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Phil Knight Attacks Penn State Trustees At Joe Paterno's Memorial

by Jason Kirk • Jan 26, 2012 3:37 PM EST

While watching the public memorial for Joe Paterno, a family member wondered why none of the speakers were saying anything about the Jerry Sandusky tragedy that claimed the coach's job and fouled part of his legacy. "It's not really the crowd for that," I said, not expecting anybody to bring it up during the event and definitely not expecting anybody to defend his actions.

Nike CEO Phil Knight is not a person who tends to be predictable. (Penn State's teams wear Nike.)

Knight said Paterno had never let him down, then emphasized that he included the entire term of their relationship. He ran through the details of Paterno relaying the accusation against Sandusky to a "world-class" university, apparently one capable of handling it without his help.

"There is a villain in this tragedy," Knight said. "It lies in that investigation. Not in Joe Paterno's response to it."

The crowd approved, moving Knight to declare Paterno the "real trustee at Penn State University," in reference to the board that fired him days after the grand jury report broke.

Before Knight, former players and coaches spoke of Paterno in the highest possible terms. The elephant in the room went unacknowledged, but that's just the way this kind of thing works. Most of Knight's speech fit that mold. He said he found himself without a hero after Paterno's passing.

The service has been a reminder of everything about Paterno that really was excellent. But now we're all just weighing the Sandusky stuff again, which will always remain an essential part of the story. So there you go.

@gbdawkins Future Phil Knight: "You owe me one, Penn State football. Now, wear these polka dotted space uniforms."

For more on Paterno, visit Penn State blog Black Shoe Diaries, Big Ten blog Off Tackle Empire and SB Nation Pittsburgh. For more college football, stay tuned to SB Nation's college football news hub.

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Comments

hmmmm...

I can see Phil’s point. I mean, Phil Knight knows about the deplorable working conditions in Nike’s 3rd world sweat shops, the use of child labor and abuse of the employees in these plants. He’s passed word on to the governments of the countries where his sweat shops are located about the allegations. What more could you want the man to do? (legally) He and Paterno are saints who cannot be blamed for either the rape of young children nor forcing young children to work for nothing making shoes because they did everything that is legally required of them and are too great of men to be bothered by any vague sense of moral obligations that are clearly below their stature. Don’t let the unpleasantness of moral ambiguity tarnish the Legacy of either of these great men whose contribution to human civilization whether it be building a good football team or making a quality shoe is far more important then the minor negatives of kids being raped or turned into slaves.

by Sean Coleman on Jan 26, 2012 5:16 PM EST reply actions 2 recs