A letter written by Joe Paterno about the scandal was released Wednesday. Vote in the NEWS POLL.
View full sizeFormer FBI Director Louis Freeh is set to issue his report today on Penn State's handling of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Sandsuky, top center, is seen here shortly after he was convicted on 45 counts of sexually assaulting 10 boys. On the bottom, from left, late Penn State coach Joe Paterno; former Penn State vice president Gary Schultz; former athletic director Tim Curley; and former Penn State president Graham Spanier.In the letter, written shortly before his death and confirmed as legitimate by his family, Paterno rejected the notion that Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of boys amounted to a “football scandal” or in any way tarnished the accomplishments of his players or Penn State’s reputation as a whole.
The results of Penn State’s internal investigation into the Sandusky scandal are set to be released today in a report that should answer many of the troubling questions swirling around one of the worst scandals in sports history.
A team led by former federal judge and FBI ex-director Louis Freeh interviewed hundreds of people to learn how the university responded to warning signs that its once-revered former assistant football coach — a man who helped Paterno win two national titles for a university that touted “success with honor” — was a serial child molester.
Sandusky was convicted on 45 criminal counts last month at a trial that included gut-wrenching testimony from eight young men who said he abused them as boys. By contrast, the Freeh report, to be released online at 9 this morning, will focus on Penn State and what it did — or didn’t do — to protect children.
Local feelings mixed
Local residents with ties to Penn State were divided Wednesday on how closely they’ll watch the release of the Freeh report.
“I think like everybody else, I’m kind of on pins and needles waiting,” said Easton attorney and Penn State alum Josh Fulmer, who ran unsuccessfully for a university trustee seat earlier this year. “It seems to me like it’s going to come out blasting anyone and everyone that had any involvement in the process, from the (board of trustees and) the governor to the administration to Paterno.”
Fulmer said he’d seen a leak of the report saying it would condemn everyone involved in the scandal.
“I hope everybody who was responsible ends up being held responsible,” Fulmer said. “Joe recognized his responsibility, I hope that everybody else who is labeled in this report also steps up and accepts responsibility.”
Hunterdon County resident Gene Haplea, whose son, Kevin, is a Nittany Lions tight end, said he has steered clear of news related to Sandusky and doesn’t know what to expect from investigators.
“I’m moving beyond the whole situation and trying to get back to some sort of normal routine with the kids and the football program and what they’re working on over the summer — all of what our family is actually involved with,” he said.
Janel DeGerolamo, a Notre Dame High School graduate at Penn State, said she plans to read the entire report and believes it will play a big role in her senior year. But to her, Penn State is much more than the scandal that erupted with Sandusky’s arrest eight months ago.
“It’s hard, because I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring,” the Palmer Township resident said Wednesday. “Tonight, I go to sleep a proud Penn Stater. Tomorrow, I’ll still be a proud Penn Stater, but I’ll have to handle whatever this brings.”
Unanswered questions
It remains unclear how top university officials handled reports dating back at least 14 years that Sandusky was behaving inappropriately with boys he met through his charity, bringing them on campus and forcing them into sex acts.
The Freeh report is expected to delve deeply into the handling of a 2001 report from Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant who told Paterno he had seen Sandusky with a young boy in the football team shower. Paterno, in turn, alerted athletic director Tim Curley, who investigated the report along with Gary Schultz, a university vice president who oversaw the campus police department. Curley and Schultz ultimately decided not to alert law enforcement or child welfare authorities.
Curley, who’s on leave, and the now-retired Schultz, a Nazareth native, are awaiting trial on charges they lied to a grand jury investigating Sandusky and failed to report the McQueary complaint to civil authorities as required.
Among those who will be scouring the Freeh report are school officials trying to repair Penn State’s shattered reputation and ex-players and alumni who remain outraged over Paterno’s ouster in the wake of Sandusky’s arrest. The Hall of Fame coach died from lung cancer in January, two months after school trustees fired him for what they called a failure of leadership.
The Paterno family said the letter that surfaced for the first time Wednesday was given in draft form to a few former players around December. One of the ex-players circulated it to other former players on Wednesday, and it was posted on the website FightonState.com, which covers the team.
“Over and over again, I have heard Penn State officials decrying the influence of football and have heard such ignorant comments like Penn State will no longer be a ‘football factory’ and we are going to ‘start’ focusing on integrity in athletics,” Paterno wrote. “These statements are simply unsupported by the five decades of evidence to the contrary — and succeed only in unfairly besmirching both a great university and the players and alumni of the football program who have given of themselves to help make it great.”
Paterno also wrote, “This is not a football scandal and should not be treated as one.”
Russell J. Flanagan intern Sarah Peters contributed to this report.
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RELEASING THE REPORT
Check lehighvalleylive.com for coverage and local reaction on today’s release of former federal judge and FBI ex-director Louis Freeh’s report on Penn State University’s handling of allegations that led to the conviction of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
The release is scheduled 9 a.m. at TheFreehReportonPSU.com. Pennsylvania Cable Network plans to carry live coverage of a 10 a.m. news conference.