-the-buck ring.
It all started when Paterno thought that his players should have a different disciplinary standard than other students, or even citizens.
It always starts there.
Hey, nobody’s perfect. One of your coaches ends up sodomozing kids for, what, almost two decades under your watch and in your facilities.
Surely, the Board overstepped.
First, the idea that the scandal killed Paterno is abusurd. He was an 85 year old man, whose body was riddled with cancer. At most, the stress might have accelerated things by a few months, but to say he died a premature death, due to this, is silly.
As to how he was treated by the BOT and media, I think he might have gotten a bit too much heat, but deserved a good portion of it.
I can understand him passing the info on to his superiors and expecting them to handle it. However, what I cannot understand or condone, was him allowing that pervert, Sandusky to be around the program, for years after McCreary came to him. If he had told his superiors, AND banned Sandusky from the facilities (until such time as he he found out the allegations were untrue), I’d say he could have done more, but had done enough.
But, if he was going to allow this accused child molester to have access to his program, he had a responsibility to follow up and find out the truth.
And I am with some others on this thread....
Terminal cancer, 85 years old.
How about when your time is up...
The Boy Scouts of America gets fried every single day over NOT allowing homosexuals be adult volunteers.
They helped start the United Way, and that organization decided the Boy Scouts shouldn’t be allowed funds because they discriminate?
Nobody talks about this, but is it NOT reasonable to ask ANY institution you entrust your children to the following:
“Do you employ homosexuals as educators, counselors, and RA’s, and if so, how much contact do they have - one on one - with boys?”
People are acting like the McCreary story was the only hint thay had. There had been rumors about the guy for years.
As I understand it, Sandusky had been reported to the DA and no charges were made. Couldn’t Joe assume as that time that the investigation turned up nothing.
People also have to put themselves in Joe’s place. If someone told you that someone you supervised saw such an incident, would you go to the local police or your own police for an investigation? Looking back he should have told the guy who told him to go to the police.
How much winking was going on when he made his “report”? I would LOVE to see a film of that conversation.
Sandusky was not fired, he resigned to “spend more time with Second Mile”
Yecchh
Yes, you're correct, the coach, at the apogee of his career, at a time when others in his position would be talked about for head coaching jobs or pro coordinator positions, "retires," and it has NOTHING to do with the investigation for multiple reports of child abuse the year before.
The fact is that there was plenty of info out there that I am sure EVERYONE who mattered at PSU knew about, so that when McQueary came forward in 2002, no matter what language he used to describe it, they knew exactly what he was talking about, and its implications.
Agreed.
The gentlemen doth protest too much. . .I didn't attack you at all. You are missing the point. Sandusky was not an employee of Paterno's and was not "in his organization." Joe reported what had been told to him. He did what was proper.
You know what really is strange?. . .You're hating on an innocent man but then you get all steamed by the suggestion that you should be aware of the number of sex offenders in your own neighborhood and take responsibility. You and your neighbors BETTER do something about it. . .like keep an eye open, form a neighborhood watch. .stay in touch with the neighborhood kids and make sure they know who not to talk too. . .stuff like that. . IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. . .oh wait. . I FORGOT YOU DON'T HAVE TIME. . YOU NEED TO VENT ALL YOUR ENERGY HATING ON JOE!!!!. . .right. .that will protect a lot of kids.
You don't really understand what you read do you? No one "hates" Paterno. It's just that with the big bucks comes big responsibility, and Paterno is seen as not living up to his responsibilities. And sorry tootsie roll, but head coach, Paterno, and assistant coach, Sanduski, means that Sanduski was in Paterno's organization.
And your pathetic attempts to change the subject to local sex offenders is as totally irrelevant as it is sad.
No, it's not changing the subject. . it is very relevant to the discussion that you, on the one hand, insist Joe didn't take enough responsibility, while, on the other hand you say you have no responsibility for sex offenders in your own backyard. . .and is rather indicative that this is just entertainment for you. . .it's much easier to sit back and be self-righteous than actually doing something. Why don't you start by learning how to spell the name SANDUSKY (not SANDUS-KI!!!). . Good thing you weren't the arresting officer. . .the case would be thrown out on the technicality that the arresting officer can't even spell the suspects name correctly. . .what else do you have ass-backwards, huh. . think about it Sherlock!!
S-a-n-d-u-s-k-y was no longer a coach with Paterno. Paterno was not his employer. . .get your facts straight. ..
A name mispelling and more pink smoke is the best you can do. Pathetic.
You got no facts AND you got no spelling AND you got no Thesaurus: pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. . all the time "pathetic". . .TRY USING A NEW WORD ONCE IN A WHILE, CLETIS!!
My view isn’t that different than yours.
I think Jerry Sandusky killed him. If it were the show “Law and Order” Jack McCoy would send Sandusky to the grand jury with some kind of “contributory homicide” charge. (If there is such a thing.)
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