October 17, 2024 • 40 mins
In the heart of the storied college football program at Penn State lay a darkness so deep it would shock the nation. Assistant Coach and philanthropist Jerry Sandusky, a pillar of the community, was revealed to be a child sex predator. Did legendary coach Joe Paterno know? What about the administration? Join Jay Harris as he takes a deep dive into a sports scandal so shocking it reverberates to this day.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome back to playing dirty sports scandals. I'm Jay Harris,
a veteran ESPN sportscaster, and your brave barista, ready to
extract every drop of truth from sports darkest stories. Today
we're pressing deep into the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State.
This was a saga that undeniably squeezed the spirit of
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college football and left a dark stain on an otherwise
esteems university. I'm talking beetroot juice on a white linen
tablecloth level stain. So have a napkin close at hand,
brace yourself, and get ready to taste the complex mix
of betrayal and oversight that shook a world renowned campus
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to its core. Okay, now that we're good and hydrated,
let's dive into some history. Penn State University was founded
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in eighteen fifty five as the Farmers High School of Pennsylvania.
It's come a long way since then, and nowadays. Penn
State University is not your standard campus. It's an exceptional
institution that is consistently ranked in the top six percent
of the world universities, with an annual research expenditure of
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one point two three nine billion dollars billion, with a
b with top ten percent employment outcomes for its graduates
and with distinguished alumni including former Nike CEO Mark Parker,
Modern Family actor Tyverrell, and National Science Board member Stephen L. Mayo.
It's campus in University Park, Pennsylvania, boast one of the
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largest student bodies in the United States, and it has
an impressive athletic legacy to match. Known for its Nitney Lions,
Penn State is a powerhouse in college athletics, and its
crown jewel is football. Football is more than just a
game at Penn State. It's a cultural phenomenon, and at
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the very heart of this cultural phenomenon was Nitney Lyons
coach Joe Paterno, affectionately known as Jopah. Born on December
twenty first, nineteen twenty six in Brooklyn, New York. Joseph
Vincent Paterno was the son of Florence Caffieriro and Angelo Paterno,
a law clerk. Not Surprisingly, Angelo's legal background and principled
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beliefs led him to instill a strong sense of morality, justice, inclusion,
and commitment to education in his children, Joe and George. Notably,
Angelo was also a tolerant man who appreciated the challenge
of holding your head high even in the face of
blatant discrimination. In fact, Angelo's grandson Jay could regale the
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public with the values Angelo established for their family decades later, saying,
my grandfather Angelo Paterno worked all his life to increase
dialogue between people of different faiths and different races, and
his oldest son, my father, Joe Paterno, made those values
his core values. Joe Paterno's mother, Florence, was equally assured,
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teaching her son that when kids at school would call
him a guinea or a wop for being Italian, that
every knock is a boost. Joe's mother gave him self
esteem and inner confidence that formed a philosophy of personal excellence.
With such strong, positive parents, Joe Paterno had a rich
start to life. Indeed, even though his Flatbush Brooklyn upbringing
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was hardly adorned with materialistic excesses. Instead, Joe's parents encouraged
him to be active and in particular, to enrich his
body and mind through sports. Their guy and support undoubtedly
shaped his illustrious future. Joe excelled at Brooklyn Prep, a
highly selective Jesuit preparatory school. Both academically and athletically. He
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played quarterback on the football team and was known for
his tenacity. Jay Riley, who was a junior at Brooklyn
Prep when Joe Paterno was a wiry freshman, recalled Joe's
confidence during a scrimmage. I was playing center and came
out of the huddle to take the ball, and Joe
spat on it and looked up at me and said,
what are you going to do about it? He was
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a tough little kid. It was no small feat to
be a tough, multi disciplined standout at Brooklyn Prep, which
New York Times reporter Joseph Berger described as a hulking
stone and brick building that took in Irish and Italian
boys from working class in more upscale neighborhoods in Brooklyn
and on Long Island. Alumni remember Brooklyn Prep as the
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place that made boys strong, both mentally and physically. Robert S. Bennett,
class of nineteen fifty s and President Bill Clinton's personal
lawyer during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, said that Brooklyn Prep
had changed his life more than Georgetown and Harvard. Richard J.
Carter class of nineteen sixty four and attacks and a
state lawyer in Manhattan, described Brooklyn Prep as the hardest
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school he ever went to. I tell people that once
I got out of Brooklyn Prep, I felt I could
do anything, Richard Carter said, So you can imagine that
Joe paternal must have been an absolute star among a
top tier crowd of young men to earn a coveted
scholarship out of Brooklyn Prep to attend Brown University, financed
by the publisher Busy Arnold. Sadly, however, brightly Joe's light
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shone as he graduated high school, there was no denying
that he was living in dark times. World War II
was in its final year, and he was sent into
the Army before starting his Ivy League education at Brown
in nineteen forty six. Once the war ended, Joe Paterno
tore into his university education without missing a beat. He
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also continued to rise to the top athletically distinguishing himself
in both baseball and football. He played quarterback on offense
and cornerback on defense. This was called playing both ways,
and while it was more common back in those days,
Joe set records that stood for decades. Joe's sixty nine
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yard punt return for a touchdown beat Holy Cross in
Brown's eight for nine and forty nine season, and his
sixty four yard pass to Chuck Nelson was key to
Brown beating Harvard that same year. These achievements made him
a favorite of Brown Bears coach rip Ingele and demonstrated
Joe's neck for strategic play. After graduating from Brown University
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in nineteen fifty with a degree in English literature, Joe
considered law school and was even accepted at Boston University
Law School, which is routinely ranked in the top fifteen
percent of US law schools. He had a tactical mind
and the world was his oyster, but ultimately Joe's passion
for football was too great to ignore. When his college coach,
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rip Engele took the head coaching job at Penn State
and invited Joe to join him as an assistant, Joe
agreed to defer law school and take the role just
for a couple of years. A couple of years turned
into sixteen years, and when coach Engle retired in nineteen
sixty six, Joe became head coach of the Nitney Lions
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at Penn State. Under Joe Paterno's leadership, Penn State transformed
into a football powerhouse, celebrated not just for the team's
many victories, but also for the Nitney Lions commitment to
player education and community values. Coach Paterno pioneered the idea
that his players were a cohesive team as opposed to individuals.
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This is why the Nitney Lions football team are unique
in not having players names on the back of their jersey.
It's the name on the front of the jersey that
matters most, not the one on the back. Joe famously
equipped he was far more than just a coach to
his players. Joe Paterno was a pillar of Penn State's
success with honor mantra, which emphasized the importance of academics
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and moral integrity alongside athletic achievement. Under Joe's guidance, there
can be no doubt that Penn State recruited excellent football players,
but more importantly, Penn State gained young men committed to
their own growth and educational achievement. Success and excellence are
not the same, Joe would tell his Nitney Lions. Excellent
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grows within a person, is largely within that person's control,
and its meaning lasts. Success is measured externally by a
comparison to others, is often outside our control and is perishable. Perishable,
though success might be by investing his time and effort
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to develop well rounded, excellent players. Joe paternal led the
Nitney Lions to unprecedented achievement on the gridiron. The team
achieved four hundred and nine victories during his tenure, ranking
Joe Paterno the very top college coach measured by wins
of all time. Joe's Nitney Lions had undefeated regular seasons
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in nineteen sixty eight, nineteen sixty nine, and again in
nineteen seventy three. Plus they won two national championships in
nineteen eighty two and nineteen eighty six, establishing Penn State
as one of the leading campuses in the nation for football.
