Gerald Arthur Sandusky (born January 26, 1944) is an American convicted serial child molester and retired college football coach.
Sandusky served as an assistant coach for his entire career, mostly at Pennsylvania State University under Joe Paterno. Sandusky was an assistant coach at Penn State from 1969 to 1999, where he served as defensive coordinator for the final 22 years of his career. He received "Assistant Coach of the Year" awards in 1986 and 1999. Sandusky authored several books related to his football coaching experiences.
In 1977, Sandusky founded The Second Mile, a non-profit charity serving Pennsylvania's underprivileged and at-risk youth. Following his 1999 retirement from Penn State, he continued working with the Second Mile at Penn State and maintained an office at the university until 2011.
In 2011, following a two-year grand jury investigation, Sandusky was arrested and charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period from 1994 to 2009. Sandusky met his molestation victims through the Second Mile. Several of his victims later testified against Sandusky in his sexual abuse trial. Four of the charges were subsequently dropped.
On June 22, 2012, Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of the 48 remaining charges. Sandusky was sentenced on October 9, 2012, to 30 to 60 years in prison. He has been incarcerated in the Pennsylvania prison system since October 31, 2012.
Early life and education Sandusky was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, on January 26, 1944, the only son of Evelyn Mae (née Lee), an Irish Catholic homemaker who came from a small Pennsylvania coal mining town, and Arthur Sandusky, whose parents, Edward and Josephine Sendecki, were immigrants from Poland who moved to East Vandergrift, Pennsylvania.
Sandusky's father Arthur worked with youth service programs for over 30 years, mostly as director of the Brownson House in Washington, Pennsylvania, a community recreation center for children. His father founded the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling program, and created junior basketball, volleyball, boxing, and football programs for Brownson House. He improved its facilities, adding a new playground, gym, outdoor basketball court, and a renovated football field. He managed the 1955 Washington, Pennsylvania baseball team that won the Pony League World Series championship, the only team from Washington to win that championship. Arthur was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.
At home, Jerry Sandusky adopted his own personal code called "Jer's Law", which he observed for many years. The rules adopted were that Sandusky could be mischievous but not to the point where someone could be intentionally hurt. He also vowed to not be disrespectful to his teachers, and he swore to himself that he would tell the truth if he was caught breaking any rules. Sandusky is a fan of the 1994 film Forrest Gump. He confided to one of his victims that he identifies with the title character. Sandusky signed off at least one of his letters to his victim as "Forrest Jer."
Sandusky attended Washington High School, where he was a good student and standout athlete, playing baseball, basketball, and football. He was a leader on his junior high basketball team that went undefeated through the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League playoffs in his final season there. Sandusky's classmates during this period describe him as a studious "loner" who "never dated in high school" but was a popular and handsome athlete.
Sandusky attended Penn State, where played college football under Rip Engle for the Nittany Lions, starting at defensive end from 1963 to 1965. In 1966, Sandusky graduated first in his class with a B.S. in health in 1966 and obtained a second degree in physical education in 1970.
Personal life In 1966, Sandusky married Dorothy "Dottie" (née Gross), and together they adopted six children. Sandusky and his wife also served as foster parents. One of Sandusky's sons, Jon Sandusky, was director of player personnel for the Cleveland Browns from 2010 to 2014. Another son, E. J. Sandusky, was an assistant football coach at West Chester University. Sandusky described his family as "old fashioned", and his wife Dottie as the family's leader.
Matt Sandusky, one of Sandusky's children and a former foster child of Sandusky's, released a statement through his attorney, Andrew Shubin, that stated that Sandusky had sexually molested Matt as a child. The statement was released on the day the jury began deliberations in the sex abuse trial against Sandusky.
On February 13, 2017, another of Sandusky's adopted children, his son Jeffrey (Jeff), was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a child and possession of child pornography, and entered a plea deal while awaiting trial in September 2017, with sentencing scheduled for December 2017. On December 8, 2017, he was given a sentence of three-and-a-half to six years in prison after "pleading guilty to pressuring a teenage girl to send him naked photos and asking her teen sister to perform a sex act."
Jerry Sandusky was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in State College.
Career Early coaching career Sandusky served as a graduate assistant under Paterno at Penn State in 1966. He was the assistant basketball and track coach at Juniata College in 1967 and the offensive line coach at Boston University in 1968.
Coaching career at Penn State He returned to Penn State in 1969 and remained there as an assistant coach until his retirement at the end of the 1999 season. Sandusky served as defensive line coach in 1969, became linebacker coach in 1970, and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 1977, holding that position until his retirement. In his years as a linebacker coach and defensive coordinator, he coached many defensive squads, and Penn State gained a reputation for outstanding linebacker play, producing 10 first-team All-Americans at that position, and acquiring the nickname "Linebacker U". Jack Ham and LaVar Arrington were two of the noted pro football greats to emerge from his teams.
