Nearly 200 more former Penn State athletes are now lined up behind the lawsuit that’s been filed against the NCAA. That’s on top of some 300 former athletes who came out in support of the lawsuit in June.
The lawsuit was filed last May by members of the Paterno family, Penn State faculty, the board of trustees and former Penn State football players. The lawsuit accuses the NCAA of breach of contract, civil conspiracy, defamation and commercial disparagement.
At the time, a group of football lettermen released a letter, in a show of support. Thursday saw the release of a new letter, signed by former Penn State athletes, including many who did not play football.
The new list includes 1973 Heisman Trophy Winner John Cappelletti, All-Americans Ed O’Neil (1973), Charlie Getty (1973), D.J. Dozier (1986), Ki-Jana Carter (1994) and Michael Mauti (2012).
In a statement, Mauti writes, “I signed on because I have faith in justice and due process. I spent the last year fighting for it in the media and I’ll continue to fight for it with the men who built the program we all love. We all want what’s best for our program.”
Former student-athletes and coaches from sixteen additional sports now support the lawsuit. That includes two-time National Champion and Olympic Wrestler Kerry McCoy, National Soccer Player of the Year Christine Welsh, long-time Penn State Coaches Bruce Parkhill (Men’s Basketball), Glen Thiel (Men’s Lacrosse), John Fritz (Wrestling) and newly elected Penn State Trustee Barbara Doran; a 3-sport athlete and 3-time lacrosse All-American.
Also joining the group is the legendary voice of Penn State Fran Fisher.
Supporters say they’re fighting for the truth, “As others have noted, Penn State is the only public institution participating in major college football that has never been sanctioned for major NCAA violations in any sport.
“To this day we support the fight for that truth because this fact remains; Penn State has not committed any major NCAA violations in any sport. That is a statement that we all paid for with our own sacrifices and commitment, and is worth fighting for.”
The letter makes the point that the group also supports the victims of Jerry Sandusky. It goes on to say, “the NCAA’s actions will not promote healing and will cause harm to current and future Student-Athletes through these punitive sanctions. Supporting the victims and supporting due process are not mutually exclusive goals.”
Last summer, the NCAA slammed Penn State, accusing university leaders of trying to cover-up Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse crimes. The NCAA fined Penn State $60 million, vacated more than 100 victories under coach Paterno, slashed scholarships and added a four-year ban on postseason play.
According to Paterno family attorney Wick Sollers, the lawsuit asks that NCAA sanctions against Penn State be lifted. It also asks for unspecified damages and court costs. Sollers says the family would donate any net proceeds to charity.
Posted below is the original letter from the Penn State Lettermen and the new letter released today:
Statement from Former Penn State Football Players: (Released on June 16)
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.”
1950’s
Ray Alberigi
Robert Belus
Frank Della Penna
Charles Chick King
Ron Markiewicz
Fran “Bucky” Paolone
Bill Russ
Don Ryan
John Jack Urban
Anthony J. Orsini
1960’s
George Allen
Dick Anderson
Steve Bezna
Bob Capretto
Thomas Cherry
Alex Chiara
Jack Curry
Alan Delmonaco
Gary Eberle
Gerry Farkas
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
Ed Stewart
Tom Templeton
Dave Truitt
Frank Waresak
Chris Weber
1970’s
Walt Addie
Frank Ahrenhold
Russell Albert
Kurt Allerman
Ferris Atty
Bob Bassett
Jeff Behm
David Bland
Jeff H. Bleamer
Dr. Jim Bradley
Tom Bradley **
Rod Bratton
Dave Brockway
Richard M. Brown
Chuck Burkhart
John W. Bush
Greg Buttle
Robert Campbell
John Cappelletti
Michael Cappelletti
Richard F. Caravella
Joseph V. Carlozo
Charles Chiampi
Thomas Greg Christian
Craig Coder
Ron Coder
Mike Conforto
F. Len Consalvo
Ron Crosby
Bill Crummy
Steven A. Davis
Chris Devlin
Joe Diange
Thomas F. Donchez
Rocco English
Scott Fitzkee
Chuck Fusina
Paul Gabel
Steve Geise
Doneal Gersh
Charles Getty
Michael Gilsenan
Bill Glennon
Tony Gordon
David F. Graf
Mike Guman
Brian Hand
Franco Harris
Jim Heller
Scott Hettinger
Ron Hileman
Ron Hostetler
Thomas M. Hull
Neil Hutton
David W. Klock
Bob Knechtel
Richard A. Knechtel
Joe Lally
Philip F. LaPorta
Chris Lavelle
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
Ed O’Neil
Michael A. Orsini M.D.
