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New questions, doubt surround 1976 Paterno claim

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The leader of Pennsylvania State University's trustees said Friday that he did not know that a financial payout the board approved for one of Jerry Sandusky's accusers went to a man who claims that he reported the sexual abuse to Joe Paterno in 1976.

Jerry Sandusky (left) and Joe Paterno in 1999. A man says he reported Sandusky’s abuse to Paterno in 1976.
Jerry Sandusky (left) and Joe Paterno in 1999. A man says he reported Sandusky’s abuse to Paterno in 1976.Read moreAP File Photograph

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The leader of Pennsylvania State University's trustees said Friday that he did not know that a financial payout the board approved for one of Jerry Sandusky's accusers went to a man who claims that he reported the sexual abuse to Joe Paterno in 1976.

But board chairman Keith Masser downplayed any suggestion that the decision to settle the potential lawsuit meant the board believed that the university's storied head football coach knew - and said nothing - about Sandusky's crimes decades before Sandusky drew law enforcement scrutiny.

"These are allegations. They're not fact," Masser told reporters after the trustees' regular meeting. "You're trying to make a story out of someone's deposition."

Still, his response - echoed by other trustees - raised new questions about how much Penn State's governing body knew about the specific allegations lodged by the 32 Sandusky accusers to whom it has agreed to pay nearly $93 million since 2013.

In a ruling in a related insurance dispute this week, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Gary S. Glazer referenced publicly for the first time four settlements paid to accusers who claimed that Paterno or members of his longtime coaching staff knew of Sandusky's sexual misconduct long before the first established report was made to Penn State police in 1998.

In addition to the man who said he told Paterno in 1976 that Sandusky abused him, Glazer's opinion cited allegations from three others who said assistant coaches saw Sandusky sexually attack children in the 1980s or reported such an incident to the school's athletic director.

Paterno's family has flatly dismissed the accusations about the head coach. And in a statement Friday, the university said it had "no records from the time to help evaluate the claims" and would not discuss the confidential settlements.

But the disclosure has reignited the contentious debate over Paterno's legacy that has roiled the campus since his ouster days after Sandusky's November 2011 arrest. Paterno died of complications from lung cancer months later.

"My feeling is there's a board responsibility here, too," said trustee Bill Oldsey, who described Paterno as "above reproach," and questioned the university's decision to pay a settlement to the man who accused him before the allegation was fully vetted.

"It's time for us to go on the offensive," he said. "It's time for us to defend the university and its former leaders."

The full details of the accuser's claims - which have never been publicly aired or proven in court - remain obscured inside sealed deposition testimony in Penn State's court battle in Philadelphia with its insurer over who should cover the cost of the settlement payouts.

It remains unclear if those depositions were taken as part of the settlement negotiations or as part of the insurance dispute.

Steve Dunham, the university's general counsel, declined to comment Friday, as did Steven Engelmeyer, lead counsel for Penn State's insurance company, the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association Insurance Co.

Masser, the board president, said trustees have had extensive legal briefings on all of the cases the board agreed to settle.

As to the claim that Paterno did not report or act on a child's complaint in 1976, Masser said, "I'm not saying it wasn't presented. I just don't recall that one. "

In evaluating how to respond to the Sandusky abuse claims, he said, trustees also weighed the impact of protracted and costly litigation on the school. "Some of these claims were paid out of economics," he said.

Still, Paterno's supporters said Friday that granting credit to the unproven claims only served to further damage the reputation of a coach whose image they believe was tarnished unfairly by the Sandusky scandal.

After Sandusky's conviction in 2012, the NCAA stripped Paterno of more than 100 wins from his record, and Penn State officials removed his statue from outside Beaver Stadium. The wins were restored last year. The statue remains in a warehouse.

Anthony Lubrano, one of Paterno's most ardent supporters on the board, urged school administrators Friday to release all records and information tied to the settlements referenced in Glazer's opinion.

"I am asking - no, I am pleading with you," Lubrano said to Masser during the board meeting, "to direct university counsel to release all the details related to this stale and highly suspect allegation ... so we, the trustees of this university, can evaluate and understand the context surrounding the claim."

His call was joined by trustee Al Lord, who read a letter to the university from Sue Paterno, the coach's widow. In it, she also called on Penn State to open its files.

"We cannot allow this situation to be ruled by allegations and speculation," she wrote. "My family and I have no knowledge of the allegation released yesterday."

ssnyder@phillynews.com 215-854-4693 @ssnyderinq