Sports and Society
College Football

Penn State Cover-Up of Child Rape, Coach Paterno Fired in 'Greatest Fall from Grace in U.S. Sports'

COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Penn State Cover-Up of Child Rape, Coach Paterno Fired in 'Greatest Fall from Grace in U.S. Sports'

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, one of the most legendary coaches in U.S. sports history, was fired on Wednesday for his role in allegedly covering up the child sexual abuse of the football team’s former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky. Penn State president Graham Spanier was also fired. In 2002, Paterno reportedly received an eyewitness account from someone who saw Sandusky raping a young boy in a Penn State locker room. While Paterno told his boss, he did not call the police. Others at Penn State knew about a string of other sexual assaults allegedly committed by Sandusky, but the police were never notified. Last week, Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period. During the entire time, Sandusky was running a foundation for troubled kids. The student response to the child rape scandal has surprised many. On Wednesday, students rioted in outrage — not over the school’s role in covering up child rape, but for Paterno’s firing. We speak with political sportswriter Dave Zirin. 'What the Penn State students did the other night — rioting, hitting ESPN reporters in the head with rocks, setting fires — and by the way, zero arrests at the end of the night after all the carnage — it stands in stark contrast to the courage of the students occupying their campuses around the country,' Zirin says. 'It’s really a tale of two generations that we’re seeing playing itself out on these different campuses.' [includes rush transcript]