By Michael O'Keeffe
New York Daily News
November 13, 2011
www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/sex-abuse-survivors-advocates-talk-penn-state-scandal-victims-article-1.976729
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| The Jerry Sandusky-Penn State sex-abuse scandal is the latest tragedy that the News has covered. |
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| Ernest Lorch, the powerful founder of the Riverside Church basketball program, who allegedly sexually abused players. |
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| Bob Oliva, the former Christ the King basketball coach, who pleaded guilty to abuse charges in Boston in April. |
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Daily News has been chronicling sexual abuse in New York sports for nearly a decade, ever since we were the first to report in 2002 that the Manhattan District Attorney's office was investigating allegations that Ernest Lorch, the powerful founder of the Riverside Church basketball program, had sexually abused players.
Manhattan prosecutors were stymied by statute of limitations issues, but the Massachusetts grand jury that indicted Lorch on a sex abuse charge in October 2010 was not. Lorch is scheduled to appear in Westchester court later this week to determine if he is competent to stand trial in the Bay State.
Lorch is certainly not the only coach who has been accused of sexual abuse.
Former Christ the King High School basketball coach Bob Oliva pleaded guilty to abuse charges in a Boston courtroom in April. Robeson High School basketball coach Larry Major committed suicide in September 2005, two days after he was charged with raping a female student.
A lawsuit filed by former Poly Prep students say longtime football coach Phillip Foglietta "sexually abused dozens, if not hundreds, of boys," between 1966 and 1991. At a December 2008 press conference outside Brooklyn's Nazareth High School, former city cop Phil Repaci said he was sexually abused by the school's former baseball coach, Robert Mistretta. Other men soon stepped forward to say, they, too, had been abused by Mistretta.
These are hard stories to report. But they also provide an opportunity to hear the stories of sexual abuse survivors and their advocates, men and women who appreciate the good in people because they've seen another side of human nature. So when Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly's office made public the 23-page grand jury report that suggests Penn State coach Joe Paterno failed to act after he learned that his assistant Jerry Sandusky abused children, the first calls we made were to the survivors and advocates.
We asked them to review the raw, graphic and disturbing grand jury report with us and share their thoughts with readers.
"Every time they say 'We are Penn State,' people will think about the children that were raped on that campus," says Father Robert Hoatson, a sex-abuse survivor and the founder of Road to Recovery, an organization that offers support to victims. "It goes to the heart of Penn State fans' faith. It goes to the myth of Penn State: Joe Pa, Happy Valley, the white uniforms. We're dealing with ordinary human beings here, and some human beings choose evil over good."
* * *
"Victim 1 testified that he was 11 or 12 years old when he met Sandusky through The Second Mile program in 2005 or 2006 …Victim 1 testified that ultimately Sandusky "performed oral sex on him more than 20 times through 2007 and early 2008. Sandusky also had Victim 1 perform oral sex on him one time and also touched Victim 1's penis with his hands during the 2001-2008 time period. Victim 1 did not want to engage in sexual conduct with Sandusky and knew it was wrong." -Grand jury report
"I look at little girls and little boys and I wonder 'How could anybody do anything so horrible to someone so precious?' I can only guess that they are hardwired differently from the rest of us, and that something terribly traumatic must have happened to them. Maybe they are doing it because they were abused, too. I'm not giving pedophiles a pass. We should put them in a mental hospital and study them so we can understand what is wrong with them."
- Jimmy Carlino, survivor who first reported sexual abuse by Bob Oliva.
* * *
"On March 1, 2002, a Penn State graduate assistant who was then 28 years old entered the locker room at the Lasch Football Building on the University Park Campus. As the graduate assistant entered the locker room doors, he was surprised to find the lights and showers on. He then heard rhythmic, slapping sounds. He saw a naked boy, Victim 2, whose age he estimated to be ten years old, with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky. The graduate assistant was shocked but noticed that both Victim 2 and Sandusky saw him. The graduate assistant left immediately, distraught. … The graduate assistant went to his office and called his father, reporting to him what he had seen. His father told the graduate assistant to leave the building and come to his home." - Grand jury report
"All I can think about is what that boy must have thought when he saw (then-graduate assistant, now-receivers coach Mike) McQueary. He must have thought 'Salvation is here, a rescuer is here.' And instead, the rape and the violation continued. That moment must be as damaging as the abuse itself. How do you look into the eyes of somebody who is suffering like that and walk away?"
- New York filmmaker Chris Gavagan, who is working on a documentary about sexual abuse in sports and the abuse he suffered at the hands of his roller hockey coach.
* * *
"The graduate assistant and his father decided that the graduate assistant had to promptly report what they had seen to Coach Joe Paterno, head football coach of Penn State. The next morning, a Saturday, the graduate assistant telephoned Paterno and went to Paterno's home, where he reported what he had seen. Joseph V. Paterno testified to receiving the graduate assistant's report at his home on a Saturday morning. Paterno testified that the graduate assistant was very upset. Paterno called Tim Curley, Penn State Athletic Director and Paterno's immediate superior, to his home the very next day, a Sunday, and reported to him that the graduate assistant had seen Jerry Sandusky in the Lasch Building showers fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy." - Grand jury report
"People who are crying for Joe Paterno are saying 'He did the right thing, he passed it along to his boss, it wasn't described as a rape, it was described as something of a sexual nature.' Well, isn't that enough to go to the police? A guy you employ is doing something of a sexual nature with a 10-year-old boy in a shower on campus and you don't go to the police? He was the most powerful man on that campus. The bottom line was Paterno was protecting one thing: Penn State and his legacy. That's all he cared about. He didn't care about the victims. The most insulting thing wasn't the rioting. The most insulting thing for me was watching Joe Paterno after he was fired saying, 'Let's pray for the victims.' Well, there wouldn't so many victims if he had done something."