Woody Petchel, Jr.
Carlos Quirch
Tom Rafferty
Joel Ramich
John M. Reihner
Paul Renaud
Robert Rickenbach
James E. Rosecrans
C. Douglas Rothgaber
George SanFilippo
Carl Schaukowitch
Bernard Shalvey
Tom L. Shoemaker
Micky Shuler Sr
Tom Shuman
John Skorupan
Steven E. Stilley
John P. Susko
Bob Swartz
Donald P. Tarosky
Raymond Tesner
Mark Thomas
Gary R. Tyler
Alberto Vitiello
Marshall Wagner
Dan Wallace
Alex Wasilov
Franklin Frog Williams
John Williams
Thomas J. Williams
Charles Wilson
Glenn Zumbach
1980’s
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
Stan Clayton
Joel Coles
Bill Contz
Tom Couch
Troy Cromwell
Peter Curkendall
Rich D’Amico
John DePasqua
Dwayne Downing
D. J. Dozier
Michael Dunlay
Thomas Durant
Eric Etze
Craig Fiedler
Tim Freeman
Mark Fruehan
Brennan Gaertner
Mark Galimberti
Mike Garrett
Gene Gladys
Scott Gob
John W. Greene
John Gurski
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
Mike McCloskey
Donald Jay McCormick
Shawn McNamara
Mike Meade
Rob Mikulski
Dan Morgan
Robert Mrosko
Scott O’Donnell
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
Blair Thomas
John Walsh
Darryl Washington
Steve Wisniewski
Jeff Woofter
1990’s
Jeff Anderson
John Andress
Steve Babinchak
Michael Barninger
Tom Bill
Dave Brzenchek
Mike Carroll
Ki-Jana Carter
Robert Ceh
Kerry Collins
Brett Conway
Bob Daman
Maurice Daniels
Daniel Drogan
Adam Fahrer
Douglas Farren
Gerald Filardi
Derek Fox
Aaron Gatton
Reggie Givens
Rudolph Glocker
Ryan Grube
Shelly Hammonds
Jeff Hartings
Leonard Humphries
Greg Huntington
Corey Jones
Chad Linnon
Rob Luedeke
Mike Malinoski
Joe Markiewicz
Christian Marrone
Tony Matesic
OJ McDuffie
Tom Molnar
Christian Molnar
Joe Nastasi
Kevin O’Keefe
Brian O’Neal
Brandon Parmer
Derick Pickett
Ryan Seese
Brandon Short
Dave Smith
Terry Smith
Brian Stairs
Vincent Stewart
2000’s
Tyler Ahrenhold
Lance Antolick
Drew Astorino
Jason Bisson
Mike Blosser
Jeremy Boone
James Boyd
John Bronson
Brian Brozeski
Dorian Burton
Gino Capone
Daryll Clark
Brennan Coakley
Dan Corrado
Jeremiah Davis
Scott Davis
Steven Delich
Larry Federoff
Gus Felder
Shamar Finney
Eric Flohr
Mike Fuhrman
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
Ethan Kilmer
Ben Lago
Kevion Latham
Tyler Lenda
Mike Lukac
Jordan Lyons
Nick Marmo
Mike Mauti
Shawn Mayer
James Millon
Anthony Morelli
Jordan Norwood
Michael Pawlikowski
Anwar Phillips
Andrew Pitz
Paul Posluszny
Curt Reese
J.R. Refice
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
Frank Rocco
Mike Boyer
Don Carlino
Fran Fisher
Raymond J. Horan
George Salvaterra
Player & Coach Participants in the Lawsuit
Anthony Adams
Gerald Cadogan
Shamar Finney
William Kenney *
Justin Kurpeikis
Richard Gardner
Josh Gains
Patrick Mauti
Jay Paterno **
Anwar Phillips
Michael Robinson
Adam Taliaferro
* former Coach
** former Player & Coach
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Letter released July 11, 2013)
Recently, more than 300 football Lettermen proclaimed their support for the lawsuit against the NCAA sanctions levied on Penn State’s Football program on July 23, 2012. We, the undersigned, are former Penn State student-athletes and coaches from sports other than football, who join to support the legal action against the NCAA. When we represented Penn State on the field, the court, the ice, the mat, the ring, the pool, or the track we championed a common culture pursuing Success With Honor in the classroom and in athletic competition.