And incredibly, even though college football is extremely grueling to
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juggle alongside a heavy academic load, Joe Paterno's Grand experiment
program to turn his players into strong students worked. The
effectiveness of his philosophy was reflected in his player's high
graduation rates, which often serve passed the national average for
football programs. Andre Collins, a linebacker for the Nitney Lions
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in the nineteen eighties, was one of many players who
benefited from coach Joe Paterno's guidance. He was just electrifying.
Andre told journalist Frank Bernani of Town and Gown, there
was just something about Joe, something he ignited in you
that made you want to succeed. I think it was
the work ethic Joe instilled in us. You could come
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in acclaimed as a player and start at the bottom
and really have to scratch and claw and climb that mountain.
You didn't take anything for granted. Where you stand yesterday
doesn't mean that's where you will stand today. You have
to get up and earn it and live in this
moment and be willing to work for me. I just
couldn't wait to get down to the locker room every day,
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to be in a meeting room for one hundred and
forty players to hear what Joe's message of the day
was going to be. It was the little things Joe talked, literature,
to history, to so many different things. The way he
challenged you with his words. You just believe that if
you are willing to try and put in the work
to be prepared, you would have success. I clung to
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that those are powerful words coming from Andre Collins, a
remarkable athlete who went on to play in the NFL.
As for his actual coaching style, there can be no
denying that Joe Paterno never left behind the toughness that
he exhibited as a boy back at Brooklyn Prep. His
trademark thick rimmed glasses and rolled up khakis belied his
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intensely competitive nature. You have to perform at a consistently
higher level than others, Joe would say, that's the mark
of a true professional. By his own definition, Joe Paterno
was the ultimate professional when it came to coaching football.
His accolades racked up, including winning a record twenty four
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Bowl games, more than any other coach in history, and
meaning the first coach to reach the milestones of three hundred,
four hundred, and then five hundred games coached at one institution.
Off the gridiron, Joe was equally vital to Penn State.
He and his wife Sue donated millions of dollars to
the university, including funds for the construction of a new
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library and scholarships for students. They even established the Paternal
Family Foundation, a testament to their dedication to the community
they loved. Notably, the Paternal Family Foundation has supported cancer
research and raised millions of dollars for families afflicted by cancer.
Joe and his family positively impacted the entire region, earning
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widespread admiration for the Paternal name. When Joe Paterno retired
from Penn State in twenty eleven, he had coached there
consecutively for sixty two years. He was sewn into the
fabric of the school's history, and his passion for the
university had fueled the futures of countless men. Yet, despite
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all his countless positive contributions, Joe's exit from Penn State
was sullied. How and why did such a man end
an epic career under a cloud? Sometimes it only takes
one crack to fell a dam. Despite coach Paterno's unmatched leadership,
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a scandal was brewing smack in the heart of Happy Valley,
as the area surrounding Penn State has been dubbed since
the Great Depression era of the nineteen thirties. In Happy Valley,
serenity has been an historic cornerstone, a close knit, spirited community,
idealic campus life, and plenty of support for Penn State
athletics make for unsurpassed living conditions in this neck of
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the woods. Still, even in this incredible environment, darkness took hold,
and that darkness would forever change the image of Happy Valley,
shake the very foundations of Penn State and up in
the legacy of nationally reed coach Joe Paterno. In nineteen
sixty nine, just three years after Joe Paterno took over
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from Rip Engele as head coach of the Niitney Lyons,
Penn State hired Jerry Sandusky as an assistant coach. From
the outset, Jerry seemed like a promising addition to the
coaching staff. His background, much like Joe Paterno's, was extremely impressive.
Born on January twenty sixth, nineteen forty four, in a
metropolitan area outside Pittsburgh called Washington, PA, Jerry Sandusky grew
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up immersed in sports. His parents, Evelyn and Arthur, ran
a recreation center for children called Brownson House, which enabled
Jerry to routinely access sports equipment and facilities. Jerry's father, Arthur,
also founded the Pennsylvania junior wrestling program, managed the nineteen
fifty five Washington Pennsylvania baseball team, that won the Pony
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League World Series Championship and was inducted into the Pennsylvania
Sports Hall of Fame. In other words, Jerry Sandusky grew
up with supportive parents and under the guidance of a
naturally athletic father. No one was surprised when he flew
through Washington High School with flying colors and landed a
spot at prestigious Penn State. Jerry Sandusky's athleticism shone brightly
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at Penn State, where he played as a defensive end
under the leadership of coach Rip Engele and his up
and coming assistant Joe Paterno, there was nothing not to
like about Jerry Sandusky at this point. His accomplishments on
the gridiron were undeniable, and his academic diligence was impressive.
Jerry graduated first in his class in nineteen sixty six,
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and that's not all Jerry did. In nineteen sixty six,
he also married Dottie, a woman from his hometown. According
to The New York Times, Jerry first noticed Dotty while
she was singing a lot of Tennessee songs in the
summer of nineteen sixty five. She began dating Jerry after
his mother invited her to watch one of his softball games.
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The next summer, when Jerry was at a football training camp,
he penned his first love letter to her. You are
my fate, he wrote. The couple married months later in
the fall of nineteen sixty six, but there was an
early hurdle in their marriage. Dottie and I had many
goals in our lives, and one of them was clearly
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to start our own family, Jerry Sandusky wrote in his autobiography.
So when the couple learned that they could not produce
children of their own in nineteen sixty eight, they turned
to fostering and adoption. The very next year, in nineteen
sixty nine, Jerry and Dottie adopted the first of their
six children, E J. Sandusky. They would be foster parents
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to many more children. Theirs was a bustling household, and
by all accounts, the Sandusky seemed an ambitious and giving duo.
While Jerry was working hard for the Nitney Lion, Dottie
was holding down the ford at home. According to her
neighbor and longtime friend, Joyce Porter, Dotty is as sweet
as can be. She's a wonderful person, but with her
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children she was strict, moral and tough because when the
kids were little, it was a wild house. Sadly, the
Sandusky house was wilder than anyone could have imagined. At
the time, all eyes were on Jerry as sending the
ranks in his high profile job, building up his reputation
as a community leader. As a defensive line coach under
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Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky made his mark at his alma mater,
shaping the defensive strategies of the Nitney Lions and influencing
countless young athletes. Even Joe Paterno acknowledged Jerry's contributions publicly
saying in nineteen eighty two that Jerry has great teaching ability.
He has a gift for setting up the drills that
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would teach the kids to execute all the things we
asked them to do as linebackers. Jerry was particularly credited
for masterminding the linebacker you nickname that Penn State acquired,
owing to the string of successful linebackers that emerged from
the program during his tenure. The late seventies and early
eighties marked a golden era for Penn State football. With
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Jerry Sandusky at the heart of its defensive prowess. It
seemed that, much like Joepa, he was crafting a legacy
destined for greatness. But no matter how busy Jerry was
with Penn State football, he always made the nonprofity founded
in nineteen seventy seven, The Second Mile a priority. This
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organization purported to have a mission of helping troubled young
boys through foster care, placement, summer camps, and sports clinics.
With Jerry's affiliation, the Second Mile quickly became a well
regarded institution recognized for its significant impact on the community.
The nonprofit unsurprisingly shared a close connection with Penn State,
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given Jerry's dual roles within both organizations. Nitney Lyons games
often served as a platform for raising awareness about the
Second Miles mission, drawing attention from fans and alumni who
were eager to support community causes and the Second Mile.
Children frequently attended Penn State football games, receiving tickets and
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access to special events where they could meet players and coaches.
These experiences were not just thrilling for the young attendees,
they also reinforced the charity's image as a positive influence
in their lives, leveraging the appeal of college football. This
symbiotic relationship between the Second Mile and Penn State seemed beneficial.
