Time to start over in (not so) Happy Valley

I know there is human decency in the world. However, I am more than a little bit concerned that there is less and less of it every day.

What do decent human beings do when they find out someone they know intimately well and have worked with for decades for up to 80 hours a week has a deviancy so sinister it reaches beyond the scope of comprehension?

Jerry Sandusky was a defensive assistant, then defensive coordinator at Penn State University under the legendary Joe Paterno for 30 years, from 1969-1999. During Sandusky's time coaching in State College, the Nittany Lions had four undefeated seasons and two consensus national championships. During his tenure, 10 of Sandusky's linebackers became All-Americans, and he is generally regarded as the coach responsible for making Penn State known as "Linebacker U."

Jerry Sandusky will also go down in history as one of the worst sexual deviants most sports reporters will ever have to cover. At least I hope so. The prospect of someone being more abominable is frightening.

Late last week, Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of sex crimes against young boys, the result of a three-year investigation. At least 20 of these incidents happened during his employment at Penn State and under the guise of an organization he founded in 1977 called "Second Mile," a group foster home dedicated to helping troubled young boys.

As it appears now, Second Mile was simply a gathering place for Sandusky's victims to congregate; nothing more than a front for a pedophile to have a full stable full of young boys available to fulfill his demonic urges.

According to court records, even after his retirement, the assaults continued on university property, as Sandusky was given the title of "coach emeritus" with an office and full access to the Penn State football facilities. He had his own set of keys to all of the football program's facilities and was considered, for a time, to be completely above reproach.

When Sandusky retired in 1999 at the age of 55, it caught many fans and media by surprise. It was widely believed that he was the heir apparent to Paterno once the old man decided to hang it up. Even Sports Illustrated dedicated an entire article to him when he stepped away from his full time duties. In December, 1999 this read as a glowing tribute to a beloved and honorable figure. Today it reads in a much, much darker, sinister light.

Partly because of his Second Mile responsibilities, Sandusky turned down a prime head coaching opportunity, at Maryland in 1991, and his decision to retire at the end of this season (his last game will be the Dec. 28 Alamo Bowl against Texas A&M) was partly based on his wanting to get more involved in fund-raising and program development for the organization. "Jerry has always been our heart and soul," says Hank Lesch, Second Mile's vice president of development.

If Sandusky did not have such a human side, there would be a temptation around Happy Valley to canonize him: Saint Sandusky, leader of linebackers, molder of men.

Because Sandusky is so respected, as a man and as the dean of Linebacker U, there's the impression that it's just fine with him that he has never been a head coach. It's not. "I wouldn't call it devastating," says Sandusky, choosing his words carefully, "but I would call it a little disappointing. That was definitely a goal of mine when I started. If I hadn't had the other part of my life—my family and the Second Mile—I would've been a head coach."

What we have come to learn now is that there was a 1998 police investigation about Sandusky engaging in inappropriate sexual activity with young boys the football facility's shower room, all believed to have been members of Second Mile.

We have also now learned that part of the reason Sandusky retired at 55 was because Paterno had told him in May of 1999 that he would not be the next head coach at Penn State. This may or may not have anything to do with the investigation of the previous year.

The conclusion of that investigation was a statement, according to Friday's indictment, that Sandusky actually admitted wrongdoing. "I understand," Sandusky is said to have uttered to the mother of one of his victims. "I was wrong. I wish I could get forgiveness. I know I won't get it from you. I wish I were dead."

We also now know that the matter was referred to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and local police did nothing other than admonish Sandusky to cease showering with boys. Sandusky subsequently ignored that directive.

Since the charges were handed down on Friday following a three-year investigation, the university has tried to save face by placing athletic director Tim Curley on administrative leave and by having another official, Gary Schultz, go back into retirement. Monday, the two were in court, having surrendered on charges of perjury after allegedly lying to the grand jury about what they knew.

According to the 23-page indictment, it was inside Penn State's football facilities on March 1, 2002 when a graduate assistant named Mike McQuerey walked in on Sandusky sodomizing a 10-year old boy in the shower room. McQuerey the next day told Paterno, who the day after that told Curley.

Penn State's official action to remedy the situation? They took Sandusky's locker room keys away. The response of this beacon of higher education basically told Sandusky that if he wanted to continue raping little boys, he was just going to have to take his little hobby somewhere else.

Never mind that even the school later admitted to the grand jury they never actually banned Sandusky from the football facility and that their request that he not bring children there anymore was unenforceable.