Upon his retirement, Sandusky was awarded "both an unusual compensation package and a special designation of 'emeritus' rank that carried special privileges, including access to the university's recreational facilities." Spanier approved a lump-sum payment to Sandusky of $168,000. His final game coaching at Penn State was a notable game for Sandusky. Penn State faced Texas A&M in the 1999 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. The Nittany Lions' defense shut out Texas A&M, 24–0, the only bowl game shutout victory for Penn State under Paterno.
The Second Mile
After retirement, Sandusky hosted many summer football camps and was active in the Second Mile, a children's charity he founded in State College, Pennsylvania, in 1977.
President George H. W. Bush praised the group as a "shining example" of charity work in a 1990 letter, one of that president's much-promoted "Thousand points of light" encouragements to volunteer community organizations.Ganim, Sara, "Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State football staffer, subject of grand jury investigation", The Patriot-News, March 31, 2011, 8:00/8:20 am. Via Shinal, John "Joe Paterno botched the biggest play of his life", MarketWatch, November 12, 2011; JShinal comment, comment p. 5 reply to Insightfool c. 2 pm 11/13. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
Citing Sandusky's work with the Second Mile charity to provide care for foster children, then U.S. Senator Rick Santorum honored Sandusky with an Angels in Adoption award in 2002. On November 15, 2011, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, a non-profit adoption awareness organization, rescinded its 2002 Angels in Adoption award to Jerry and Dorothy Sandusky. Santorum, then running for the Republican nomination for President, said he was "devastated" by the scandal.
Former Eagles head coaches Dick Vermeil and Andy Reid, former Phillies owner Ruly Carpenter, Matt Millen from ESPN, actor Mark Wahlberg, Arnold Palmer, and football player Franco Harris, among others, served on the Honorary Board of Second Mile., Yard Barker blog; "with FoxSports.com on MSN" upper right in page logo; 11/10/2011. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
During the time period that Sandusky was being investigated by the Office of the Attorney General, investigators served subpoenas on the Second Mile to get records of boys who had been through the program as well as Sandusky's travel and expense records. The records from 2000 to 2003 were missing. Recordkeepers later found files for one year, but the records for the other three years were never found.
Child sex abuse scandal
Investigation and charges An investigation was initiated by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office into sexual abuse allegations against Sandusky in 2008. The charges were initiated at Central Mountain High School, where a student made allegations of abuse against Sandusky."Jerry Sandusky alleged Victim 1 graduates after being bullied out of school, is ready to testify" Sunday, June 10, 2012, 11:25 AM By SARA GANIM, The Patriot-News
On November 4, 2011, a grand jury that had been convened in September 2009, or earlier, indicted Sandusky on 40 counts of sex crimes against young boys. The indictment came after a three-year investigation that explored allegations of Sandusky having inappropriate contact with an underage boy over the course of four years, beginning when the boy was ten years old. The boy's parents reported the incident to police in 2009. The grand jury identified eight boys who had been singled out for sexual advances or sexual assaults by Sandusky, taking place from 1994 through 2009. At least 20 of the incidents allegedly took place while Sandusky was still employed at Penn State.
According to the first indictment, in 2002 assistant coach Mike McQueary, then a Penn State graduate assistant, said he walked in on Sandusky anally raping a 10-year-old boy. The next day, McQueary reported the incident to head coach Joe Paterno. (Later while testifying during the Sandusky trial, McQueary spoke about what he had relayed to Paterno: "I told him and I want to make sure I'm clear. I made sure he knew it was sexual and wrong. There was no doubt.") Paterno told McQueary at the time, "You did what you had to do. It is my job now to figure out what we want to do." At the preliminary hearing for Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, McQueary testified that Paterno was "shocked and saddened, kind of slumped back on his chair." He said that Paterno told him: "'I'm sorry you had to see that. It's terrible.' And he said, 'I need to think and tell some people about what you saw and I'll let you know what ... what we'll do next.'" Paterno then informed Penn State athletic director Tim Curley. At the preliminary hearing, McQueary also testified that he "believed" Sandusky was having "some type of intercourse" with the boy. He said that this was based on "the positioning" of Sandusky and the boy, but that he never saw "insertion" or "penetration" and is not "100 percent sure" that intercourse was occurring.Transcript of Proceedings, Preliminary Hearing, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Timothy Mark Curley and Gary Charles Shultz, pp. 13, 14