Horrifying article about a Penn State rapist
- Thread starter deanx0
- Start date
They didn’t even mention the Gary Hayman (alleged) rape trial in 1971 when lawyer Bob Mitinger got him off by demeaning the victim. I attended that trial as sports editor of the student newspaper. We had a news reporter cover it. She did a good job of reporting but the jury made the call. I am not proud of my input because I should have written something. Rape trials are not published in the sports pages and Hayman had not suited up yet because freshmen were still ineligible. The trial consumed his sophomore season. I believe he was suspended for the year. He played two seasons with the Nits and then at least five more in the NFL. For what it’s worth, Gary has led a good life, working with young people in his Wilmington, DE hometown.
The Hayman trial was the first time I saw Joe’s system for influencing and intimidating people at work in what was then a quaint college town. By the late 1970s, as the article also points out, things got ugly. The one daily newspaper in town that covered Hodne’s trial did not mention he had been a member of the football team until Joe kicked him off in August 1978. That decision to omit his football connection would have come from the publisher after a phone call from Joe or one of his flunkies. The reporter, Janie Musala, a friend of mine, said as much in the ESPN article.
The Hayman trial was the first time I saw Joe’s system for influencing and intimidating people at work in what was then a quaint college town. By the late 1970s, as the article also points out, things got ugly. The one daily newspaper in town that covered Hodne’s trial did not mention he had been a member of the football team until Joe kicked him off in August 1978. That decision to omit his football connection would have come from the publisher after a phone call from Joe or one of his flunkies. The reporter, Janie Musala, a friend of mine, said as much in the ESPN article.
Last edited:
All I can say is, god bless Irv Pankey. In almost 120 pages of darkness and depravity, his actions were a shining beacon of light.
Last edited:
That's one of the most affecting pieces of journalism I've read in a while. What a piece of work by Paula Lavigne.
This is very true, what a great man. I think another small hero in this story is John Collins, the Long Island prosecutor that made sure parole boards always had the full story of what they were dealing with and that monster never could haunt society again.
Agree 100%. I actually teared up a couple of times--during the Irv Pankey section and the burning of the mother's journal. This longform journalism is getting rarer these days and that is one of the long-term damaging effects of the corporatization and minimalization of media in the past decade plus.
+1 to this sentiment. Irv Pankey's actions were a wonderful glimmer of human kindness in an otherwise horrific story.
Matt Millen was the team captain who quit the required mile run at the start of summer practice in 1979. Classic move by Matt, who clashed often with Joe, almost from Day One.
That's the single most compelling piece of sports writing I've consumed in at least 20 years. Whew. I'll be thinking about that for a very long time.
Jesus, that story was . . . something. Absolutely nuts that I've never heard of this guy before. I cannot believe the damage he inflicted on the world after his initial conviction due to the judge not remanding him until sentencing. Hard to imagine that would have happened if he wasn't a white dude from a seemingly normal family.
All I could think about reading that was, how many other college football programs had a Todd Hodne in the 70s and 80s? That personality type, maybe not quite as extreme in the actions, was not unique during that era, and Paterno was not alone in enabling them.
The University of Florida would like to move the discussion into this century and nominate Aaron Hernandez.
I believe concerns about his "personality type" caused him to slide in the draft and required Urban Meyer to make some phone calls.
Sure. It wouldn't surprise me if more big time football programs had a guy similar to this at some point than didn't.
Having Tim Tebow attracting ALL of the attention allowed plenty of darkness to go unchecked in the program under Urban's watch.
As I've mentioned in other threads, Gainesville was less safe thanks to the players Urban recruited (way beyond Hernandez) and the friends of those recruits that followed along. The law firm that deals with athletic department legal issues was billing some serious hours trying to make things go away.