- Anonymous, New York man who told the Massachusetts grand jury that indicted Oliva that the basketball coach had abused him, too.
* * *
"(Athletic director Bill) Curley testified that he advised Penn State University President Graham Spanier of the information he had received from the graduate assistant.Spanier testified to his approval of the approach taken by Curley. Curley did not report the incident to the University Police." - Grand jury report
"Adults don't report because they diminish the impact the abuse has on a child compared to the impact reporting will have on the accused and their organization. They refuse to consider the lifelong impact abuse has on the child. Child abuse is often at the core of self-destructive behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse, sex and gambling addictions, depression and suicide."
- Marion White, founder of the Child Abuse Prevention Program, a New York organization that teaches children to resist and report abuse.
* * *
"The investigation revealed the existence of Victim 4, a boy who was repeatedly subjected to Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse and Indecent Assault at the hands of Sandusky. The assaults took place on the Penn State University Park campus, in the football buildings, at Toftrees Golf Resort and Conference Center in Centre County, where the football team and staff stayed prior to home football games.Victim 4 became a fixture in the Sandusky household, sleeping overnight and accompanying Sandusky to charity functions and Penn State games.Victim 4 stated that Sandusky would wrestle with him and maneuver him into a position in which Sandusky's head was at Victim 4's genitals and Victim 4's head was at Sandusky's genitals. He testified that Sandusky also attempted to penetrate Victim 4's anus with both a finger and his penis. … Eventually, Victim 4 began to intentionally distance himself from Sandusky, not taking his phone calls and at times even hiding when Sandusky showed up at Victim 4's home. Victim 4 had a girlfriend, of whom Sandusky did not approve. Sandusky tried to use guilt and bribery to regain time with Victim 4. Victim 4 also said that Sandusky once gave him $50 to buy marijuana at a location known to Victim 4. Victim 4 smoked the marijuana in Sandusky's car on the ride home. This was when Victim 4 was trying to distance himself from Sandusky because he wanted no more sexual contact with him." - Grand jury report
"I think from the time it happens until you are in your 20s, you have no understanding of it. You block it out. I know I blocked it out. As I got old enough, I began to understand all the things that were going wrong in my life - alcohol abuse, fights, all these things that were going on, when I looked back, I realized I wasn't going after the person I was fighting, I was going after the person that abused me. All that anger was misdirected. That's why people come out about it later in life, in their 30s. They are adults at that point. They understand things. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about it. When our case was over, people said, 'I'm glad it is over for you.' I don't even bother to answer. No matter what happens, it is never over. You have to work to be happy and enjoy your life, but it is never over and you never forget it."
- Anonymous
* * *
"Victim 6 recalls being taken into the locker room next to Holuba Hall at Penn Sate by Sandusky when he was 11 years old, in 1998. Sandusky picked him up at his home, telling him they were going to be working out ... They then lifted weights for about 15 or 20 minutes. ... Then Sandusky began wrestling with Victim 6, who was much smaller than Sandusky. Then Sandusky said they needed to shower, even though Victim 6 was not sweaty. Victim 6 felt awkward and tried to go to a shower some distance away from Sandusky but Sandusky called him over, saying he had already warmed up a shower for the boy. While in the shower, Sandusky approached the boy, grabbed him around the waist and said, "I'm going to squeeze your guts out." Sandusky lathered up the boy. Sandusky bear-hugged the boy from behind. Victim 6 testified that the entire shower episode felt very awkward. Looking back it as an adult, Victim 6 says Sandusky's behavior towards him as an 11-year-old boy was inappropriate. … When Victim 6 was dropped off at home, his hair was wet and his mother immediately questioned him about this. She reported the incident to University Police, who investigated." - Grand jury report
"The first thing I would say to the victims is 'You are my heroes.' They are my heroes because they took on a powerful establishment that wanted to hide this and push it under the rug. I know the courage it took to go forward. I had a lot of anger for years after my abuse. There was a wall around me - 'Nobody can ever know about this. I'll be ridiculed. I'll be called a liar.' And that's exactly what happened. I remained silent for 23 years, but I was proud to be out and be public about it. I want these kids to know that I am available, that I will travel to Pennsylvania to help these boys. I've been sober for five years now. I'd be happy to stand by their side and let them know they can survive this."
- Phil Repaci, former Nazareth High School student, first reported abuse by Mistretta.
* * *
"In the fall of 2000, a janitor named James "Jim" Calhoun observed Sandusky in the showers of the Lasch Building with a young boy pinned up against the wall, performing oral sex on the boy. Jim reported that he had seen Sandusky, whose name was not known to him, holding the boy up against the wall and licking on him. Jim said he had 'fought in the (Korean) war, seen people with their guts blowed out, arms dismembered. I just witnessed something in there I'll never forget.' And he described Sandusky as performing oral sex on the boy. In discussions held later that shift, the employees expressed concern that if they reported what Jim had seen, they might lose their jobs. No report was ever made by Jim Calhoun." – Grand jury report
"I feel sorry for McQueary and the janitor. They had to witness it. That must have been traumatic. I'm tired of hearing people say what they would do if they saw this going on in the shower. Everybody says they would do the right thing. But how many people are willing to put their job on the line to do the right thing?"
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