PAGE 14 // WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2011
SPORTS
the pendulum
Elon football player’s father reacts to Penn State scandal
Adam Lawson
Reporter
When the Villanova
University football program
shut down in 1981, Al Harris
trusted the Penn State
University coaching staff
with his last two years of
eligibility.
That meant for two years,
Harris, father of Elon senior
running back A.J. Harris and
junior wide receiver Chris
Harris, got to experience the
life of being a linebacker
at “Linebacker U" under
much-heralded defensive
coordinator and linebackers
coach Jerry Sandusky.
“1 learned more in playing
linebacker in two weeks at
Penn State than 1 did in two
years at Villanova,” Harris
said. “He just had it all
figured out.”
On Jan. 1, 1983, Harris
became a national champion.
In his last game as a college
athlete, Harris’ Nittany Lions
beat the University of Georgia
27-23 in the Sugar Bowl. For a
moment in history, Penn State
was on top of the world.
In the grand scheme of
things, none of that matters
now. Not in State College.
Not after a 23-page grand
jury report released Nov.
5 charged Sandusky with
sexually violating at least
eight young boys.
“My heart just sank,”
Harris said of the November
Saturday when things at Penn
State changed for the worse.
Harris, now a dentist in
Ocean City, N.J., read every
word of the grand jury’s
indictment, completely
unaware of how a man he
had long considered a mentor
could allegedly commit acts
so heinous.
“1 never had any inkling
of any of this,” Harris said.
“1 thought he was one of the
smartest guys 1 knew.”
But after reading the
charges, Harris' opinion of
the man he once looked up to
took a 180-degree turn in the
opposite direction.
“1 don’t even want to see
him,” Harris said. “I'm just
really upset and distraught
that this is happening.”
While thinking about the
current scandal, Harris can't
help but reflect on his time
as a college athlete. He said
while you may think you
know the people coaching
you on a daily basis, things
like this happen and show'
you can't know everything.
“I think these guys are
great coaches,” Harris said.
“But for something like this
to happen and knowing now
that (Sandusky) probably
had some skeletons in his
closet, some hidden demons.
It kinda makes you upset
that he's not the person you
thought he was.”
One of the chilling details
that came out of the grand
jury's indictment was the
revelation that Sandusky
used his own charity to find
his victims.
Sandusky founded The
Second Mile in 1977 to
provide assistance for at-risk
children. As it turns out,
Sandusky's charity did more
harm than good. Six of the
eight victims mentioned in
the grand jury presentment
were participants in The
Second Mile.
“1 would think if you
have an organization like
PHOTO COURTESY OF MCT CAMPUS
Artist Michael Pilato paints the first brush strokes over Jerry Sandusky’s face as he covers up Sai^usky's image on
his mural, Wednesday. November 9, 2011, in State College, Pennsylvania. Sandusky, former Penn State defensive
coordinator, has been charged with molesting eight boys in 15 years, including at the Penn State football complex.
The Second Mile, which
specifically deals with
underprivileged kids, that he
would take extra measures
to take care of these kids if
they're in your care,” Harris
said.
Joe Paterno, Harris' head
coach at Penn State, was fired
Nov. 10. After 46 years as the
man in charge of the football
program and two days before
the Nittany Lions were to play
their Senior Day game against
the University of Nebraska,
Paterno was let go after not
doing more to end Sandusky's
abusive actions.
“At this point, to offer
any kind of condolence or
anything like that? No. I don't
have any intention of calling
him,” Harris said.
The real victims, Harris
said, are the kids whose
life Sandusky so negatively
affected. While the public
saw the students rioting over
the firing of their football
coach, Harris said that on
game day the community
paid their respects to those
who deserved it.
“My father was at the
(Nebraska) game,” Harris
said. “He said you could
have heard a pin drop. One
hundred and eleven people,
perfectly silent. Praying for
these victims.”
Eighteen years after
graduating from State College,
Harris said he's still proud to
be a Nittany Lion and have a
degree from Penn State, even
if the football program will
never be looked at the same
way again.
“I’m not mad at the
university," Harris said. "I'm
just mad that this happened."
Women’s basketball hunts
for rebound in home game
pendulum
Sam Calvert
Online Managing Editor
The Elon I'niversity women's
basketball team will head into Southern
Conference play on a streak the team
didn't see coming; three loses in a row.
“I don’t think anyone anticipated that
we were going to go 0-2 this week,” junior
guard All Ford. “We found a lot of things
we need to work on before Saturday.”
The team played in the East Carolina
Thanksgiving tournament Nov. 26 and
27, where it lost 69-65 to Robert Morris
University and 60-46 to East Carolina
University.
Ford led the team for the weekend with
29 points, playing 59 minutes. But she
said the team had a lot to improve on.
The Phoenix made an average of 35.1
percent of its shots during the two games,
while its opponents saw an average of
40.2 percent of their shots go through the
basket.
“We know that other teams don't really
have a control over us in the game,” Ford
said. “We control what we do. We need to
take some extra time and focus on doing
things that win ball games.”
One of the factors she said wins games
is rebounding, a battle that corresponds
with Elon’s outcome in games.
In the first two games of the regular
season, Elon's two wins, the Phoenix
outrebounded its opponents 109-66.
But in its last three games, the team’s
adversaries have grabbed 146 rebounds,
as opposed to Elon's 104.
In the East Carolina game, the Phoenix
were outrebounded by 20, and in the
liNC Charlotte loss Nov. 19, the team was
outrebounded by 22 and lost by 31.
“We’re missing a lot of firepower right
now, but that’s no excuse, and we need to
get better,” head coach Charlotte Smith
said in a press release. “Going forward
into SoCon play next weekend, we need to
remain positive and focus on the details
this upcoming week in practice."
The Phoenix will take on its first two
SoCon foes Friday and Saturday at home:
Liniversity of Tennessee at Chattanooga
and Samford University, respectively.
The Mocs are first up on the slate at 7
p.m. in Alumni Gym — a team that Elon
split games with last season.
“We know Chattanooga is a good team,
and we have to play one of our best games
to upset them,” Ford said.
UT Chattanooga is 2-3 so far this
season, with wins against University of
Alabama at Birmingham and Indiana
State University.
The offense has averaged 54.8 points a
game, making on 38 percent of its shots.
“Our defense is going to be key this
weekend, being able to fine tune our
defense,” Ford said. “We have to do what
we know how to do and do it better than
we have been doing.”
But the team is playing at home, and
the Phoenix is undefeated in Alumni Gym.
And last year, Elon went 11-6 on its own
court.
“We’re excited to have home court,”
Ford said. “Hopefully there will be a good
turn out, and we’ll use that to our full
advantage.”
SPORTS BRIEFS
Former quarterback Riddle arrested,
according to reports
According to The Times-News
sports reporter Adam Smith, former
Elon University quarterback Scott
Riddle was arrested Monday.
Smith tweeted that Riddle was
arrested on charges for “assault on
a government official and resisting a
public officer," citing the Asheboro
(N.C.) Courier-Trlbune.
Riddle, who played from 2007-
2010, holds several Elon and Southern
Conference records. He was a finalist
for the Walter Payton Award, given to
the best player in the PCS, three of his
four years at Elon and threw for 105
touchdowns in his career
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