When he appeared before a grand jury in January, Joe Paterno testified for all of seven minutes.

He was told that something of a sexual nature had happened between former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and a young boy in the Lasch football facility, Paterno said.

He was told, he said, that it involved "fondling."

Paterno said the information had come from Mike McQueary, an assistant football coach, who came to his house on a Saturday morning March 2002.

McQueary has said he had observed the sexual incident the prior night.

But Paterno testified that he didn't immediately call his own boss, then-athletic director Tim Curley, when McQueary visited that Saturday.

His reasoning, Paterno told the grand jury, is that he didn't want to interfere with Curley's weekend plans.

Once he did tell Curley, Paterno testified, didn't tell anyone else because he thought that Curley would handle the situation.

That testimony, read in open court Friday, marks one of the first somewhat-detailed glimpses into Paterno's role in the Sandusky child-sexual-abuse case.

The former longtime football coach, ousted from his job Nov. 9 after 46 years, has said little publicly about the matter since his dismissal.

While he has been charged with no wrongdoing, Paterno has been both rebuked and praised for his believed actions.

His January grand-jury testimony emerged during preliminary hearings for Curley and Gary Schultz, two now-former university administrators charged with perjury and failure to report possible abuse. Charges against both men have been bound over for trial. Their hearings were held in Harrisburg.

Prosecutors in the case said Friday afternoon that they plan to pursue additional testimony from Paterno, though they would not elaborate.

Paterno, meanwhile, is undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments for lung cancer. The 84-year-old was admitted to a hospital earlier this month after re-fracturing his pelvis during an at-home fall, according to an Associated Press report.

Related coverage

• StateCollege.com's earlier and ongoing coverage of the Penn State-charges situation