If college football was a religion (it is) the holy place, the Vatican, is the Pennsylvania State University, the largest public college in Pennsylvania and one of the best academic institutions in the United States. Pope and his grandpa would be other than an Italian American named Joe Paterno 84 years, entered as a student in 1950 and became, in 46-year career, the legendary and revered coach of the Nittany Lions team.
Some 400 victories beasts of "Penn State" have supported the pedestal half a god-like angular and cantankerous little man, mentor sports as a symbol of the virtues humanist Penn State. Yet the myth has collapsed, November 9, with the announcement of the sudden departure of Paterno, and the President of the University in person, as a result of a pedophilia scandal that is now the front page of all the press American.
Former Deputy Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, was arrested Nov. 5 for having had, for over four years, sex with a boy followed by a charitable foundation under his charge. The child was 10 years old at the beginning of their relationship. Prosecutors have also charged Sandusky rape and indecent assault on seven other children since the early 90s.
Paterno is currently not threatened with legal action, but there is evidence that he was informed in 2002 of the behavior of his assistant by another member of his coaching staff. The latter, Mike McQueary, had surprised Sandusky full sex with a boy of ten years in the same premises of the University. Rather than call the police directly, Paterno McQueary had advised to refer to security officials and sports at Penn State. The case had gone up in the greatest secrecy, to the University President Graham Spanier and quickly stifled. Sandusky has been for any sanction, asked not to invite children to attend the trainings of the team and retired in 2009 without ever being disturbed.
It took a complaint from a mother, and the testimony of McQueary in 2009 for justice of Pennsylvania takes the case. Penn State riot, turned into 20 years in real potentate through academic prowess Paterno and Spanier academic leadership, he weighed more than the fate of the miners violated by Sandusky? The power and the incredible popularity of the "coach" in the state and the media have fed it a conspiracy of silence? Paterno, who expressed regularly for 25 years and through the press, his refusal to retire despite his advanced age and complaints more frequently for his erratic and sometimes violent behavior, justified his retention by a succession of victories in the field. His departure, after years of Omerta, nearly causing a riot of students on November 9, but the upcoming trial could tarnish for a long time the pride of Penn State.