WE...are Penn State

The very first time I heard of a possible issue involving Jerry Sandusky was October 22nd, 2011.

We were celebrating a special family occasion and many of us gathered at my brother’s house that Saturday evening. Penn State was playing at Northwestern and given the Chicago family connection, plus several other Penn State alums in my family, the game became the featured entertainment for the night.

One of our family members is a Michigan graduate so we’ve given each other a little good natured college football grief over the years. And I thought that’s where we were headed again when he asked me, “what’s up with your defensive coordinator?”

Initially I assumed he meant Tom Bradley but after further discussion I realized he meant Sandusky, who was retired for well over a decade. And this person whose knowledge I’ve come to respect over the years pointedly stated that he had heard Sandusky was under indictment for sexual abuse of children.

That was the first time I heard anything, some 13 years after Sandusky was first investigated for such crimes.

Two weeks to the day later I was at the gym when the news of Sandusky’s arrest, plus those of Tim Curley and Gary Schultz rolled across the ESPN ticker. Within 48 hours I knew with shocking clarity that the Pennsylvania State University would never be the same again.

Let me reiterate for clarity, it took 13 years for me to hear even a rumor of Sandusky’s activities. I spent four years at University Park and I’ve been a proud alumnus since 1995. I have numerous family members and friends who attended that school. I personally know at least 100 people who are connected to the University or Alumni Association. They are connected to thousands more. Given the advent of social media, infinitely more connections are available to people you barely know.

And not one person I know had any idea about Jerry Sandusky's "issues" until at least the spring of 2011.

I will add this, during my four years at Penn State there was never so much as a peep let alone a sordid rumor about Sandusky. Yes I graduated three years before the first chronicled incident but seriously, does anybody think Sandusky woke up one morning in 1998 and realized he was a pedophile? The sad, shocking, vile truth is he’s likely been doing this for far longer than any of us dare imagine.

So with that I wish to clearly state for the record the following; which I believe applies to me and every other Penn State student, alumnus, and employee I know:

• We...did not enable Jerry Sandusky

• We...did not cover up his crimes

• We...did not witness and fail to report the sexual abuse of a child

• We...did not blindly worship Joe Paterno

• We...are not members of a cult

Why do I feel the need to say this? Rest assured it’s not in preparation for my grand jury testimony.

I say this because so many have become so willing to broad brush the entire  University and Penn State community. Apparently to many it’s not sufficient to restrict blame to the perpetrator, those who actively covered or failed to report his heinous actions, or even the Board of Trustees. For the record, that group comprises perhaps 25 to 50 people of the 500,000 plus students, alumni, and employees of Penn State in this world.

Apparently the egregious actions of a select few are sufficient cause for many to blame and defame an entire community of people, the significant majority of whom were completely divorced from this tragedy.

We have, for decades on in, proudly proclaimed “WE ARE PENN STATE” to the world. Such declarations and identifications require that we accept both the good and the bad from our school and our community. It does not require that we bare responsibility for the criminal actions or negligence our supposed leaders, especially when we are in no position to prevent it.

I’m not perfect by any means but rest assured if I witnessed a child being sexually assaulted I would do something about it; no matter who the perpetrator. Rest assured I would not sit ideally by for A DECADE plus while the guy came to my office, worked out in my gym and traveled on flights with me and other co-workers.

I get that the entire Penn State community is going to wear the scarlet letter for the foreseeable future. We are all deemed guilty by association because of the horrific acts of a disgusting serial pedophile and the horrendous choices of others to protect his actions. We cannot escape that, at least not in the short-term. I can live with that as reality for now.

That’s a far different reality from those who paint the entire Penn State community as brain dead cultists who enabled a pedophile due to their blind worship of a demigod head coach. I’ve heard it suggested that we are responsible because of the “culture” we created. I’m curious as to how many who sling such actions have any firsthand knowledge of that “culture” but that’s an argument for another day. For now, simply understand that the “religious fervor” you hear about regarding Penn State football is far more myth than reality.

I’m not trying to play the victim card here. I’m not a victim, none of us are. We all know who the victims are and what they’ve suffered at the hands of this monster. Save your prayers and your tears ONLY for them.

I’m simply reminding the world that there are a good half a million plus people in the Penn State community who truly embody “The Penn State way.” And in spite of what you see in the media or on the Internet, virtually every one of us would have tried to the right thing if we had the misfortune to get directly caught up in this mess. All of us would settle for even one story on the $10 Million our students raise to help cancer victims every year for every ten sanctimonious beat downs from Rick Reilly and Jeremy Schaap.

Yes we loved and respected Joe Paterno, probably too much. Understand this however; no matter how much the NCAA and/or media wants to rewrite history, there was no reason not to love and respect him before last November. And while many of us our still struggling terribly to accept his role in this along with the complete reimaging of his legacy that is still a far cry from suggesting we would not have moved heaven and earth to stop Jerry Sandusky if we could have.

I spent a football weekend in Columbus Ohio a few years back. I can assure you from personal experience that Penn State fans are no more devoted or cult like than Ohio State fans. The same repulsive event could have easily happened in Columbus, Ann Arbor, Tuscaloosa, or Austin if those schools had the horrific misfortune of a pedophile on their coaching staff.

I am a card carrying member of the Steeler Nation. I can assure you from personal experience that Penn State fans are no more devoted or cult like than Steeler fans. I would also remind everyone in Pittsburgh that a large portion of the country thinks we are blindly supporting a rapist every Sunday and that the Steeler Nation took a tremendous leap of faith to believe Ben Roethlisberger’s innocence. I doubt we would have made a similar leap if Big Ben was a plumber or an accountant.

Steeler fans, including me, supported Ben in spite of increasingly disturbing tales of his poor public behavior. Is that not as bad or even worse than supporting a man with thousands of testimonials and a six decade track record of mentoring and coaching you people? And for the record, difficult as it is, most Penn State fans are now dealing with the reality of Paterno’s involvement, given that we now have reasonable evidence to support it.

No one person is Penn State, not even Joe Paterno. That certainly includes Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz, Tim Curely, Mike McQueary and anyone else who failed in their obligations. They are the most visible of us and perhaps today the worst of us…but they do not represent who WE are.

WE are Penn State…the hundreds of thousands who try and live the right way every day. I hope those who condemn with too broad a brush will take a second or two to remember that.