Blue White Illustrated

"That [presentment] was infuriating, and anybody would be mad and total- ly upset, even though there were so many misleading statements in that presentment," Harris said during an in- terview at his office north of downtown Pittsburgh in early June, before the Sandusky trial had started. "When this broke, I was out west on business and heard about it on television. Then I read about it the next day on the In- ternet and newspapers, and they talked about the [Gary] Schultz and [Tim] Curley perjury and that Joe had cooperated fully and there were no charges against Joe. So, I basically left it at that. Things will take their course and we'll see what happens. "Then in the next couple of days things started to happen. State Police Commissioner [Frank] Noonan made that statement [at the attorney gener- al's news conference Nov. 7] about Joe, about him having a moral obligation [to do more]. And I said to myself, 'Well, this is the guy that's the head of the Pennsylvania State Police and he's pro- moting that someone should take ac- tion morally rather than lawfully. I did- n't quite understand that. I didn't un- derstand why he made a statement at all. It just didn't make any sense to me. "It didn't make any sense to me that [Attorney General] Linda Kelly rushed to get the presentment out and then Noonan rushed this statement. Even today it doesn't make sense. The pre- sentment really put Penn State into this big national light and national at- tention, and that turned everybody against Joe. People were mad at Penn State and mad at Joe. Unfortunately, the board of trustees [also] rushed to judgment. "I really couldn't believe that night when they fired Joe. I was at home watching on television and I was flab- bergasted and thrown back on that. I was really upset. I didn't know at the time everything they had based things on, but I thought it was a rush to judg- ment. Here was a guy who said he was going to retire after the season with three games to go and they made a judgment call. "Then I was watching ESPN, and I heard these guys attacking Joe and Joe's moral character. I couldn't believe that. They were attacking the Penn State football program, attacking Joe. And I'm saying he had more moral 40 A U G U S T 2 1 , 2 0 1 2 SPEAKING TOUR Harris speaks to alumni following a board of trustees meeting this past winter. He and Anthony Lubrano have been working to secure an apol- ogy for the Paterno family following the coach's dismissal last November. Tim Owen character than any of these guys and they're saying these kinds of things. I said there is no way this is right. So, I decided to go up to Penn State to see Joe and show my support, because I knew these were some very tough times. "I went to his house and there were a lot of reporters. They grabbed me, and I told them what I thought. Peo- ple didn't think that was right because [they said] I wasn't being sensitive to the issues and how could I support Joe in these circumstances? We knew there was going to be a trial for Jerry Sandusky, and we knew Joe wasn't go- ing to go to trial for anything. So did certain people want to have this trial [of Joe] by public opinion and drive cer- tain things? That seemed to me where it was headed with public opinion, be- cause they were really bashing him – and they still are." Through the first four months of the scandal, Harris continued to be the most vigorous public advocate for Pa- terno, initially trying to fend off the vit- riolic media attacks on his former coach, and then teaming with Philadel- phia businessman and Penn State donor Anthony Lubrano, for whom the school's baseball stadium is named. They specifically criticized the board of trustees for the way it handled the Pa- terno situation and began leading a campaign to change the structure of the board and the overall administra- tive policies of the university. Their most dramatic venture was a series of counter-seminars following the first trustee meeting after Paterno's dismissal and a multiple-city tour by new president Rodney Erickson to dis- cuss the scandal with alumni. They also sought an apology for Paterno and his family, and they still do, despite Pa- terno's death in late January from a viral strain of lung cancer. Paterno's passing eased the tension and urgency of the Harris-Lubrano endeavor, but their continued efforts helped lead to the May election of three new trustees – including Lubrano. Harris and Lubrano are still working together, along with other alumni, to restructure the board of trustees and to get more answers and more honesty about what really happened with San- dusky and the firing of Paterno. But Harris spends more time these days running his businesses than he does publicly advocating the Paterno lega- cy. Harris' primary company is Super Bakery Inc. He founded it in 1990 af- ter starting his business career a few years earlier as an independent sales- man of an all-natural fruit bar. Super Bakery makes doughnuts, cupcakes and cinnamon rolls that are fortified with minerals, vitamins and proteins. They are sold in 50 states to schools and hospitals. Harris has other health-related busi- nesses, including a new one, Silver- Sport, which supplies ancillary exer- cise equipment such as towels, mats and massaging rollers that are made with antimicrobial material. Harris subcontracts most of the manufacturing of his corporation's products, so it's difficult to deter- mine just how many people are em- ployed because of him. Among his partners are his former Penn State teammate Lydell Mitchell, an All- America tailback, and another class- mate he met as a freshman in 1968, Ron Rossi. Harris' younger brother Giuseppe, a defensive back on the 1979-81 teams, also works within the corporation. Harris traces the roots of his busi- ness career and his success in pro foot- ball to his Penn State education and his experience playing for Paterno, and that is fundamental to understanding his passionate defense of Paterno and his motivation for seeking the truth be- hind the scandal. However, his life might have been different if Penn State did not have a curriculum in ho- tel and food management. "Since I was a kid, I had always dreamed of getting into business, but W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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