Former Penn State punter/TE Brian Masella tells Penn Live’s Greg Pickel a group of 200 Nittany Lions letterman have signed a letter directed to university president Eric Barron and the school’s board of trustees asking for the return of Joe Paterno’s statue to Beaver Stadium. The group’s timing is something less than spectacular, coming just weeks after claims that Paterno had knowledge of sexual abuse allegations against defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky as early as the mid-1970’s.
Masella told PennLive that the letter has been in the works for about a week following a recent alumni award acceptance speech by former Lion great Franco Harris, who has been criticizing the the school’s governance for some time.
Video of Harris’ speech has not been released, according to student news outlet Onward State, who did provide a transcript of the speech.
“[Franco Harris] told us, as players, as alumni, to remain fighting for the truth from the trustees because they haven’t been outwardly corporative and truthful in fighting for the football program, or its former coaches, players, etc., and the alumni in general, in this Sandusky matter; the players that signed on, none of us are guilty of any wrongdoing, and we feel like we’ve been thrown under the bus by the trustees circa the time Joe was fired,” Masella told PennLive, adding that now was a good time to release a statement because of a board of trustee meeting scheduled July 21-22.
“This is a strong reminder that we are not moving on.”