Late head football coach was fired in 2011 amid the Jerry Sandusky scandal
A miniature version of the Joe Paterno statue that many alumni want restored on campus is for sale at Rapid Transit Sports in State College for just under $100. Photo: Kris Maher/The Wall Street Journal
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that Penn State should resurrect the statue of late head football coach Joe Paterno, who was accused of covering up a colleagues sex abuse of young boys.
Campaigning in Pittsburgh, about 140 miles west of the public university, Mr. Trump vowed to bring back jobs in the coal and steel industries when he abruptly pivoted to Mr. Paterno.
Hows Joe Paterno? Mr. Trump asked of the coach, who died in in 2012. We gonna bring that back. How bout that whole deal?
Mr. Trumps spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said he was referring to the bronze statue that was removed in 2012. She did not respond to follow-up questions from The Journal about the sex abuse case.
Pennsylvania will hold its GOP primary on April 26. Some Penn State alumni have been trying to restore the statue and Mr. Paternos legacy as the most successful major-college football coach in history.
A Quinnipiac University Poll of Pennsylvania adults last year found that 59% thought the statue should be returned to a prominent spot on campus.
A special investigating counsel led by former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Louis Freeh said Mr. Paterno and three former university administrators conspired to conceal the behavior of Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator.
Mr. Paterno was fired days after the Pennsylvania attorney generals office in November 2011 charged Mr. Sandusky with having molested boys for more than a decade. Mr. Paterno died within three months, of lung cancer, at 85.
Mr. Sandusky, who has maintained his innocence, was convicted in 2012 of abusing 10 young boys over more than a decade and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. Some of the charges have been dropped against the school administrators, who have denied any wrongdoing.
Poster Comment:
Soon he'll be "severely conservative" like Mitt?