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It was the perfect extension of Jerry Sandusky's commitment to
nurturing and developing young talent, aligning seamlessly with this coaching
persona at Penn State. But many experts have noted that
those who prey on children often find professions or volunte
year roles that put them in close contact with a
pool of victims in a way that perversely brings them
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public plaudits, and Jerry Sandusky was a predator. In nineteen
ninety eight, Jerry Sandusky faced his first public accusation of
child abuse, which unraveled the disturbing pattern of behavior previously
veiled by his community standing and charitable endeavors. Experts now
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call someone like him a pillar of the community offender
because they used their societal clout to obtain victims and
then shield themselves from accusations. After all, how could someone
like Jerry Sandusky, an inspiration, a philanthropist, a nice guy
harm a child. Jerry was banking on this general, all
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too standard response from the authorities and public as he
used the Second Mild Organization to sexually abuse children. It
was only after years of abusing children from nineteen ninety
four to nineteen ninety seven that a concerned mother finally
came forward. She contacted Pennsylvania State University Police after her
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eleven year old son returned from a workout session with
Jerry Sandusky. His hair was wet and his demeanor was altered.
Upon pressing her child for information about what had happened,
he revealed that Jerry had showered with him and bear
hugged him naked. According to Playing Dirty's experts, bear hugging
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is a common type of opening disclosure for an abused child.
This is because when children disclose abuse, they often talked
first about something relatively innocuous to see how a trusted
adult in their life reacts. Most adults react with horror,
which sends an unintended signal to the child that more
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information isn't welcome. This is one reason why the full
story of abuse is often suppressed by young victims. Ironically,
they fear being blamed, and this perpetuates the cycle because
authorities working with limited information are more likely to miss
opportunities to intervene and protect other children. This nineteen ninety
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eight incident flagging Jerry Sandusky as a potential threat to
children follow this tragic pattern. Penn State Police and the
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare investigated the incident, but they
certainly did not pursue the matter as intently as they
should have done. The investigation consisted of two campus police
detectives covertly monitoring conversations between the boy's mother and Jerry Sandusky.
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Officers heard Jerry tell the boy's mother he showered with
the boys often, but not in a sexual way. Also
in these monitored exchanges, Jerry Sandusky expressed remorse to the
boy's mother, saying I understand I was wrong. I wish
I could get from forgiveness. I know I won't get
it from you. I wish I was dead. Upon receipt
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of these recordings, a psychologist was brought in to assess
the threat posed by Jerry Sandusky's behavior. Alicia Chambers, a
Penn State psychologist, concluded in her nineteen ninety eight report
that Jerry's actions were overwhelmingly consistent with those of a pedophile.
She wrote that the way Jerry Sandusky got the eleven
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year old boy into the shower after a workout, telling
him all the guys do is consistent with grooming, which
is a pedophiles pattern of building trust and the gradual
introduction of physical touch within the context of a loving
and special relationship. Alicia Chambers assessment was provided to Penn
State Police Detective Ronald Schreffler with a cover letter that
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highlighted the gravity of the incidents. At this point, the
appropriate course of action would have been for legal authorities
to intervene and for Penn State to sever their ties
with Jerry Sandusky. Instead, the investigation into the allegations against
Jerry went totally off the rails. Inexplicably, A second psychologist,
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John Seaesock, was brought in to assess what had happened. Now.
John Seaesock should never have been a consulting psychologist because
he injected clear bias into the investigation, having previously worked
with Center County Child and Youth Services, the very same
local agency that it licensed Jerry Sandusky as a foster parent. Tragically,
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but not totally unsurprisingly, John Seesock listened to the recordings
and then interviewed the child who had showered with Jerry,
only to report finding no indications of child abuse. Absurdly,
John Seaesock also remarked in his report, but he'd never
heard of a fifty two year old becoming a pedophile.
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He concluded that Jerry Sandusky had neither assaulted the boy
in the shower nor fit the profile of a pedophile.
John Seesock failed to protect children due to a dereliction
of duty and for reputational reasons. It was easier to
support Jerry Sandusky than admit the Center County Child and
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Youth Services may have made a terrible error by empowering
a pedophile to become a foster parent. And once psychologist
John Seesock had provided a more positive assessment of Jerry Sandusky,
everyone clung to his take and buried Alicia Chamber's concerns.
From this point onward, the investigation process seems to have
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proceeded with the authorities wearing rose colored glasses. Jerry Sandusky
was interviewed by Jerry Laro, an investigator for the Pennsylvania
Department of Public Welfare, but glaring child safety issues were
being waved away. For example, Jerry admitted to hugging the
boy in the shower and showering with other boys, saying
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that he realized he used poor judgment in doing so.
To fix the situation. Jerry Sandusky told investigator Laurel that
he promised not to shower with any children again, and shockingly,
that promise, akin to a pinky swear, seemed to be
sufficient for the investigating officers. Also shocking was the fact that,
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despite the investigation by campus police producing an alarming report
about Jerry Sandusky spanning nearly one hundred pages, Ray Greecar,
the district attorney of Center County, decided not to press charges.
He concluded the evidence at hand didn't warrant criminal prosecution.
It was an extremely weird conclusion to draw for a
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prosecutor who was known for being especially meticulous. Why did
Ray Greecar close the case on Jerry Sandusky's so quickly?
According to Assistant Prosecutor Steve Sloane, on Ray's dictaphone for
October thirteenth, nineteen ninety eight, there is an hour long
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recording which indicates Ray had a meeting at the football
building in October, months after the case was closed. To
this day, Steve Sloane cannot explain why Ray Gricard would
have had that meeting. Even more bizarrely, Ray Gricard himself
went missing in two thousand and five, was his own
disappearance ultimately related to his dropping of the ball in
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the Jerry Sandusky case. No one knows for sure, but
the number of inexplicable decisions and happenings around Prosecutor Ray
Greecard certainly make for murky speculation, and his decision to
let Jerry Sandusky off the hook to continue to prey
on children unchecked was a catastrophic decision that cost others
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dearly years later, the handling of the nineteen ninety eight
incident by the police and Penn State University officials would
come under significant legal and public scrutiny. Critics, including lawyers
representing the victims, vehemently questioned the adequacy of the university's
response and the motivations behind their decisions. Howard Janet, an
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attorney for victim number six, released a statement blasting Penn
State for failing to act. Why was a second opinion
sought from someone with a connection to Jerry Sandusky? Why
were reports of inappropriate contact between Sandusky and young boys
on the Penn State campus and Penn State activities consistently ignored.
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Much of the evidence coming to light points to a
conspiracy of silence surrounding Jerry Sandusky's behavior at the expense
of children, he wrote, and the revelations in hindsight would
only become more appalling. For example, Thomas Harmon, the chief
of the university police department in the late nineteen nineties,
had kept key d Penn State officials informed about the
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Jerry Sandusky investigations. Progress Documents retrieved by the Special Investigation
Council showed that as early as May fourth, nineteen ninety eight,
Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz was aware of the
allegations against employee Jerry Sandusky. Subsequent communications on May fifth
between Gary Schultz, Athletic director Tim Curley, and university President
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Graham Spaniard further indicate their collective knowledge of the situation.