What a phenomenal, horrifying, affecting, piece of journalism. For any category. Deserves whatever awards it would be eligible for. Like others, I was alternating between rage and horror at the events being described, and literal tears for the sections involving Irv Pankey, and his simple, but powerful act of decency and support for Betsy Sailor. Beyond the specifics of the story, it serves as a powerful cautionary tale, which we still need, of the dangers of these entrenched, legendary caretaker coaches, operating in one horse towns, and the dangerous level of unchecked power they hold. I'm now chagrined to say that at one time in my life, Paterno, and Bob Knight(though his transgressions don't rise to the level of Paterno's) were among my most admired people in sports. My god, how completely wrong that was. I actually don't think either were inherently bad or corrupt men, but decades of having their power, image, and egos enabled just warped their moral compasses completely. And while I don't think Penn State football created Hodne, he was clearly a developing sociopath before he got there, that environment seems like the worst possible one for him to have been in, and for any attempt to be to be made to hold him fully accountable, early, for his horrendous crimes.
Last edited:
I don't know what I was thinking when I started the article at 10 last night and couldn't fall asleep until long past midnight.
Echoing everything said so far, but the thing that really got to me was how drastically different his victims processed their assaults.
Echoing everything said so far, but the thing that really got to me was how drastically different his victims processed their assaults.
This is an amazing piece of labor intensive journalism. The link was at the top of the page at ESPN.com as I returned to my office yesterday for my break between classes. Lunch went uneaten.
The story development, depth, and emotion are exceptional. I passed the link on to my multimedia journalism students, but the length/time commitment will be probably be a heavy lift for them. I hope they prove me wrong in class tomorrow and the compelling narrative is able to engage them and capture their attention.
The story development, depth, and emotion are exceptional. I passed the link on to my multimedia journalism students, but the length/time commitment will be probably be a heavy lift for them. I hope they prove me wrong in class tomorrow and the compelling narrative is able to engage them and capture their attention.
Amazing piece of journalism. I've spent entirely too much time this morning trying to find an email address for the authors to send them a note. I don't care if it's never read, and I can't remember the last time I was ever compelled to send a note to authors for a story, but that was just as good as it gets from an investigative journalism standpoint, IMO.
Others have talked about Irv Pankey, and he should get so, so much credit for doing what he did. His reunion with Betsy Sailor had me broken down. But Betsy Sailor's story is the one that really, really stuck with me. Without her, there is a damn good chance Hodne has many, many more victims. Her bravery to tell her story, and her ability in the moment to focus on details and then recall them in court may have saved countless lives. All of the other women wanted to come forward and were stonewalled, but thankfully, there was a Betsy Sailor.
And the 16 year old girl that fought like a monster to get away from Hodne, and bring his Long Island spree to an end...My God.
Among other things, the fact that the (then) 11 yo girl blamed herself for drawing Hodne's attention to their home, and then found out much later that he had indeed threatened her mother with hurting her, the daughter. Just brutally heartbreaking. You're hoping there's some end, some break in the chain of trauma, but there isn't.
Absolutely. The courage and resolve of all of the victims is the most compelling takeaway. In a story full of compelling takeaways.
The Penn State reddit is naturally filled with accusations that the author of this article has no scruples, etc.
The cult of Paterno still runs deep.
The cult of Paterno still runs deep.
That's not surprising. (Having known some Joe Pa fans.)
These people have made this life worse for so many others. And they don't even know.
The piece quoted Paterno's infamous "with the benefit of hindsight, I should have done more" line about the Sandusky assaults. Yeah no shit Joe, you should have done so much more and, yet, you let this happen with at least two predators. Hell, it took him saying that for Penn State to finally fire him. The school and that program are all culpable.
I have very few words that haven't been said already. I think stories like this, along with "Missoula" by Krakauer, should be mandatory reading for pretty much anyone involved with Title IX (or maybe everyone in higher ed) on a college campus. I'm writing a note on LinkedIn to one of the authors now, highly doubt it gets read but I still think I feel the need to hit send. And if for some reason my paths should ever cross with Irv Pankey (or, I guess, a number of people from this story), I imagine I will try to buy that person a drink, just to acknowledge them.
