The Biggest Sports Story of 2011: The Jerry Sandusky Child Sex Abuse Scandal

Many have and will continue to debate what the biggest sports stories are year after year.  In my opinion, clearly the biggest sports story for 2011 was the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal at Penn State University.

 

Photo: CLT Buzz.com

The nation first learned of the Sandusky allegations in the first week of November 2011, according to Sports Business Daily.com.  The story sent shockwaves of unbelievable disgust throughout Happy Valley and the rest of the world.  Happy Valley was no longer happy and PSU had not revealed the whole story.

Below is a snapshot timeline, according to the New York Daily News:

Date	Actions
11/5/2011	Sandusky was arrested on 40 criminal counts and released on a $100 thousand bond.
11/9/2011	PSU Head Coach, Joe Paterno, states his plan to retire by season’s end.  PSU students hear the news about coach Paterno and violence erupts in the streets.  Students hurl rocks at TV crews and turn over TV crew's vans.
1/22/2012	Coach Paterno dies after a bout with lung cancer.
6/22/2012	Sandusky is found guilty on 45 of 48 counts of child sex abuse facing 442 years in prison.

The whole truth began to unravel once Paterno announced his retirement.  Actually, rumors began swirling about how much knowledge Paterno had regarding his assistant coach and

Photo: NY Daily News.com

previous child sex abuse situations.  Many people felt that Paterno (photo left) failed to act in 2002 when a graduate student informed Paterno of Sandusky’s wrongdoings.  According to CBS News, Mike McQueary, was the graduate student who informed Paterno he saw Sandusky in a PSU locker room shower with a young boy in 2002.

If 2002 was the first time Paterno heard about Sandusky, he had an obligation to inform his superiors.  If his superiors (Athletic Director and others) did not act by investigating the matter, Paterno should have placed Sandusky on leave.  Paterno could have informed the team that Sandusky needs time off to handle personal matters.  Paterno also could have gone to the police, but would he have overstepped his boundaries?  Would Paterno’s superiors have fired him for not waiting for the school's investigation to be completed before going to the police? 

Photo: Business Insider.com

I am sure a numerous amount of things traveled through Joe Paterno’s mind when McQueary informed him of what he saw Sandusky doing.  The sad part is McQueary (photo right) did not physically stop Sandusky when he saw the vile act being committed against the young boy.  Also, Paterno never took any form of action against Sandusky when he was informed.  Either way, Paterno was rushed into an early grave less than 90 days after the scandal broke.  This was a case where everyone with knowledge of the situation seemed to have a blind eye at PSU.

There was even a notion from some who wondered if PSU received financial success from the entire child sex abuse scandal.  Chris Smith of Forbes.com wrote an article in July of 2012 titled, “Did The Jerry Sandusky Scandal Help Penn State Make More Money?”  According to Forbes.com, the scandal did not help PSU make more money. See the below pledge list:

Fiscal Year	Total Pledges in Millions
2011-2012	$223 million
2010-2011	$353 million ($88M from 1 contributor = $265M without)
2009-2010	$273 million

The article did reveal that even though PSU did not make more money, Nittany Lion alumni and the outside support grew.  According to Forbes.com, here is a statement from a PSU staff member about not making more money, “…that’s not the important part, says Rodney Kirsch, the Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations. For Kirsch, the barometer of fundraising success is the number of people giving, not the total amount given.”

We hope that Penn State and Happy Valley are a better place now, but the victims of Jerry Sandusky and the victim’s families will never forget.