Remember the horrific case of Joe Paterno from a few years ago? He was once known as the most successful coach in major college football at Penn State University, but suffered a tremendous blow in his reputation when it was discovered that Jerry Sandusky, his assistant coach, had been sexually abusing children for decades. While Sandusky was sentenced in 2012 to serve 30 to 60 years in prison, Paterno was fired and has been unable to regain the respect he lost, well after his death in January 2012. According to new allegations, Paterno was aware of Sandusky’s sexual abuse since 1976—more than 30 years before the abuse came to light.
In the midst of the insurance lawsuit against Penn State, a line in the court order claims that, “in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU’s Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky.” Before this, the earliest knowledge of Sandusky’s abuse goes back to 1988.
If Paterno knew about Sandusky’s conduct, why did he stay quiet? According to CNN, “At least 30 men were involved in a civil settlement with Penn State, and the number of victims could be even higher.” The abuse went on for decades and the high number of children that were sexually molested by Sandusky could’ve been lower had action been taken from the start. Paterno’s family and attorney insist he had nothing to do with a cover-up, but this new piece of information adds to quite a bit of evidence that seems to prove otherwise.