I went to Paula Lavigne's twitter page to screenshot the article and post to instagram and made the mistake of reading some of the comments. Towards the end of the article there is some discussion of why things are so slow to change...I think whatever is going on in the reddit forum and these twitter responses are a pretty fucking large reason why. People's need to jump to defend institutions, a brand, an individual won't allow for systemic change.
It’s like politics; there are people who make the college that they went to or a fan of part of their identity and no information is going to sway their beliefs; it’s cultish for so many seemingly reasonable people .
Look! Over there! An accusation that is immaterial to the truth of the story!!
There were at least five times I looked at the scrollbar on the right and said "how is there more left". Absolutely astonishing work of journalism.
On Paterno statements in this article, Paterno's reaction to the allegations of sexual assault by two players on one woman also struck me as really odd. Maybe it was the times, but someone not being able to get their head around what a threesome entails was just...bizarre. I am making a leap here but it left me wondering how many times he just dismissed something with a "nah, I don't see player x doing that therefore left's just move on/ignore the allegation."
If memory serves, I believe this "naivite" was mentioned during the Sandusky stuff...like, he didn't "get it" even when he was told. That seems horribly unlikely to me, but who knows. Either way, fuck Joe Paterno.
Agree with everyone on what a fantastic piece of journalism this was, in all ways: content, style, and truthseeking. Phenomenal (and horrifying) stuff.
This is so spot on. In my experience, Title IX training is done by letting the video run and doing other work and then taking the quiz and moving on with your life. This type of impact journalism should/would open eyes of people in athletic departments - as well as other parts of campuses - to what is really going on.
At the Division II college I worked at I overheard an athlete tell a head coach that she was raped and he told her he was sick of her "crying wolf." I immediately reported it to Title IX. He got chastised, but ultimately got in no trouble. The athlete - who had been on probation - eventually left the school. Same coach let a player who got a DUI and slapped a cop play in their next event.
And through it all, he is super well respected on campus, is in administration and continues to coach like nothing ever happened.
College athletics is such a cesspool.
At the end of the piece, there is this: contact Tom Junod at Thomas.C.Junod@espn.com or Paula Lavigne at Paula.Lavigne@espn.com. This is part of an additional request to be contacted if anyone else has additional info regarding any portion of the story/context.
Funny you post this Greg, as I legit spent about 20 minutes trying to find a way to send a note to Irv Pankey (old profile on FB that he clearly doesn’t use and couldn’t track anything else down).
The whole thing — the authors, so many heroes from this absolutely devastatingly tragic story. I read the whole thing in a Starbucks — fighting back allergies at times over the span of almost an hour. It was really a breathtaking piece of journalism.
The point being — the kind of journalism that compels randoms like us to want to reach out to parties involved is the kind of journalism that we need more of. A lot more of.
I'm glad you mentioned "Missoula" by Krakauer. I worked in Downtown Missoula for more then 10 years and Umontana is a mile away. I stopped in a coffee shop one day to buy coffee grounds for home and then have an afternoon coffee. In the back of the shop is the fresh brewed coffee counter with the old school deli booths one would find in any random diner. I ordered a cup and started towards the booths to sit and sure enough, Krakauer was sitting in one. He returned to Missoula after the publication to petition courts to have additional documents unsealed for the public. He was alone and going over some documents at the booth. I stopped, asked him if he minded if I sat for a moment and he said sure.
I asked him about his overall experience on Everest in 1996 and then asked him about his follow up work on the "Missoula" publication. We chatted a bit and I finally asked him, after prefacing "I support your work here, it needs to be told as there are so many stories about athletes getting away with assault, rape, and intimidation" that if he felt he was making a difference?
He replied with a very glum look on his face. "Nope". I thanked him for a few moments of his time, got up and said I thought he was.
