There are some things that you simply cannot believe when you first hear them. Tell me that Bernie Madoff has been doing Warren Buffett’s books all these years or that my chocolate lab, Henry, descends from a family of Shihtzus. But that the most respected coach of the most respected football program in this country is involved in a pedophilia scandal? Say it ain’t so, Joe-Pa.

If there is a silver lining in this most atrocious cloud, it is that more of these predators will be found out and, hopefully, brought to justice. Recently, a chiropractor in McKinney was accused of child abuse with his young patient. I’d like to think that the awareness as a result of the situation at Penn State has something to do with that.

Some say the media is starting to “beat a dead horse,” but the “horse” isn’t dead. It’s very much alive and lurking in most every community in this country. The Penn State scandal might well be the very fulcrum that will bring child abuse to a new level of awareness. If only we could get the victims to come out of the shadows now, too. Most of them, understandably, cannot come forward.

No one knows until now, but when I was eight, some older, sick son of a bitch made an overture to me at a public swimming pool. It’s only taken me 43 years to reveal that small incident. If I can’t forget that, then I wonder what an actual victim must try to forget. I was lucky. My instincts told me to swim away.

I didn’t think to call the police, but I did tell my mom when I got home. She drove back to that pool vowing to kill him. If only he’d stuck around. I wonder, now, how many other kids, more innocent than I, bought into his offer to “come home and meet some nice little girls and boys like you.”

Coach Paterno was lauded for going to great lengths to protect the rear ends of his players and coaches. I wonder why he couldn’t go the length of a telephone line to protect those of the victims. I wonder why his assistant stood and watched while another committed that horrible act. I guess it was out of shock and disbelief, loyalty to the winning machine that some men in power at Penn State held dearer to them than human dignity and basic human rights.

Penn State should cancel the rest of their season and then take a bulldozer to the facilities where these alleged crimes were committed. After all, who wants to dress and bathe in a place where that skin-crawling thing(s) happened?

In this case, winning, revenues and BCS rankings have taken priority over basic human rights and the courage to do the right thing. When will we learn? My father often said, “It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and five minutes to tear it down.” Those who have proven to be most cowardly lions, who looked the other way, now know exactly what my father meant.

Rick Larson, the Alumni Guy, is a 1981 graduate of SMU as well as a member Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He has been a stockbroker/investment banker for 26 years. He can be reached for comment at