Yet the case against the Nitley Lions defensive coordinator was
conspicuously absent from the university crime lag and crucially, Penn
State's Office of Human Resources was never contacted about Jerry Sandusky,
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sidestepping the procedural norms for handling such incidents. Though it's
impossible to rationalize on behalf of others, all of this
sounds like white glove treatment for university sports legend and
community bigwig. In the words of Sports Illustrated circa nineteen
ninety nine quote, if Jerry Sandusky did not have such
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a human side on the gridiron sideline, there would be
a temptation around Happy Valley to canonize him. Sandusky leader
of linebackers, molder of men unquote. Those are big words,
and it seems that there just wasn't anyone willing to
throw their own reputation on the line to try and
take Jerry Sandusky out of play. While Sports Illustrated unwittingly
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painted a rosy image of Jerry Sandusky in nineteen ninety nine,
behind the scenes, his future wasn't quite so enshrined. In
May of nineteen ninety nine, Joe Paterno informed Jerry Sandusky
that he would never be the head coach for the
Nitney Lions. Now. Jerry Sandusky had turned down head coach
offers from Marshall Temple and the University of Maryland at
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this point in his career, believing that he'd one day
ascend to Joepau's position at Penn State. According to one
of his players, who was also one of his victims,
Jerry was emotionally upset after having a meeting with Joe
Perterno in which Joe told Jerry he would not be
the next head coach at Penn State. Jerry Sandusky told
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the player not to tell anyone about that meeting. On
the heels of that alleged conversation, Jerry Sandusky announced his
retirement in July of nineteen ninety nine. His resignation, which
was publicly attributed to his desire to spend more time
working with his nonprofit, was met with pomp and well
wishes by Penn State and the Happy Valley community at large.
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Vault reporter Jack McCallum described the fanfare, saying, Jerry Sandusky,
age fifty five, received a standing ovation from ninety six thousand,
four hundred and eighty fans on November thirteenth, nineteen ninety nine,
when he ran on to the Beaver Stadium side for
the last time as a Nitney Lions coach. Among the
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players who embraced him at midfield was his son, John,
a reserve defensive back. Among those cheering from the sidelines
was another son, Matt, a Penn State manager. What makes
this account of Jerry's last game as a Nitney Lions
coach so chilling, Besides the celebration of a man who
admittedly already been inappropriate with children. Is that years later,
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Matt Sandusky himself would come forward with horrifying accounts of
how his adoptive father sexually abused him from eight years
old onward. It must have been an impossible, gut wrenching
situation for Matt watching his abuser receive widespread applause. Oh, now,
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that is a sickening situation. And unbelievably, this already revolting
fiasco reached a new low when Penn State granted Jerry
Sandusky emeritus status. Emeritus is an honorary title granted to
someone who retires from a position of distinction, and in
Jerry's case, it even came with continued full access to
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the campus and Penn State football facilities, even after he'd
stepped down as defensive coordinator of the Nitney Lions, and
even after being accused of abusing a child on campus.
It was an astounding administrative decision by Penn State, and
one which would facilitate Jerry Sandusky's predatory behaviors for years
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to come, as he was able to continue bringing young
boys from his nonprofit The Second Mile into university facilities
for a while. The Jerry Sandusky circus quieted down. That
doesn't mean Jerry had stopped abusing boys. He was as
active as ever, allegedly showering with another young boy in
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two thousand and performing oral sex on still another youth
that same year, according to Jim Calhoun, a janitor at
the Lash football building on the Penn State campus who
copped to witnessing the act many years later. But in
two thousand, nothing happened despite Jerry's ongoing abuses because no
one reported the alleged incidents to university officials or law
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enforcement in real time. It's the age old George Berkeley
question in action. If a tree falls in a forest
and no one is around to hear it, does it
make a sound? Kids were being abused, but there was
a wall of silence around Jerry Sandusky's activities. So as
far as the public was concerned, their philanthropic former Nitney
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Lyons defensive coordinator was still a hero. They couldn't hear
his victims. Yet. On March second, two thousand and two,
the silence was finally broken by a critical incident. Mike mcquerie,
a graduate assistant in the football program at Penn State,
witnessed Jerry Sandusky engaging and a sex act with a
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young boy in the showers of the Penn State football
locker room. His description of what he saw and heard
would later come under tremendous scrutiny, but he was disturbed
enough by what had happened in the locker room to
come forward immediately. This was game changing. Mike McQuary reported
the incident to Nitney Lyon's head coach Joe Paterno that
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very same day, who in turn notified his superiors athletics
director Tim Curley and Vice president Gary Schultz. However, this
chain of reporting all the way up to Penn State
Vice president Gary Schultz still did not lead to any
immediate action against Jerry Sandusky. This is especially shocking since
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Mike McQuary would later tell a grand Jerry that what
he explicitly witnessed was Jerry Sandusky anally raping a young
boy in the shower. Now, one major issue at this
point in the scan was that coach Joe Paterno did
not convey that serious allegation of rape to his superiors. Rather,
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Joe Paterno merely reported that Mike McQuary saw some sort
of sexual activity between Jerry Sandusky and the boy. Mike
McQuary was called to the office of Joe Paterno's superiors.
Almost a decade later. Mike would insist to a grand
jury that he told Tim Curley and Gary Schultz exactly
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what he reported to Joe Paterno that Jerry Sandusky was
raping the boy in the shower, but the officials, Athletics
director Tim Curley and Vice president Gary Schultz later denied
receiving that information. Tim Curley actually told the grand jury
that his understanding from Mike McQuary had been that Jerry
Sandusky was just horsing around with the boy. What in
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any event. In two thousand and two, despite the overwhelming
concern that should have been raised by Mike mcquarie's account
of horrific child rape, the university officials decided not to
report the incident to outside authorities. Instead, they simply restricted
Jerry Sandusky's access to Penn State campus facilities. It was
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a watered down measure that would prove to be entirely ineffective.
Penn State utterly failed to protect the boy who had
been victimized by Jerry in their locker room showers, and
their administration's decision paved a way for countless other boys
to be abused. It was a shocking dereliction of duty
by entrusted education officials. Penn State's decision would later come
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under harsh inspection, raising questions about institutional responsibility and the
moral obligations of those in power at the university. Perhaps
because he had been built up as a leader of men,
nobody felt the public scrutiny more than Joe Paterno had
beloved Coach Paterno simply reported to Tim Curley and Gary
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Schultz and then forgotten about the incident. How could he
have failed to follow up on something so demanding of
urgent attention. After all, this was Joe Peterno who had
said success without honor is an unseasoned dish. It will
satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good. Surely nothing
could be less honorable than enabling a predator to abuse
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children unchecked. Over the next decade, Jerry Sandusky continued to
publicly engage in charitable work with a silence around the
previous allegations, allowing him to preserve his reputation, But behind
the scenes, multiple investigations began to take shape as more
victims started coming forward, finding the courage to report how
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Jerry Sandusky had abused them to law enforcement. By late
twenty eleven, the number of victims coming forward was so
overwhelming and their testimonies were so damning that Jerry Sandusky's
arrest was inevitable. And in the crosshairs was Joe Paterno,
the iconic figure whose six decades of leadership would be
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called into question after the extent of his knowledge and
responses to the allegations against Jerry Sandusky were reviewed. The
stage was set for a dramatic unraveling of Joe Pau's
revered legacy. The Happy Valley community and nation at large
waited anxiously as the case moved forward, anticipating how the
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unfolding events would impact Joe Perterno, once an untouchable pillar
of integrity and leadership in collegiate sports. Dirt is flying,
and oh how the mighty fall. Drink up cling your
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palette and join me Jay Harris to find out what
happened to Joe Pertno, Jerry Sandusky, and everyone else it's
involved in this sad scandal next week on Playing Dirty
Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is a production of
(40:18):
Dan Patrick Productions, Never Ever Productions and Workhouse Media from
executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panela, Maya Glickman,
and Jennifer Clary. Hosted by Jay Harris, Written and produced
by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clary,
Welcome back to playing dirty sports scandals. I'm Jay Harris,
a veteran ESPN sportscaster, and your brave barista, ready to
extract every drop of truth from sports darkest stories. Today
we're pressing deep into the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State.
