Hundreds of Former Penn State Football Players Come Out in Support Paterno Lawsuit

In a dramatic show of support for their old coach, more than 300 former Penn State football players are now publicly backing the Paterno family’s lawsuit against the NCAA. Former Nittany Lion Brian Masella released a letter on Monday demanding due process and the truth.

“We’re glad we’re able to show these guys – the Penn State alumni, the student and the trustees willing to step forward that we’re behind them 100 percent,” Masella tells Statecollege.com. “We want to show them they’re not standing there alone, all by themselves, on a cliff.” 

On May 29, the Paterno family, along with 20 other plaintiffs including former Penn State football players, coaches, trustees and faculty members, sued the NCAA. They have asked a judge to abolish the consent decree which would reverse Penn State’s sanctions. 

Those sanctions include a $60 million fine, a significant loss of scholarships for the football team, a four-year postseason ban for the football team and all wins vacated under Paterno between 1998-2011.

Masella says the letter is not sanctioned by Penn State. At the trustees’ meeting in March, several former football players addressed the board, voicing support for Paterno. Later, they decided they had to do something more. The letter is intended to show the plaintiffs that a large contingent of Lettermen is in their corner.

Masella started with the contacts he had in his email, and it grew from there. Players forwarded his email to other players, and it traveled around the country. 

“We wanted to do something for them, to bolster what they have done. We think it’s totally brave we do this, obviously, with the intent of finding the truth,” Masella says. “We support them 100 percent.”

Masella believes this is “the right thing to do.” 

“We thought it would be a great gesture,” Masella says. The more than 300 signatures span six decades of Penn State football, and include signatures from some Penn State greats, including Franco Harris, Todd Blackledge, OJ McDuffie, Kerry Collins and Paul Posluszny. It also includes the signatures of former coaches Dick Anderson and Booker Brooks. Both men testified for the defense in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse trial last year. 

The letter and the names of those who signed it appears below: 

Letter from Former Penn State Football Players:

On May 30, 2013, twenty people – including five Penn State Trustees, four faculty members, two former coaches, and nine former student-athletes, filed a lawsuit challenging the NCAA’s sanctions against Penn State.

On the same day, the plaintiffs sent the former Penn State football players a letter explaining their rationale for taking legal action. The letter notes that the plaintiffs intend to fight for Penn State’s honor and that they hope the former student-athletes “will be supportive of these efforts.”

We, the undersigned, indeed support the plaintiffs’ action in launching their suit.

Like them, we reject the NCAA’s assertion that a “culture of reverence for the football program” allowed Jerry Sandusky’s crimes to occur. We agree with the plaintiffs that the Freeh Report, which formed the foundation for the sanctions – was fundamentally flawed.

We stand with our nine brother Lettermen and the other eleven Penn Staters in demanding “fairness, due process, truth, and a just outcome.” Everyone – Sandusky’s victims, Penn Staters, and the public at large – deserves to know the complete truth.”

1950s

Robert Belus

Frank Della Penna

Charles Chick King

Ron Markiewicz

Fran “Bucky” Paolone

Don Ryan

John Jack Urban

1960s

Dick Anderson

Steve Bezna

Bob Capretto

Jack Curry

Alan Delmonaco

Gerry Farkas

Chuck Franzetta

Ed Gabirel

Tony Gebicki

James Graham

Warren Hartenstine

Michael Irwin

Robert Kline

George Kulka

John Kulka

Jon Lang

Ed Lenda

Linc Lincoln Lippincott

Jim Litterelle

Thomas Mairs

James McCormick

Thomas McGrath

Dave McNaughton

Donald Miller

Hank Oppermann

Bill Rettig

Dave Rowe

Ted Sebastianelli

Gary Shaffer

Steve Smear

Dave Truitt

Frank Waresak

Chris Weber

1970s

Walt Addie

Russell Albert

Kurt Allerman

Ferris Atty

Jeff Behm

David Bland

Jeff H. Bleamer

Dr. Jim Bradley

Tom Bradley

Richard M. Brown

Chuck Burkhart

John W. Bush

Greg Buttle

Robert Campbell

Michael Cappelletti

Richard F. Caravella

Joseph V. Carlozo

Charles Chiampi

Thomas Greg Christian

Craig Coder

Ron Coder

Mike Conforto

F. Len Consalvo

Bill Crummy

Steven A. Davis

Chris Devlin

Joe Diange

Thomas F. Donchez

Rocco English

Scott Fitzkee

Chuck Fusina

Paul Gabel

Steve Geise

Doneal Gersh

Bill Glennon

Tony Gordon

David F. Graf

Mike Guman

Brian Hand

Franco Harris

Scott Hettinger

Ron Hileman

Ron Hostetler

Thomas M. Hull

Neil Hutton

David W. Klock

Bob Knechtel

Richard A. Knechtel

Joe Lally

Philip F. LaPorta

John R. Lewchenko

Larry J. Ludwig

Mark J. Markovich

Brian Masella

Rich Mauti

Richard McClure

Lance Mehl

D. Scott Mitchell

Guy Montecalvo

Robert Nagle

Daniel F. Natale

Richard N. Nichols

Thomas Odell

Michael A. Orsini M.D.