Since that publication, UMontana has removed two Presidents (one who was sitting president during all of the rapes and assaults and the next one that was trying to fire anyone connected with covering it all up and that somehow cost him his job), two head coaches (head coach who covered it all up and the next one who sucked as a coach) and one AD who was in the position for all of the football team rapes and assaults. He covered it all up and is still highly regarded in this community.
Point being, Krakauer was hated and loved at the same time for his work telling the tales of rape.
I worked as a coach in D3 athletics and I'm still confused about the contradiction in my head between loving my time there and the connections I made, while also firmly believing the bolded is 100% accurate. And my Title IX training was pretty similar to what you described, except it was led by in house counsel in an effort to heighten the importance. The school was in the news 5 or 6 years ago when a judge ordered they turn over materials relating to their in house investigation of a sexual assault on campus when they tried to hide behind student privacy laws.
Thank you for sharing this story. Your bolded, however, just absolutely crushes me. I read 'Missoula' when it was published early summer 2015, and toyed with the idea of making both my Men's & Women's Teams read it. I didn't. A few years later I learned one of the females was sexually assaulted at an off campus party as a freshman Fall of 2015 and never reported...we are very close and have relatively open discussions about it still, why she never reported, etc. While I understand the argument that her reporting the assault potentially saves another victim - the issue a book like 'Missoula,' the article that is the subject of this thread, or a Netflix's 'Unbelievable' point out - is that the reporter WAY too often turns into a victim her or himself. Relying on 18-22 year olds to lead the way in changing rape culture on college campuses is absurd. Hence my original point that this stuff should be required reading by administration. But it's not...and positive change is barely noticeable, if at all, so I totally understand Krakauer's reaction.
I realize I'm rambling now (it's a triggering subject for me so I have a difficult time parsing my words correctly), but I'll end it on a positive note: I did indeed send a message on LinkedIn to Paula Lavigne, introducing myself as a former college coach and thanking her for the work she did, and that I couldn't fathom the physical hours or mental strain in must've caused. But that the work was essential and I hope it reaches as many people as possible. Touched to say that minutes ago she sent a message back,
|
I'm sure if you send a note/request to the authors of the article, they will pass it along to Irv Pankey.
Saw this image on Twitter.
View: https://twitter.com/KevDGrussing/status/1513747549114585093
I had this horrible thought that Hodne’s quote about backing off if his intended victim fought hard enough being another manipulative fuck you. Survivors sometimes blame themselves and wonder if there was anything different they could’ve done. Hodne’s self-serving and seemingly demonstrably false statement (what happened with the women he killed?) seems engineered to trigger that.
I'm with you on that statement being bullshit, but Hodne "only" killed one man. He did not murder any women.
Err. He was not charged with the murder of any women, I should say.
I don't want to turn this into a Krakauer thread; I love his work (I'm re-reading Into Thin Air at this moment), but I haven't read "Missoula" simply because I am afraid of how sad it will make me. Maybe I should give it a look, regardless.
I'm glad (relieved?) he came across as a decent person in your interaction with him. He's received a *lot* of blowback from people he's profiled in his books (the McCandless family, Anton Boukreev, the Church of Latter Day Saints, the "Three Cups of Tea" guy), all of him paint him as a crass, self - glorifying, opportunist. I'm glad that does not appear to actually be the case.
To close the loop, I heard back from Paula Lavigne (I emailed both of them), her response is below. Thanks again for getting the info:
Wow, Greg, what a nice note to read. I really appreciate it. It matters so much to hear from readers who recognize the work that goes into something like this. Thank you.
P.
Trailer for a new film on ESPN+, Betsy & Irv, is out
View: https://twitter.com/TomJunod/status/1516757527580585994?s=20&t=Yr-8V8m_LVW6ZHBW8WWtLA
I'm not sure I can watch the full film without becoming a sobbing wreck
View: https://twitter.com/TomJunod/status/1516757527580585994?s=20&t=Yr-8V8m_LVW6ZHBW8WWtLA
I'm not sure I can watch the full film without becoming a sobbing wreck