This was a saga that undeniably squeezed the spirit of
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college football and left a dark stain on an otherwise
esteems university. I'm talking beetroot juice on a white linen
tablecloth level stain. So have a napkin close at hand,
brace yourself, and get ready to taste the complex mix
of betrayal and oversight that shook a world renowned campus
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to its core. Okay, now that we're good and hydrated,
let's dive into some history. Penn State University was founded
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in eighteen fifty five as the Farmers High School of Pennsylvania.
It's come a long way since then, and nowadays. Penn
State University is not your standard campus. It's an exceptional
institution that is consistently ranked in the top six percent
of the world universities, with an annual research expenditure of
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one point two three nine billion dollars billion, with a
b with top ten percent employment outcomes for its graduates
and with distinguished alumni including former Nike CEO Mark Parker,
Modern Family actor Tyverrell, and National Science Board member Stephen L. Mayo.
It's campus in University Park, Pennsylvania, boast one of the
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largest student bodies in the United States, and it has
an impressive athletic legacy to match. Known for its Nitney Lions,
Penn State is a powerhouse in college athletics, and its
crown jewel is football. Football is more than just a
game at Penn State. It's a cultural phenomenon, and at
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the very heart of this cultural phenomenon was Nitney Lyons
coach Joe Paterno, affectionately known as Jopah. Born on December
twenty first, nineteen twenty six in Brooklyn, New York. Joseph
Vincent Paterno was the son of Florence Caffieriro and Angelo Paterno,
a law clerk. Not Surprisingly, Angelo's legal background and principled
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beliefs led him to instill a strong sense of morality, justice, inclusion,
and commitment to education in his children, Joe and George. Notably,
Angelo was also a tolerant man who appreciated the challenge
of holding your head high even in the face of
blatant discrimination. In fact, Angelo's grandson Jay could regale the
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public with the values Angelo established for their family decades later, saying,
my grandfather Angelo Paterno worked all his life to increase
dialogue between people of different faiths and different races, and
his oldest son, my father, Joe Paterno, made those values
his core values. Joe Paterno's mother, Florence, was equally assured,
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teaching her son that when kids at school would call
him a guinea or a wop for being Italian, that
every knock is a boost. Joe's mother gave him self
esteem and inner confidence that formed a philosophy of personal excellence.
With such strong, positive parents, Joe Paterno had a rich
start to life. Indeed, even though his Flatbush Brooklyn upbringing
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was hardly adorned with materialistic excesses. Instead, Joe's parents encouraged
him to be active and in particular, to enrich his
body and mind through sports. Their guy and support undoubtedly
shaped his illustrious future. Joe excelled at Brooklyn Prep, a
highly selective Jesuit preparatory school. Both academically and athletically. He
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played quarterback on the football team and was known for
his tenacity. Jay Riley, who was a junior at Brooklyn
Prep when Joe Paterno was a wiry freshman, recalled Joe's
confidence during a scrimmage. I was playing center and came
out of the huddle to take the ball, and Joe
spat on it and looked up at me and said,
what are you going to do about it? He was
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a tough little kid. It was no small feat to
be a tough, multi disciplined standout at Brooklyn Prep, which
New York Times reporter Joseph Berger described as a hulking
stone and brick building that took in Irish and Italian
boys from working class in more upscale neighborhoods in Brooklyn
and on Long Island. Alumni remember Brooklyn Prep as the
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place that made boys strong, both mentally and physically. Robert S. Bennett,
class of nineteen fifty s and President Bill Clinton's personal
lawyer during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, said that Brooklyn Prep
had changed his life more than Georgetown and Harvard. Richard J.
Carter class of nineteen sixty four and attacks and a
state lawyer in Manhattan, described Brooklyn Prep as the hardest
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school he ever went to. I tell people that once
I got out of Brooklyn Prep, I felt I could
do anything, Richard Carter said, So you can imagine that
Joe paternal must have been an absolute star among a
top tier crowd of young men to earn a coveted
scholarship out of Brooklyn Prep to attend Brown University, financed
by the publisher Busy Arnold. Sadly, however, brightly Joe's light
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shone as he graduated high school, there was no denying
that he was living in dark times. World War II
was in its final year, and he was sent into
the Army before starting his Ivy League education at Brown
in nineteen forty six. Once the war ended, Joe Paterno
tore into his university education without missing a beat. He
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also continued to rise to the top athletically distinguishing himself
in both baseball and football. He played quarterback on offense
and cornerback on defense. This was called playing both ways,
and while it was more common back in those days,
Joe set records that stood for decades. Joe's sixty nine
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yard punt return for a touchdown beat Holy Cross in
Brown's eight for nine and forty nine season, and his
sixty four yard pass to Chuck Nelson was key to
Brown beating Harvard that same year. These achievements made him
a favorite of Brown Bears coach rip Ingele and demonstrated
Joe's neck for strategic play. After graduating from Brown University
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in nineteen fifty with a degree in English literature, Joe
considered law school and was even accepted at Boston University
Law School, which is routinely ranked in the top fifteen
percent of US law schools. He had a tactical mind
and the world was his oyster, but ultimately Joe's passion
for football was too great to ignore. When his college coach,
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rip Engele took the head coaching job at Penn State
and invited Joe to join him as an assistant, Joe
agreed to defer law school and take the role just
for a couple of years. A couple of years turned
into sixteen years, and when coach Engle retired in nineteen
sixty six, Joe became head coach of the Nitney Lions
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at Penn State. Under Joe Paterno's leadership, Penn State transformed
into a football powerhouse, celebrated not just for the team's
many victories, but also for the Nitney Lions commitment to
player education and community values. Coach Paterno pioneered the idea
that his players were a cohesive team as opposed to individuals.
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This is why the Nitney Lions football team are unique
in not having players names on the back of their jersey.
It's the name on the front of the jersey that
matters most, not the one on the back. Joe famously
equipped he was far more than just a coach to
his players. Joe Paterno was a pillar of Penn State's
success with honor mantra, which emphasized the importance of academics
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and moral integrity alongside athletic achievement. Under Joe's guidance, there
can be no doubt that Penn State recruited excellent football players,
but more importantly, Penn State gained young men committed to
their own growth and educational achievement. Success and excellence are
not the same, Joe would tell his Nitney Lions. Excellent
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grows within a person, is largely within that person's control,
and its meaning lasts. Success is measured externally by a
comparison to others, is often outside our control and is perishable. Perishable,
though success might be by investing his time and effort
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to develop well rounded, excellent players. Joe paternal led the
Nitney Lions to unprecedented achievement on the gridiron. The team
achieved four hundred and nine victories during his tenure, ranking
Joe Paterno the very top college coach measured by wins
of all time. Joe's Nitney Lions had undefeated regular seasons
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in nineteen sixty eight, nineteen sixty nine, and again in
nineteen seventy three. Plus they won two national championships in
nineteen eighty two and nineteen eighty six, establishing Penn State
as one of the leading campuses in the nation for football.
And incredibly, even though college football is extremely grueling to
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juggle alongside a heavy academic load, Joe Paterno's Grand experiment
program to turn his players into strong students worked. The
effectiveness of his philosophy was reflected in his player's high
graduation rates, which often serve passed the national average for
football programs. Andre Collins, a linebacker for the Nitney Lions
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in the nineteen eighties, was one of many players who
benefited from coach Joe Paterno's guidance. He was just electrifying.
