Nov 9, 2011 By Josh Krysak heraldstandard.Com 5 min read

When I was a much younger and a much greener reporter in the spring of 2004, I had the opportunity to interview legendary Penn State college football coach Joe Paterno when he stopped in Fayette County as the guest speaker at a Boy Scouts of America event.

The famous grizzled visage I had watched on television pacing the sidelines in Happy Valley — thick, yellowing glasses and parted gray-black hair — put his arm around my shoulders and talked to me about his years in coaching, the need to live a life of character and the importance of providing opportunities for young people to flourish and achieve success.

I was won over by his candor and his subtle gravitas. At one point during the interview, “JoePa” even grabbed me by the bicep and said I should have come to Penn State to study journalism because I would have made a nice addition to his vaunted linebacking corps on his defensive unit. I didn’t forget that moment. I liked Joe Paterno.

Flash forward more than seven years and I am a little wiser and all the green has fallen away, but I still held my meeting with arguably the most famous college football coach in history as one of my favorite interviews in my career and continued to look upon the frail, yet stubborn icon with a young man’s naivete.

I wasn’t a Penn State alum, but I defended Paterno, two-time national champion and winner of nearly two dozen bowl games, like an apologist as he continued to stalk the sidelines and even after his age and health recently relegated him to the press box as a throwback to an era of toughness and honor.

Then on Saturday, former Penn State football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, a Washington County native, was indicted on more than 40 counts for allegedly sexually assaulting eight young boys over a 15-year period.

The news was stunning and even as reports indicated that Paterno was not directly linked to the scandal and was not a suspect, my stomach began to sour.

I tracked down the indictment and read the findings of the grand jury for myself.

The charges are horrifying.

The gist is this: Sandusky, 67, who coached for decades alongside Paterno, founded a foster home for boys in 1977 called The Second Mile in an attempt to help troubled youth.

The indictment alleges that eight boys, all between the ages of eight and 13, beginning in the 90s, were sexually abused by Sandusky who befriended them, lavished them with gifts and perks and then used his influence to sexually assault them.

The specifics of the alleged incidents are too disturbing to delve into here, but one of the more heinous of the alleged incidents occurred in 2002. That incident, which involved the sexual assault of a 10-year-old boy in the showers of the football building at Penn State, was witnessed and reported to Paterno by then graduate assistant and now assistant football coach Mike McQueary.

Paterno in turn reported the incident to his superior, Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley, who assured the coach he would look into the matter further.

In addition to Sandusky, Curley and Gary Schultz, the senior vice president of finance and business at PSU, were each charged in the indictment with perjury and failure to notify police of the allegations against Sandusky.

One of Shultz’s duties is to oversee the university police department.

The university announced Monday that both men have stepped down.

The indictment alleges that the incident that Paterno reported to Curley in 2002 was never properly investigated, that police were never informed, that the identity of the youth was never sought and that children and youth services were not notified.

 

Additionally, Sandusky, who officials were aware was identified as a suspect in a similar incident that was investigated in 1998 and whom had retired from the coaching staff in 1999, was still permitted access to the remainder of the football department after the alleged incident in 2002 and was also allowed to continue to bring young boys from his Second Mile program to school functions and outings with him.

The 23-page indictment doesn’t place blame directly on Paterno, and the state Attorney General’s office has specifically said that he cooperated with their investigation and is not a suspect. However, the rapidly spreading darkness from this unfolding scandal is enveloping the entire football program, the elder statesman included.

I write about horrific things every day as the crime reporter for HeraldStandard.com, including adults who abuse their power and influence over children and destroy their innocence for their own perversions.

While the allegations against Sandusky are still just that — allegations — the scope and detail in the indictment show at best a system at Penn State that operated without proper checks and balances from the top down and at worst a coverup of unthinkable proportions that allowed a sexual predator unfettered access to the campus to do his bidding and one that the university’s football program will struggle to recover from for years to come.

I wish we could go back to debating the now ridiculous controversy over whether it is time for Paterno to retire instead of trying to determine his role in this scandal and whether these monstrous allegations will impose an immediate end to his career.

If Paterno had just pressed Curley to report the issue to police, or reported it himself, or confronted Sandusky, or gone to university President Graham Spanier …

I wish that man who spoke of character when I met him in 2004 would have just done something more to protect the innocent when he had the chance.

I wish I could get back that naivety of youth and child-like wonder.

Unfortunately, now, it seems, I’m not the only one.