Bring Back Joe Paterno Statue, More Than 200 Former PSU Players Tell School

More than 200 former Penn State football players have written a formal letter to the school, demanding a formal apology from PSU and saying that the statue of former coach Joe Paterno be restored.

Brian Masella, a former tight end and punter who graduated in 1975, sent a press release to several news outlets announcing the letter.

“We have been told during the last four-plus years that the board and administration are waiting for the appropriate time to repair the damage they created. Now is the appropriate time. Enough is enough!” Masella said in the release.

"Our program has always been one of integrity, honesty, and respect. Under Coach Paterno, we strove for academic excellence and made an ongoing commitment to becoming better men. We deserve to have that respect reciprocated by Penn State and its leadership."

Paterno's statue was put up in November 2001 and removed in July 2012.

A school-commissioned investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh found that Penn State's top leadership, including Paterno, "failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade."

Sandusky was convicted in 2012 on 45 counts of sexual abuse involving 10 boys between 1994 and 2009.

Multiple victims have recently said they told Paterno they had been abused and were told to keep quiet.

The letter sent this week was signed former Penn State players whose playing days span the six decades during which Paterno coached. See a full list of the players here.

The letter reads in full:

We, the undersigned, are united by the common bond of having been a member of the Penn State Football Team. We state, unequivocally, that our program has always been one of integrity, honesty, and respect. Under Coach Paterno, we strove for academic excellence and made an ongoing commitment to becoming better men.

We remain saddened that the Penn State Administration and the Board of Trustees thrust our program and coach into an undeserved negative media frenzy in 2011. Nearly five years after the firestorm, they still have not defended us or corrected the false narrative. Our legacy and our university deserve better. Penn State’s leaders should take two steps toward repairing the damage that they created.

First, restore the statue of Coach Paterno and the players’ wall to where they stood previously outside Beaver Stadium. These testimonies to “Success with Honor” should never have been removed.

Second, a formal apology from the University to Sue Paterno needs to be issued. This is a common act of decency, which is both warranted and long overdue.

The university’s leaders have repeatedly stated a desire to restore unity to the Penn State community. We hope that they will not waste a great opportunity to do so.

Penn State has not issued a response to the letter.

Image via Audrey, Flickr, used under Creative Commons