The hasty and unjust actions of The NCAA surely penalize current and future football student-athletes and staff. However, they also negatively impact all former, current and future Penn State student-athletes and coaches in every sport. That is why we support illuminating the truth and the fight for Penn State—reclaiming the exemplary culture hard won by sacrifices we all made to compete with honor.
As others have noted, Penn State is the only public institution participating in major college football that has never been sanctioned for major NCAA violations in any sport. To this day we support the fight for that truth because this fact remains; Penn State has not committed any major NCAA violations in any sport. That is a statement that we all paid for with our own sacrifices and commitment, and is worth fighting for.
Finally, as proud former Penn State student-athletes and coaches not associated with the football program, we firmly reject the idea that there was a culture of reverence for the football program that compromised the values of this proud institution’s academic mission.
We are here to bear witness because we lived it. All athletes thrived, partnering with the football program to create a culture of athletic and academic excellence that even the NCAA itself lauded as the benchmark for other universities to emulate. As the football Lettermen’s statement noted, all we want is due process and the truth to be heard, no matter what form that takes.
MULTIPLE SPORTS
Glenn F. Thiel – Wrestling/Lacrosse 1966
James Taylor – Soccer/Baseball 1972
Brian Masella – Swimming/Baseball 1973
Christine Kassab Powell – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1974
Barbara Doran – Field Hockey/Lacrosse/Basketball 1975
Susan McCoy Fissinger – Field Hockey/ Lacrosse 1976
Hilary Graves Young – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1977
Sharon Duffey – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1978
Karen Schnellenbach – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1979
Sharon Scott Stewart – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1979
Jody Field – Field Hockey/LaCrosse 1979
Debra L. Malone – Field Hockey/Softball 1980
Sharon Tinucci – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1981
Jan E. Snyder – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1982
Judy Mahaffey Busby – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1983
Lauren Hoke Downs – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1983
Laurie Gray Markle – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1984
Karen Richards MacCrory – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1984
Lynnie Mattson – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1984
Tami Worley Kirby – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1989
MaryAnne Foley Schiller – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1991
Megan Smith Fizzano – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1991
Elena Brazer Arthur – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 1991
Christine McGinley – Field Hockey/Lacrosse/Soccer 1995
Jennifer Webb – Field Hockey/Lacrosse 2000
MEN’S SOCCER
Ron Coleman 1952
Charles Messner 1971
Matt Chase 1979
Jeff Maierhofer 1983
Scott Maierhofer 1984
Jerry Moyer 1985
Troy Snyder 1986