Over the weekend, Paterno tried to defer the accusations a bit by saying in a statement that McQueary informed him the day after the 2002 assault of "an incident in the shower of our locker room" involving Sandusky, and that McQueary clearly "saw something inappropriate."

"Something inappropriate?" On what level is a 58-year old man taking a shower with a 10-year old boy late at night in a closed locker room appropriate in any manner – especially considering he had just been investigated of sexual wrongdoing with another young boy – in that same shower – just four years earlier?

How were sirens and alarms not going off all over Happy Valley? How did no one put two and two together? How is it possible that everyone failed to see and report and most importantly, stop what was going on right under their own noses?

Penn State University President Graham Spanier testified to the grand jury that he was made aware that Sandusky and a young boy were "horsing around" in the shower one night. What naked old man "horses around" with a naked boy in a place where he had already been told to not go to again?

Approximately ten days after Paterno informed Curley (the athletic director) of the meeting he had with McQueary, McQueary testified that he explicitly told Curley and Schultz (who was in charge of the University Police) that he witnessed Sandusky sodomizing the victim in the shower. Paterno was not present at this meeting.

Both Curley and Schultz denied that was the case in their original testimony to the grand jury. The grand jury did not buy that answer; hence, the perjury charges.

Two weeks after the initial meeting with Curley and Schultz in early 2002, McQuerey was told the matter was referred to Second Mile administrators and that was the end of it. McQuerey was never questioned by University Police, State College authorities, or anyone else until his testimony to the grand jury in December of last year.

The full "findings of fact" in the indictment is difficult to read. It describes in graphic detail dozens of incidents in where Sandusky is accused of kissing, fondling, groping, molesting, and yes, brutally raping terrified young boys procured from Second Mile.

Prosecutors have asked that any other victims come forward. In the indictment there were eight different victims that testified. How many others there are but will never come forward is a mystery. It is estimated that between 75 and 90 percent of all sexual assaults are never reported for fear of retribution, a desire to not relive the terror, or because of a belief on the victim's part that a successful prosecution would be difficult.

Penn State has long held itself up as a shining pillar of what is right with college athletics. They are one of only a small handful of programs to have never been hit with NCAA sanctions because of recruiting violations. Joe Paterno is America's grandfather. The plain, basic, blue and white uniforms have been a throwback staple of a bygone era polluted by the Maryland's and Oregon's of the world who never saw a uniform combination they wouldn't burn our collective retinas with.

Penn State University is supposed to be what others strive to be. But they miserably failed in the most important test they could possibly face.

Administrators failed their university, failed their community, and failed God only knows how many kids that just wanted a chance to do something positive after a rough beginning to their lives.

Curley and Schultz broke the law with their non-action. Paterno, for whatever reason, perhaps because it would be inconvenient or messy, chose not to insure the sanctity of the institution he built by doing what his administrators would not do either. Make no mistake about it, while the cover up was not worse than the crime itself, school administrators and coaches – required by law to report any inappropriate sexual contact between an adult and a minor to police, simply chose to not do so because it would create negative and embarrassing headlines.

Those employed by the university are not alone. State and local authorities failed to adequately follow up on the original 1998 allegation. How is it possible that Sandusky was allowed to continue working on behalf of Second Mile? How is it possible that so many adults that either had direct or secondary knowledge of sexual assaults of children by a supposedly respected iconic figure happening on school property and did nothing to stop it?

Paterno's job, at least for the time being is safe, undoubtedly because he is the very face of the university and the winningest coach in college football history. And while it is hard to believe that someone so beloved would be so callous when the safety of children are concerned, he may be the personification of the systematic failure that infested the Penn State football program.

In this case, nothing short of a clean sweep of the entire football program – Paterno included – is the just and correct thing to do. After all, the fish rots from the head. Jim Tressel was fired for allowing kids to trade memorabilia for tattoos and covering it up.

Joe Paterno's top assistant raped children in Paterno's own locker room. If Paterno wanted Sandusky's pedophilia stopped, he was unquestionably powerful enough to stop it. He chose to not do so.

There is no ambiguity in the case of an adult brutalizing a child. There is only black and white; right and wrong. Everyone that turned a blind eye, facilitated, downplayed, covered up, or just buried their head in the sand about the horrors that this monster perpetuated on children should at least be fired; some should be prosecuted.

The only possible remedy for Penn State is to wipe the slate clean. The stench of ruined lives will always permeate the walls of Beaver Stadium, the Lasch Building, and Holuba Hall. However, for the new group of young men wishing to be a part of one of the most storied football programs in the country, at least they won't have to wonder what else university officials are hiding.

After all, we now know what they are capable of sweeping under the rug.