Joe Paterno Diagnosed With Lung Cancer as NCAA Starts Probe of Penn State
Joe Paterno is battling lung cancer, his family said hours after the announcement that the governing body for U.S. college sports is investigating a child sex-abuse scandal at Penn State University that cost the 84-year-old football coach his job.
Paterno, who won more games at the top level of the sport than any other coach, is undergoing treatment and his doctors are optimistic that he will make a full recovery, his son Scott said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
“This is a deeply personal matter for my parents, and we simply ask that his privacy be respected as he proceeds with treatment,” Scott Paterno said in the statement.
The elder Paterno was fired on Nov. 9 for his handling of child molestation charges against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The dismissal ended Paterno’s 46 years at the helm of the Nittany Lions that produced 409 victories.
Paterno was diagnosed last weekend during a follow-up visit to his doctor for a bronchial illness, according to the statement.
National Collegiate Athletic Association President Mark Emmert sent a letter this week to Penn State President Rodney Erickson, detailing the agency’s plans to look into the school’s “exercise of institutional control” and the “actions, and inactions, of relevant responsible personnel.”
Reply Deadline
The NCAA gave Penn State until Dec. 16 to provide information related to how the school has complied with the association’s bylaws before continuing its investigation.
“Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics intends to fully cooperate with the NCAA during its inquiry, and understands that this is a preliminary step toward understanding what happened as well as how to prevent anything similar from happening in the future,” the school said in an e-mailed statement.
The letter from the NCAA was dated Nov. 17 and the State College, Pennsylvania-based university posted it on its website yesterday.
The investigation centers on allegations against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and the actions of high-ranking university employees when a state grand jury report issued this month says they were initially informed of the accusations.
Penn State fired Paterno and former president Graham B. Spanier, 63, after Sandusky, 67, was charged with 40 criminal counts tied to alleged sexual molestation of eight boys from 1994 to 2009.
Emmert said in the letter that the “tragic events” detailed in the grand jury report of the case are “deeply troubling.”
‘Challenge Integrity’
“If true, individuals who were in a position to monitor and act upon learning of potential abuses appear to have been acting starkly contrary to the values of higher education as well as the NCAA,” Emmert wrote. “The behaviors and failures described in the allegations set forth by the grand jury try not only the integrity of the university, but that of intercollegiate athletics as a whole and the NCAA.”
Emmert told Erickson that employees and coaches of Penn State, like all member schools, are teachers of young people and must do more than “avoid improper conduct or questionable acts.”
He specifically cited a bylaw that says employees and coaches must have moral values “so certain and positive that those younger and more pliable will be influenced by a fine example. Much more is expected of them than of the less- critically placed citizen.”
Grand Jury
According to the grand jury report, Mike McQueary, then a graduate assistant, told Paterno in 2002 that he saw an attack by Sandusky on a boy, estimated to be 10, in a shower of the school’s football building. Paterno told McQueary to speak with Athletic Director Timothy Curley, 57, and Gary Schultz, 62, a senior vice president who oversaw university police, according to the report.
Curley and Schultz were charged with perjury and failing to report the allegations.
Sandusky, Curley and Schultz all say they are innocent. Neither Paterno nor Spanier was charged.
The university announced on Nov. 7 that Schultz was stepping down and returning to retirement, while Curley was placed on administrative leave to focus on his defense. McQueary, now an assistant coach, also was placed on administrative leave last week.
The university’s faculty senate called yesterday for an independent committee, composed mainly of trustees, to investigate the university’s handling of the accusations. The group also supported a resolution to review policies and procedures around reporting such incidents.
Thoroughness Sought
“If there’s not a lot of outside representation, some feel that the investigation may not be as thorough as it would be otherwise,” said Daniel Hagen, senate chairman and a professor of animal science.
Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Linda Kelly, has said that her investigation of the case remains open. The university’s Board of Trustees has opened its own probe. There also have been calls for investigations by state and U.S. legislative bodies.
Penn State plays today against Ohio State at Columbus, Ohio. The Nittany Lions are 8-2 on the season, including a 5-1 conference record, and in contention to play in the league’s championship game, which carries a Rose Bowl berth for the winner.
To contact the reporters on this story: Eben Novy-Williams in New York at enovywilliam@bloomberg.net; Michael Buteau in Atlanta at mbuteau@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page