LITTLE ROCK — If Jerry Sandusky is sentenced to the absolute maximum of 442 years it will not be enough.
He was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts of sexual molestation of 10 victims and the former Penn State football assistant coach reportedly didn’t flinch.
And understand, there were probably more young men who chose to try and keep their lives intact by not coming forward.
Sandusky didn’t blink an eye or give what has been described as a creepy or weird grin he showed when Joseph McGettigan III, the prosecutor, called him a “serial predatory pedophile responsible for ravaging the lives of 10 children.”
In his totality, Gerald Arthur Sandusky is evil, the most cold-blooded, cruel and inhuman figure in the history of sports. He’s a Jack the Ripper of football.
Sports produce hundreds and hundreds of scandals, always have and probably always will because everybody who participates in sports wants to win. But what Sandusky was found guilty of goes far beyond a scandal.
His actions were much more than the felonies he was found guilty of - he was a living, breathing Satan.
He lied to gain the trust of young men, most of whom had no father figure in their lives, and then he heartlessly crushed their trust, apparently without remorse or a sense of wrongdoing.
His trail of destruction should have ended almost 15 years ago. But things were ignored at Penn State, and now a great institution, one widely respected not just for football but academics, will suffer the consequences.
That, too, is justice for the way a few ignored what was happening.
No one, though, has suffered more than those brave young men who came to court and sat a few feet away from the man who had violated not just their bodies but their hopes, minds and their trust.
They courageously told the world the horrifying truth.
Jerry Sandusky never so much as grimaced.
He was completely and totally emotionally detached.
He was an evil monster who got caught red-handed by Mike McQueary, who reported what he saw to Joe Paterno.
Before that there had been allegations, and when it all began to unravel, jobs were lost, as they should have been, even the great Joe Pa, who reported what McQueary had told him to his superiors but not to law enforcement, which is required by Pennsylvania law.
Somehow, some unexplainable way, it went away.
Sandusky was banned from using Penn State facilities, but he never lost the parking spot in front of the facilities he continued to use and abuse.
McQueary witnessed Sandusky’s molestation of a young man known only as Victim No. 2 in court records, and the young man’s parents were never notified.
Another victim told his mom, and she chose not to believe it. She has her own trail to hike. A janitor allegedly saw another attack.
Instead of being arrested and stopped, Sandusky continued his horrible hunt through using his foundation for young people and Penn State facilities for his crimes. This was a disgusting situation from start to finish. Everybody involved emerged on the losing side, although those young men who came to court for a semblance of justice had a winning spirit, more than they will ever realize. Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts and could face as much as 442 years, but it wouldn’t be enough. There is no suitable time for Sandusky’s crime.
Sports, Pages 17 on 06/26/2012