Andre told journalist Frank Bernani of Town and Gown, there
was just something about Joe, something he ignited in you
that made you want to succeed. I think it was
the work ethic Joe instilled in us. You could come
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in acclaimed as a player and start at the bottom
and really have to scratch and claw and climb that mountain.
You didn't take anything for granted. Where you stand yesterday
doesn't mean that's where you will stand today. You have
to get up and earn it and live in this
moment and be willing to work for me. I just
couldn't wait to get down to the locker room every day,
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to be in a meeting room for one hundred and
forty players to hear what Joe's message of the day
was going to be. It was the little things Joe talked, literature,
to history, to so many different things. The way he
challenged you with his words. You just believe that if
you are willing to try and put in the work
to be prepared, you would have success. I clung to
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that those are powerful words coming from Andre Collins, a
remarkable athlete who went on to play in the NFL.
As for his actual coaching style, there can be no
denying that Joe Paterno never left behind the toughness that
he exhibited as a boy back at Brooklyn Prep. His
trademark thick rimmed glasses and rolled up khakis belied his
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intensely competitive nature. You have to perform at a consistently
higher level than others, Joe would say, that's the mark
of a true professional. By his own definition, Joe Paterno
was the ultimate professional when it came to coaching football.
His accolades racked up, including winning a record twenty four
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Bowl games, more than any other coach in history, and
meaning the first coach to reach the milestones of three hundred,
four hundred, and then five hundred games coached at one institution.
Off the gridiron, Joe was equally vital to Penn State.
He and his wife Sue donated millions of dollars to
the university, including funds for the construction of a new
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library and scholarships for students. They even established the Paternal
Family Foundation, a testament to their dedication to the community
they loved. Notably, the Paternal Family Foundation has supported cancer
research and raised millions of dollars for families afflicted by cancer.
Joe and his family positively impacted the entire region, earning
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widespread admiration for the Paternal name. When Joe Paterno retired
from Penn State in twenty eleven, he had coached there
consecutively for sixty two years. He was sewn into the
fabric of the school's history, and his passion for the
university had fueled the futures of countless men. Yet, despite
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all his countless positive contributions, Joe's exit from Penn State
was sullied. How and why did such a man end
an epic career under a cloud? Sometimes it only takes
one crack to fell a dam. Despite coach Paterno's unmatched leadership,
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a scandal was brewing smack in the heart of Happy Valley,
as the area surrounding Penn State has been dubbed since
the Great Depression era of the nineteen thirties. In Happy Valley,
serenity has been an historic cornerstone, a close knit, spirited community,
idealic campus life, and plenty of support for Penn State
athletics make for unsurpassed living conditions in this neck of
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the woods. Still, even in this incredible environment, darkness took hold,
and that darkness would forever change the image of Happy Valley,
shake the very foundations of Penn State and up in
the legacy of nationally reed coach Joe Paterno. In nineteen
sixty nine, just three years after Joe Paterno took over
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from Rip Engele as head coach of the Niitney Lyons,
Penn State hired Jerry Sandusky as an assistant coach. From
the outset, Jerry seemed like a promising addition to the
coaching staff. His background, much like Joe Paterno's, was extremely impressive.
Born on January twenty sixth, nineteen forty four, in a
metropolitan area outside Pittsburgh called Washington, PA, Jerry Sandusky grew
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up immersed in sports. His parents, Evelyn and Arthur, ran
a recreation center for children called Brownson House, which enabled
Jerry to routinely access sports equipment and facilities. Jerry's father, Arthur,
also founded the Pennsylvania junior wrestling program, managed the nineteen
fifty five Washington Pennsylvania baseball team, that won the Pony
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League World Series Championship and was inducted into the Pennsylvania
Sports Hall of Fame. In other words, Jerry Sandusky grew
up with supportive parents and under the guidance of a
naturally athletic father. No one was surprised when he flew
through Washington High School with flying colors and landed a
spot at prestigious Penn State. Jerry Sandusky's athleticism shone brightly
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at Penn State, where he played as a defensive end
under the leadership of coach Rip Engele and his up
and coming assistant Joe Paterno, there was nothing not to
like about Jerry Sandusky at this point. His accomplishments on
the gridiron were undeniable, and his academic diligence was impressive.
Jerry graduated first in his class in nineteen sixty six,
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and that's not all Jerry did. In nineteen sixty six,
he also married Dottie, a woman from his hometown. According
to The New York Times, Jerry first noticed Dotty while
she was singing a lot of Tennessee songs in the
summer of nineteen sixty five. She began dating Jerry after
his mother invited her to watch one of his softball games.
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The next summer, when Jerry was at a football training camp,
he penned his first love letter to her. You are
my fate, he wrote. The couple married months later in
the fall of nineteen sixty six, but there was an
early hurdle in their marriage. Dottie and I had many
goals in our lives, and one of them was clearly
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to start our own family, Jerry Sandusky wrote in his autobiography.
So when the couple learned that they could not produce
children of their own in nineteen sixty eight, they turned
to fostering and adoption. The very next year, in nineteen
sixty nine, Jerry and Dottie adopted the first of their
six children, E J. Sandusky. They would be foster parents
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to many more children. Theirs was a bustling household, and
by all accounts, the Sandusky seemed an ambitious and giving duo.
While Jerry was working hard for the Nitney Lion, Dottie
was holding down the ford at home. According to her
neighbor and longtime friend, Joyce Porter, Dotty is as sweet
as can be. She's a wonderful person, but with her
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children she was strict, moral and tough because when the
kids were little, it was a wild house. Sadly, the
Sandusky house was wilder than anyone could have imagined. At
the time, all eyes were on Jerry as sending the
ranks in his high profile job, building up his reputation
as a community leader. As a defensive line coach under
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Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky made his mark at his alma mater,
shaping the defensive strategies of the Nitney Lions and influencing
countless young athletes. Even Joe Paterno acknowledged Jerry's contributions publicly
saying in nineteen eighty two that Jerry has great teaching ability.
He has a gift for setting up the drills that
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would teach the kids to execute all the things we
asked them to do as linebackers. Jerry was particularly credited
for masterminding the linebacker you nickname that Penn State acquired,
owing to the string of successful linebackers that emerged from
the program during his tenure. The late seventies and early
eighties marked a golden era for Penn State football. With
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Jerry Sandusky at the heart of its defensive prowess. It
seemed that, much like Joepa, he was crafting a legacy
destined for greatness. But no matter how busy Jerry was
with Penn State football, he always made the nonprofity founded
in nineteen seventy seven, The Second Mile a priority. This
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organization purported to have a mission of helping troubled young
boys through foster care, placement, summer camps, and sports clinics.
With Jerry's affiliation, the Second Mile quickly became a well
regarded institution recognized for its significant impact on the community.
The nonprofit unsurprisingly shared a close connection with Penn State,
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given Jerry's dual roles within both organizations. Nitney Lyons games
often served as a platform for raising awareness about the
Second Miles mission, drawing attention from fans and alumni who
were eager to support community causes and the Second Mile.
Children frequently attended Penn State football games, receiving tickets and
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access to special events where they could meet players and coaches.
These experiences were not just thrilling for the young attendees,
they also reinforced the charity's image as a positive influence
in their lives, leveraging the appeal of college football. This
symbiotic relationship between the Second Mile and Penn State seemed beneficial.