Woody Petchel, Jr.

Carlos Quirch

Tom Rafferty

Joel Ramich

John M. Reihner

Paul Renaud

Robert Rickenbach

James E. Rosecrans

George SanFilippo

Carl Schaukowitch

Bernard Shalvey

Tom L. Shoemaker

Micky Shuler Sr

Tom Shuman

John Skorupan

Steven E. Stilley

Donald P. Tarosky

Raymond Tesner

Gary R. Tyler

Alberto Vitiello

Marshall Wagner

Dan Wallace

Alex Wasilov

Franklin Frog Williams

John Williams

Thomas J. Williams

Charles Wilson

1980s

Roger Alexander

Michael Arnold

Walker Lee Ashley

Mark Battaglia

Trey Bauer

Jeff Bergstrom

Todd Blackledge

Scott Bouslough

Kirk Bowman

Don Brinsky

Tim Bronish

Keith Brown

Jeff Brunie

Jeff Butya

Drew Bycoskie

Mark Cherewka

Chris Clauss

Joel Coles

Bill Contz

Tom Couch

Troy Cromwell

Peter Curkendall

Rich D’Amico

John DePasqua

Dwayne Downing

Michael Dunlay

Thomas Durant

Eric Etze

Craig Fiedler

Tim Freeman

Mark Fruehan

Brennan Gaertner

Mark Galimberti

Mike Garrett

Gene Gladys

Scott Gob

Nick Haden

Lance Hamilton

Albert Harris

Greg Hay

Stu Helgeson

Joseph Hines

John Hornyak

Randy Huttenberger

Timothy Janocko

‘Joe Johns

Eddie Johnson

Greg Jones

Keith Karpinski

Ken Kelley

Matt Knizner

Rich Kuzy

Massimo Manca

Kirk Martin

Carmen Masciantonio

Brian McCann

Matt McCartin

Donald Jay McCormick

Shawn McNamara

Mike Meade

Rob Mikulski

Dan Morgan

Bob Ontko

Aoatoa Polamalu

Bobby Polito

Ed Pryts

Scott Radecic

Terry Rakowski

Kevin Romango

Dwayne Rush

Michael Russo

Rich Schonewolf

John Shaffer

Brian Siverling

Patrick Slater

Rob Smith

Pete Speros

Joseph Strycharz

Mike Suter

Tim Sweeney

John Walsh

Darryl Washington

Steve Wisniewski

Jeff Woofter

1990s

Jeff Anderson

John Andress

Steve Babinchak

Michael Barninger

Tom Bill

Dave Brzenchek

Mike Carroll

Robert Ceh

Kerry Collins

Brett Conway

Bob Daman

Maurice Daniels

Daniel Drogan

Adam Fahrer

Douglas Farren

Gerald Filardi

Derek Fox

Reggie Givens

Rudolph Glocker

Ryan Grube

Shelly Hammonds

Jeff Hartings

Leonard Humphries

Greg Huntington

Chad Linnon

Rob Luedeke

Mike Malinoski

Joe Markiewicz

Christian Marrone

Tony Matesic

OJ McDuffie

Tom Molnar

Joe Nastasi

Kevin O’Keefe

Brian O’Neal

Brandon Palmer

Ryan Seese

Brandon Short

Dave Smith

Terry Smith

Vincent Stewart

2000s

Lance Antolick

Jason Bisson

Mike Blosser

Jeremy Boone

James Boyd

Brian Brozeski

Dorian Burton

Gino Capone

Daryll Clark

Brennan Coakley

Dan Corrado

Jeremiah Davis

Steven Delich

Larry Federoff

Gus Felder

Shamar Finney

Eric Flohr

Joshua Gaines

Phil Gardill

Nathan Glunt

Ryan Gmerek

Tom Golarz

Andrew Guman

Benjamin Gummo

Joe Hartings

Erik Holt

Tom Humphrey

Justin Ingram

Joe Iorio

Cedric Jeffries

Bryant Johnson

Michael Johnson

Bobby Jones

Jim Kanuch

Brad Karson

Ben Lago

Kevion Latham

Tyler Lenda

Mike Lukac

Jordan Lyons

Nick Marmo

Shawn Mayer

Anthony Morelli

Jordan Norwood

Anwar Phillips

Andrew Pitz

Paul Posluszny

Curt Reese

Matthew Rice

David Royer

Bryan Scott

Ryan Scott

AQ Shipley

Mickey Shuler

Jonathan Stewart

Nick Sukay

Tyler Valoczki

Casey Williams

Thomas Williams

Michael Yancich

Alan Zemaitis

Coaches & Staff

Dick Anderson

John Bove

Booker Brooks

Craig Cirbus

Don Carlino

Raymond J. Horan

George Salvaterra