Tim Maierhofer 1987
John Pascarella 1988
Bert Eckelmeyer 1990
Pete Shellenberger 2002
Andres Casais 2010
Vincent Salvatico 2010
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Karen Grove Hickey 1994
Erin Cochran Crispin 2002
Christie Welsh 2004
Carly Niness 2012
SOFTBALL
Carolyn DeWyckoff 1987
Donna Devanney 1989
Dena Tauriello 1990
Alisha Dorow 1992
Michele Hunter-Hill 1992
Marie Hawkins 1993
Lisa Waddington Barton 1993
WRESTLING
Richard L. Campbell 1963
Marty Strayer 1965
John Fritz 1979
Joe Bastardi 1978
John Hanrahan 1982
Jan Johnson 1986
Eric Brugel 1986
Gregory N. Elinski 1987
Stephen Smith 1987
Tim Flynn 1987
Mark Sidorick 1988
Jim Abbott 1990
Michael Bevilacqua 1990
John Yankanich 1990
Kerry McCoy 1997
Jonathan Long 2000
Doc Vecchio 2004
MEN’S TENNIS
Jerod Ford 1990
BOXING
Jack (John) Beiter 1952
FIELD HOCKEY
Debra Gorman Blount 1976
Connie Ehresman Angus 1990
Jill Radzinski 1990
Chelle Frates Tambroni 1991
Tracy Shilkret Capecci 1991
Julie Johnston Umberger 1991
Eleanor Stone Race 1992
Stacy Gilburg Rucci 1993
Michele Brennan Murphy 1993
Sharon Kuntz Herlocher 1994
Paulette Thompson 1995
Kirstie Benedect 1995
Kimberly Hicks Witmer 1997
Kiley Kulina Strohm 2002
Timarie Legel Rayburg 2004
Mary Schaefer Driscoll 2004
Neilye Stoner Garrity 2004
Amanda Eckert Gasparato 2005
Michele Rigby Mihok 2005
Carey Maser Burke 2007
Shaun Banta 2007
Brooke Hoffsmith 2010
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
Susan Wisniewski Ridgeway 1978
Karen Pesto Coder 1979
Lynn Thompson Anderson 1981
Tamara Crowe Bean 1997
Laura Lincicome 2009
Laura Stupar 2009
Kerry Shea 2009
Lauren Burke 2009
Suzanne Jones Stetson 1987
MEN’S LACROSSE
Joseph Carlozo 1974
Jim Rosecrans 1975
Jack Barry 1977
Scott McKeon 1987
Anthony Gerrato 1987
William Driscoll 2002
Chris Garrity 2003
Bill Farrell 2003
Brendan DeBow 2003
William Cutler 2005
Chris Gannett 2006
Scott Gehnrich 2006
Matthew Mulqueen 2007
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Leanne Kling Piscotty 1992
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Ricky Mattei 2004
Nathan A. Meerstein 2006
Matt Proper 2006
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS
Jess Bastardi 1990
Janae Whittaker Ali 2000
Allie Southard 2010
CHEERLEADING
Kim Lewis Lombardi 1996
WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
Kiernan O’Toole Pierce 1989
MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
Thomas Kleban 1995
BASEBALL
Russ Menk 1970
Chris Rayburg 2004
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Mike Lang 1983
Craig L. Collins 1986
Brian Allen 1989
Ed Fogell 1990
Darrell Alton Ricks 1990
Tony Soskich 1991
Steve Wydman 1994
Peter Lisicky 1998
Joe Crispin 2006
SWIMMING
Gene Kolber 1952
Ken (Andy) Anderson 1981
COACHES
Bruce Parkhill – Men’s Basketball 1982 – 1995
Jess Bastardi – Women’s Assistant Gymnastics Coach 1991-2010 *
John Fritz – Wrestling Head Coach 1992-1998 *
Glenn Thiel – Men’s Lacrosse 1978-2010 *
* listed above as former player athletes
NITTANY LION MASCOT
Rob Sterling 1984-1986
Ricky Williams 1993-1995
___________________________________________________
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Hundreds of Former Penn State Football Players Come Out in Support Paterno Lawsuit
Trustee Council Supports Paterno Lawsuit, Blasts NCAA Policies
