Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1420595
3 6 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M nessed an instance of abuse, and it grew to envelop his father and a family friend, Pa- terno, athletics director Tim Curley, uni- versity vice president Gary Schultz and Penn State president Graham Spanier. A real-life tragedy rivaling any of the mythical Greek classics beloved by Pa- terno, the events leading into that fateful week in 2011 are still the subject of discus- sion and debate a decade later. Should Penn State share responsibility for the crimes committed by Sandusky? Were some decisions honest mis- steps or purposeful calculations aimed at shielding the university and its stakehold- ers from judgment? What role did Paterno have in any of it, and maybe more important to his endur- ing perception, what would he say if he had the chance to elaborate? More than a decade later, many of the questions at the heart of the story remain unanswered definitively. It seems in- creasingly unlikely that a resolution will ever be agreed upon. But while the sides have been staked, with various parties all working to write the narrative of what transpired before, during and after that week, what isn't debated is the path taken by the football program in the time since. Managing to weather a storm that initially included demands that the program be shut down immediately, with some suggesting a death penalty of as many as five or 10 years, Penn State has been on a trajectory that is rooted in the efforts of a commu- nity and the individuals within it to build something great, on the field and off. Those individuals most pointedly in- clude the team's then-33rd-year assis- tant coach and 12th-year defensive coor- dinator Tom Bradley, who stepped in as interim head coach in Paterno's absence for the final two months of the season. Emphasizing his empathy for the victims and their families during his first press conference as head coach on Nov. 10, Bradley worked to keep the ship afloat alongside the efforts of his fellow assis- tants and team leaders. Players like Mike Farrell, Chima Okoli, Drew Astorino, Matt McGloin, Quinn Barham, Devon Still, Derek Moye, Chaz Powell, Mike Zordich and Michael Mauti found a way to block out the hysteria surrounding PSU while remaining focused on their academic and athletic responsibilities. After Paterno submitted his resigna- tion, effective at the end of the season, BWI's Reporters Look Back On A Turbulent Moment In Penn State History Three members of Blue White Illustrated's current editorial staff were liv- ing and working in State College when the Sandusky scandal broke, while a fourth was an undergraduate on the University Park campus at the time. Here are their memories of that moment in PSU history: NATE BAUER: The memories from that week are so searing that they're not even memories anymore, just a collection of occurrences that I could recite by heart as being true, even if there's nothing in the record to back them up. I had been visiting New York during a break in Penn State's schedule. Hav- ing read the initial Patriot-News story that Friday accusing Jerry Sandusky of child sexual abuse, then the grand jury presentment against the Nittany Lions' former defensive coordinator that Saturday morning, all from the otherworldly locales of Chelsea and the West Village, I couldn't know ex- actly what I would return to in State College. But quickly, the grim reality crystallized. Sandusky had been arrested and, with a furor created by an intense national media spotlight, the normalcy and consistency that had been hallmarks of Penn State's football program and the university itself were transformed into a hurricane-like environ- ment. I was at the canceled weekly press conference in which everyone ex- pected to hear from Joe Paterno. I was at Paterno's house that Wednesday afternoon after he had announced plans to step down following the season. Or was it Tuesday? I was at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center when the university's board of trustees terminated the head coach of more than four decades. I was atop the Pugh Street parking garage to snap pics of rioting students filling Beaver Avenue immediately afterward. I was at Tom Bradley's press conference that Thursday. Or was it Wednesday? Students gathered at the intersection of Beaver Avenue and Pugh Street following the news that Joe Paterno had been dismissed. PHOTO BY MATT HERB