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It was the perfect extension of Jerry Sandusky's commitment to
nurturing and developing young talent, aligning seamlessly with this coaching
persona at Penn State. But many experts have noted that
those who prey on children often find professions or volunte
year roles that put them in close contact with a
pool of victims in a way that perversely brings them
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public plaudits, and Jerry Sandusky was a predator. In nineteen
ninety eight, Jerry Sandusky faced his first public accusation of
child abuse, which unraveled the disturbing pattern of behavior previously
veiled by his community standing and charitable endeavors. Experts now
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call someone like him a pillar of the community offender
because they used their societal clout to obtain victims and
then shield themselves from accusations. After all, how could someone
like Jerry Sandusky, an inspiration, a philanthropist, a nice guy
harm a child. Jerry was banking on this general, all
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too standard response from the authorities and public as he
used the Second Mild Organization to sexually abuse children. It
was only after years of abusing children from nineteen ninety
four to nineteen ninety seven that a concerned mother finally
came forward. She contacted Pennsylvania State University Police after her
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eleven year old son returned from a workout session with
Jerry Sandusky. His hair was wet and his demeanor was altered.
Upon pressing her child for information about what had happened,
he revealed that Jerry had showered with him and bear
hugged him naked. According to Playing Dirty's experts, bear hugging
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is a common type of opening disclosure for an abused child.
This is because when children disclose abuse, they often talked
first about something relatively innocuous to see how a trusted
adult in their life reacts. Most adults react with horror,
which sends an unintended signal to the child that more
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information isn't welcome. This is one reason why the full
story of abuse is often suppressed by young victims. Ironically,
they fear being blamed, and this perpetuates the cycle because
authorities working with limited information are more likely to miss
opportunities to intervene and protect other children. This nineteen ninety
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eight incident flagging Jerry Sandusky as a potential threat to
children follow this tragic pattern. Penn State Police and the
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare investigated the incident, but they
certainly did not pursue the matter as intently as they
should have done. The investigation consisted of two campus police
detectives covertly monitoring conversations between the boy's mother and Jerry Sandusky.
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Officers heard Jerry tell the boy's mother he showered with
the boys often, but not in a sexual way. Also
in these monitored exchanges, Jerry Sandusky expressed remorse to the
boy's mother, saying I understand I was wrong. I wish
I could get from forgiveness. I know I won't get
it from you. I wish I was dead. Upon receipt
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of these recordings, a psychologist was brought in to assess
the threat posed by Jerry Sandusky's behavior. Alicia Chambers, a
Penn State psychologist, concluded in her nineteen ninety eight report
that Jerry's actions were overwhelmingly consistent with those of a pedophile.
She wrote that the way Jerry Sandusky got the eleven
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year old boy into the shower after a workout, telling
him all the guys do is consistent with grooming, which
is a pedophiles pattern of building trust and the gradual
introduction of physical touch within the context of a loving
and special relationship. Alicia Chambers assessment was provided to Penn
State Police Detective Ronald Schreffler with a cover letter that
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highlighted the gravity of the incidents. At this point, the
appropriate course of action would have been for legal authorities
to intervene and for Penn State to sever their ties
with Jerry Sandusky. Instead, the investigation into the allegations against
Jerry went totally off the rails. Inexplicably, A second psychologist,
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John Seaesock, was brought in to assess what had happened. Now.
John Seaesock should never have been a consulting psychologist because
he injected clear bias into the investigation, having previously worked
with Center County Child and Youth Services, the very same
local agency that it licensed Jerry Sandusky as a foster parent. Tragically,
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but not totally unsurprisingly, John Seesock listened to the recordings
and then interviewed the child who had showered with Jerry,
only to report finding no indications of child abuse. Absurdly,
John Seaesock also remarked in his report, but he'd never
heard of a fifty two year old becoming a pedophile.
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He concluded that Jerry Sandusky had neither assaulted the boy
in the shower nor fit the profile of a pedophile.
John Seesock failed to protect children due to a dereliction
of duty and for reputational reasons. It was easier to
support Jerry Sandusky than admit the Center County Child and
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Youth Services may have made a terrible error by empowering
a pedophile to become a foster parent. And once psychologist
John Seesock had provided a more positive assessment of Jerry Sandusky,
everyone clung to his take and buried Alicia Chamber's concerns.
From this point onward, the investigation process seems to have
(25:45):
proceeded with the authorities wearing rose colored glasses. Jerry Sandusky
was interviewed by Jerry Laro, an investigator for the Pennsylvania
Department of Public Welfare, but glaring child safety issues were
being waved away. For example, Jerry admitted to hugging the
boy in the shower and showering with other boys, saying
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that he realized he used poor judgment in doing so.
To fix the situation. Jerry Sandusky told investigator Laurel that
he promised not to shower with any children again, and shockingly,
that promise, akin to a pinky swear, seemed to be
sufficient for the investigating officers. Also shocking was the fact that,
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despite the investigation by campus police producing an alarming report
about Jerry Sandusky spanning nearly one hundred pages, Ray Greecar,
the district attorney of Center County, decided not to press charges.
He concluded the evidence at hand didn't warrant criminal prosecution.
It was an extremely weird conclusion to draw for a
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prosecutor who was known for being especially meticulous. Why did
Ray Greecar close the case on Jerry Sandusky's so quickly?
According to Assistant Prosecutor Steve Sloane, on Ray's dictaphone for
October thirteenth, nineteen ninety eight, there is an hour long
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recording which indicates Ray had a meeting at the football
building in October, months after the case was closed. To
this day, Steve Sloane cannot explain why Ray Gricard would
have had that meeting. Even more bizarrely, Ray Gricard himself
went missing in two thousand and five, was his own
disappearance ultimately related to his dropping of the ball in
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the Jerry Sandusky case. No one knows for sure, but
the number of inexplicable decisions and happenings around Prosecutor Ray
Greecard certainly make for murky speculation, and his decision to
let Jerry Sandusky off the hook to continue to prey
on children unchecked was a catastrophic decision that cost others
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dearly years later, the handling of the nineteen ninety eight
incident by the police and Penn State University officials would
come under significant legal and public scrutiny. Critics, including lawyers
representing the victims, vehemently questioned the adequacy of the university's
response and the motivations behind their decisions. Howard Janet, an
(28:18):
attorney for victim number six, released a statement blasting Penn
State for failing to act. Why was a second opinion
sought from someone with a connection to Jerry Sandusky? Why
were reports of inappropriate contact between Sandusky and young boys
on the Penn State campus and Penn State activities consistently ignored.
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Much of the evidence coming to light points to a
conspiracy of silence surrounding Jerry Sandusky's behavior at the expense
of children, he wrote, and the revelations in hindsight would
only become more appalling. For example, Thomas Harmon, the chief
of the university police department in the late nineteen nineties,
had kept key d Penn State officials informed about the
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Jerry Sandusky investigations. Progress Documents retrieved by the Special Investigation
Council showed that as early as May fourth, nineteen ninety eight,
Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz was aware of the
allegations against employee Jerry Sandusky. Subsequent communications on May fifth
between Gary Schultz, Athletic director Tim Curley, and university President
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Graham Spaniard further indicate their collective knowledge of the situation.
