Jay Paterno: 'Hope People Would Give Joe Paterno Benefit Of The Doubt'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Jay Paterno is refuting new allegations claiming that Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno was told about Jerry Sandusky molesting a child in 1976.
The report has not been proven and Penn State president Eric Barron lashed out on the media, calling the accusations unsubstantiated and unfair.
"As they pertain to Joe Paterno, I know there is absolute no fact to support the claims that have been reported," Jay Paterno told the 94WIP Josh Innes Show on Monday. "And that's not just me saying that, that's also Penn State University who has had access to all the depositions and all the information regarding these cases."
Listen: Jay Paterno on the 94WIP Josh Innes Show
Lawrence Lokman, a university spokesman, did confirm that the earliest year of alleged abuse covered in Penn State's settlements is 1971. Paterno says it's completely out of the realm of possibility that his father would have known about an inappropriate incident involving Sandusky in the 70's.
"Absolutely, based on what I know about Joe Paterno -- a man that had a decade long reputation for honesty and integrity," Paterno said. "To throw that out the window and to think he would act in a different way is absolutely, it's not even credible. And when you think about it, in '71 and '76, I was a young kid. And after those dates -- if you want to sit there and say he must have known -- he allowed me to be around Jerry Sandusky. I was around his family, his kids. I was in the pool with him on bowl trips. You would then have to believe Joe would put that out of his mind when he promoted him in 1977 to defensive coordinator. You would then have to believe Joe Paterno put that out of his mind when in 1978 while he watched Jerry Sandusky create a state-wide charity to benefit young people and be around young people."
Paterno says his father did not know about Sandusky's actions. He's one hundred percent certain of that.
"That's not in his nature," Paterno said about his father. "He was an honest man of integrity and I would hope that people in society would understand that and would be willing to give a person who lived his entire life that way the benefit of the doubt with unsubstantiated, non-sourced allegations come forward."
