A man alleged he told the late head football coach Joe Paterno that he was assaulted by former assistant football coach Sandusky in a shower at the 1976 football camp, the day after the incident occurred.
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A deposition by former assistant coach Mike McQueary, who complained to Paterno after seeing Sandusky and a boy in a team shower in 2001, said former Penn State coach Tom Bradley “said he knew of some things” about Sandusky dating to the ’80s, though Bradley’s lawyer flatly denied he saw any abuse.
“Is it accurate that Coach Paterno quickly said to you, I don’t want to hear about any of that kind of stuff, I have a football season to worry about?” the insurer’s attorney, Steven Englemyer, asked John Doe 150.
Paterno’s status as a universally revered figure in the college football world came crashing down in 2011, when it was revealed Sandusky molested numerous children through his charity, The Second Mile, while officials at Penn State failed to respond to multiple warning signs.
The documents are part of Penn State’s suit against an insurance company over payments of claims for abuse by Sandusky, who is serving decades in prison for child abuse. In addition to settling 32 civil lawsuits related to the Sandusky scandal, Penn State chose to take down a statue of Joe Paterno after allegations surfaced that Paterno may have known of Sandusky’s activities.
In McQueary’s testimony, he said Bradley had spoke of the incident in the 1990s which Schiano had witnessed and another in the 1980s in which was witnessed by an unnamed assistant.
In a statement, Schiano said he “never saw any abuse, nor had reason to suspect any abuse” during his time at Penn State.
“Because of the situation being what it is, I’m not even going to get into it”, Schiano said at the time.
The coach rebuffed him and walked away after he reported what happened, John Doe 150 said in the deposition. “Speculation serves to drive a wedge within the Penn State community”.
The documents include no other independent corroboration of the incident, and the Paterno family released a statement questioning the testimony.
To this point, McQueary himself was the only former Penn State assistant to have testified to knowledge of Sandusky’s abuse.
“Your mind starts wondering”, said Doe 75 in an expert of his deposition.
John Doe 101 said that Sandusky would frequently change what he was doing when he heard the push button entry to the room being activated to make it appear they were wrestling.
Penn State President Eric J. Barron additionally issued a statement regarding the documents’ release, emphasizing that “alleged knowledge of former Penn State employees is not proven, and should not be treated as such”. “Some individuals deny the claims, and others are unable to defend themselves”.
The witness was among more than 30 Sandusky accusers who Penn State has paid almost $93 million since 2013.
A lawyer who helped mediate claims against Penn State said last week the university was diligent in making sure the claims were backed up.
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Information from The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was included in this story.
