Blue White Illustrated

H I S T O R Y The former PSU great plays a leading role in the fight for Joe Paterno's legacy FRANCO'S BATTLE P BY LOU PRATO Blue White Contributor ITTSBURGH – There was a time when Joe Paterno seemed to be the worst person in Fran- co Harris' life. Today, Harris is undoubtedly the most vocal and loyal defender of Paterno in the aftermath of the horrendous child molestation scandal that has rocked the nation and tarnished the charac- ter and legacy of Penn State's leg- endary late head coach. In fact, Harris now credits his college coach with enabling him to make one of the most famous plays in foot- ball history – the so-called Immaculate Reception that transformed the Pitts- burgh Steelers from a perennial los- er into one of the greatest franchises in the National Football League. And because of his outspoken de- fense of Paterno following the coach's controversial firing last November, Harris has been vilified by many in the media and much of the public. These critics believe Paterno knew his one- time assistant Jerry Sandusky was molesting children years before San- dusky's arrest on Nov. 5 and that Pa- terno should have done more to stop him. In the media frenzy that followed the revelation of a 40-count grand jury indictment of Sandusky, Paterno was summarily and ignominiously fired by the Penn State board of trustees five days later in a late-night decision that spurred an ill-advised student riot in downtown State College and weeks of bitterness and recriminations that still fester. Harris, now a successful business- OPEN MIC Harris interviews his former coach while serving as a sideline reporter during a Penn State football game. W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Paterno-Pattee Library Archives man with a nationwide clientele, was as shocked as anyone when he first learned of Sandusky's arrest and read the grand jury presentment placed on the Internet by the state at- torney general's office. A U G U S T 2 1 , 2 0 1 2 39

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