Nike Removing Joe Paterno’s Name From Company Child-Care Center

Nike Inc. (NKE) said it will remove the name of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno from the company’s child-care center.

The company’s decision was made after a report by former Federal Bureau of Investigation director and federal judge Louis Freeh said university officials, including Paterno, failed to protect children for a decade from sex abuse by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

“With the findings released today, I have decided to change the name of our child-care center at our World Headquarters,” Mark Parker, the company’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. “My thoughts are with the victims and the Penn State community.”

Sandusky’s abuse could have been stopped in 1998, Freeh said in the report, which followed a seven-month investigation. Paterno, who died in January, was fired in November.

The Joe Paterno Child Development Center on the Beaverton, Oregon, campus of the largest sporting-goods company provides on-site care for more than 200.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net

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Joe Paterno, Fallen Penn State Coach

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Joe Paterno on Oct. 29, 2011 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Penn.

Joe Paterno on Oct. 29, 2011 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Penn. Photographer: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

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Joe Paterno

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Penn State University former head football coach Joe Paterno leaves the team's football building on Nov. 8, 2011 in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Penn State University former head football coach Joe Paterno leaves the team's football building on Nov. 8, 2011 in University Park, Pennsylvania. Photographer: Rob Carr/Getty Images