Yet the case against the Nitley Lions defensive coordinator was
conspicuously absent from the university crime lag and crucially, Penn
State's Office of Human Resources was never contacted about Jerry Sandusky,
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sidestepping the procedural norms for handling such incidents. Though it's
impossible to rationalize on behalf of others, all of this
sounds like white glove treatment for university sports legend and
community bigwig. In the words of Sports Illustrated circa nineteen
ninety nine quote, if Jerry Sandusky did not have such
(30:08):
a human side on the gridiron sideline, there would be
a temptation around Happy Valley to canonize him. Sandusky leader
of linebackers, molder of men unquote. Those are big words,
and it seems that there just wasn't anyone willing to
throw their own reputation on the line to try and
take Jerry Sandusky out of play. While Sports Illustrated unwittingly
(30:32):
painted a rosy image of Jerry Sandusky in nineteen ninety nine,
behind the scenes, his future wasn't quite so enshrined. In
May of nineteen ninety nine, Joe Paterno informed Jerry Sandusky
that he would never be the head coach for the
Nitney Lions. Now. Jerry Sandusky had turned down head coach
offers from Marshall Temple and the University of Maryland at
(30:55):
this point in his career, believing that he'd one day
ascend to Joepau's position at Penn State. According to one
of his players, who was also one of his victims,
Jerry was emotionally upset after having a meeting with Joe
Perterno in which Joe told Jerry he would not be
the next head coach at Penn State. Jerry Sandusky told
(31:16):
the player not to tell anyone about that meeting. On
the heels of that alleged conversation, Jerry Sandusky announced his
retirement in July of nineteen ninety nine. His resignation, which
was publicly attributed to his desire to spend more time
working with his nonprofit, was met with pomp and well
wishes by Penn State and the Happy Valley community at large.
(31:39):
Vault reporter Jack McCallum described the fanfare, saying, Jerry Sandusky,
age fifty five, received a standing ovation from ninety six thousand,
four hundred and eighty fans on November thirteenth, nineteen ninety nine,
when he ran on to the Beaver Stadium side for
the last time as a Nitney Lions coach. Among the
(32:00):
players who embraced him at midfield was his son, John,
a reserve defensive back. Among those cheering from the sidelines
was another son, Matt, a Penn State manager. What makes
this account of Jerry's last game as a Nitney Lions
coach so chilling, Besides the celebration of a man who
admittedly already been inappropriate with children. Is that years later,
(32:23):
Matt Sandusky himself would come forward with horrifying accounts of
how his adoptive father sexually abused him from eight years
old onward. It must have been an impossible, gut wrenching
situation for Matt watching his abuser receive widespread applause. Oh, now,
(32:46):
that is a sickening situation. And unbelievably, this already revolting
fiasco reached a new low when Penn State granted Jerry
Sandusky emeritus status. Emeritus is an honorary title granted to
someone who retires from a position of distinction, and in
Jerry's case, it even came with continued full access to
(33:10):
the campus and Penn State football facilities, even after he'd
stepped down as defensive coordinator of the Nitney Lions, and
even after being accused of abusing a child on campus.
It was an astounding administrative decision by Penn State, and
one which would facilitate Jerry Sandusky's predatory behaviors for years
(33:32):
to come, as he was able to continue bringing young
boys from his nonprofit The Second Mile into university facilities
for a while. The Jerry Sandusky circus quieted down. That
doesn't mean Jerry had stopped abusing boys. He was as
active as ever, allegedly showering with another young boy in
(33:52):
two thousand and performing oral sex on still another youth
that same year, according to Jim Calhoun, a janitor at
the Lash football building on the Penn State campus who
copped to witnessing the act many years later. But in
two thousand, nothing happened despite Jerry's ongoing abuses because no
one reported the alleged incidents to university officials or law
(34:16):
enforcement in real time. It's the age old George Berkeley
question in action. If a tree falls in a forest
and no one is around to hear it, does it
make a sound? Kids were being abused, but there was
a wall of silence around Jerry Sandusky's activities. So as
far as the public was concerned, their philanthropic former Nitney
(34:38):
Lyons defensive coordinator was still a hero. They couldn't hear
his victims. Yet. On March second, two thousand and two,
the silence was finally broken by a critical incident. Mike mcquerie,
a graduate assistant in the football program at Penn State,
witnessed Jerry Sandusky engaging and a sex act with a
(35:01):
young boy in the showers of the Penn State football
locker room. His description of what he saw and heard
would later come under tremendous scrutiny, but he was disturbed
enough by what had happened in the locker room to
come forward immediately. This was game changing. Mike McQuary reported
the incident to Nitney Lyon's head coach Joe Paterno that
(35:23):
very same day, who in turn notified his superiors athletics
director Tim Curley and Vice president Gary Schultz. However, this
chain of reporting all the way up to Penn State
Vice president Gary Schultz still did not lead to any
immediate action against Jerry Sandusky. This is especially shocking since
(35:47):
Mike McQuary would later tell a grand Jerry that what
he explicitly witnessed was Jerry Sandusky anally raping a young
boy in the shower. Now, one major issue at this
point in the scan was that coach Joe Paterno did
not convey that serious allegation of rape to his superiors. Rather,
(36:07):
Joe Paterno merely reported that Mike McQuary saw some sort
of sexual activity between Jerry Sandusky and the boy. Mike
McQuary was called to the office of Joe Paterno's superiors.
Almost a decade later. Mike would insist to a grand
jury that he told Tim Curley and Gary Schultz exactly
(36:28):
what he reported to Joe Paterno that Jerry Sandusky was
raping the boy in the shower, but the officials, Athletics
director Tim Curley and Vice president Gary Schultz later denied
receiving that information. Tim Curley actually told the grand jury
that his understanding from Mike McQuary had been that Jerry
Sandusky was just horsing around with the boy. What in
(36:54):
any event. In two thousand and two, despite the overwhelming
concern that should have been raised by Mike mcquarie's account
of horrific child rape, the university officials decided not to
report the incident to outside authorities. Instead, they simply restricted
Jerry Sandusky's access to Penn State campus facilities. It was
(37:16):
a watered down measure that would prove to be entirely ineffective.
Penn State utterly failed to protect the boy who had
been victimized by Jerry in their locker room showers, and
their administration's decision paved a way for countless other boys
to be abused. It was a shocking dereliction of duty
by entrusted education officials. Penn State's decision would later come
(37:39):
under harsh inspection, raising questions about institutional responsibility and the
moral obligations of those in power at the university. Perhaps
because he had been built up as a leader of men,
nobody felt the public scrutiny more than Joe Paterno had
beloved Coach Paterno simply reported to Tim Curley and Gary
(38:00):
Schultz and then forgotten about the incident. How could he
have failed to follow up on something so demanding of
urgent attention. After all, this was Joe Peterno who had
said success without honor is an unseasoned dish. It will
satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good. Surely nothing
could be less honorable than enabling a predator to abuse
(38:23):
children unchecked. Over the next decade, Jerry Sandusky continued to
publicly engage in charitable work with a silence around the
previous allegations, allowing him to preserve his reputation, But behind
the scenes, multiple investigations began to take shape as more
victims started coming forward, finding the courage to report how
(38:47):
Jerry Sandusky had abused them to law enforcement. By late
twenty eleven, the number of victims coming forward was so
overwhelming and their testimonies were so damning that Jerry Sandusky's
arrest was inevitable. And in the crosshairs was Joe Paterno,
the iconic figure whose six decades of leadership would be
(39:09):
called into question after the extent of his knowledge and
responses to the allegations against Jerry Sandusky were reviewed. The
stage was set for a dramatic unraveling of Joe Pau's
revered legacy. The Happy Valley community and nation at large
waited anxiously as the case moved forward, anticipating how the
(39:31):
unfolding events would impact Joe Perterno, once an untouchable pillar
of integrity and leadership in collegiate sports. Dirt is flying,
and oh how the mighty fall. Drink up cling your
(39:53):
palette and join me Jay Harris to find out what
happened to Joe Pertno, Jerry Sandusky, and everyone else it's
involved in this sad scandal next week on Playing Dirty
Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is a production of
(40:18):
Dan Patrick Productions, Never Ever Productions and Workhouse Media from
executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panela, Maya Glickman,
and Jennifer Clary. Hosted by Jay Harris, Written and produced
by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clary,
Host
Jay Harris
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