It is the most compelling scandal involving sports of all time. Bigger than the 1919 Black Sox, Pete Rose lifetime suspension, Ray Careweth murder charges, Michael Vick dog fighting charges etc.
The Penn State story is similar to a story about the Red Sox. In 2003 The Boston Red Sox settled a $3.15 million federal lawsuit with seven men from Winter Haven who said they were repeatedly molested as boys by a former team clubhouse manager convicted last year on sex abuse charges.
Donald James Fitzpatrick, 73, a Massachusetts native and the former clubhouse manager, resigned from the Red Sox in 1991 after the team was confronted with allegations that he molested boys. Along with the Red Sox, Fitzpatrick was named in the suit filed by the seven men.
The lawsuit accused Fitzpatrick, who is white, of enticing and sexually abusing black boys from 1971 to 1991. The abuse took place in the Red Sox clubhouse and the Holiday Inn, the team's official spring home in Winter Haven.
Thirteen men have told investigators that they were sexually abused as boys by Fitzpatrick. So far, only the seven who settled their lawsuit have sued.
One Victim said Fitzpatrick recruited him in 1971 by asking him if he wanted "to meet some of the players." This victim brought other boys to Fitzpatrick.
The victims were mostly in their teens at the time of the abuse and were recruited by Fitzpatrick to help do such chores as cleaning the clubhouse.
Some were younger. One of Fitzpatrick's accusers said he was 4 years old when Fitzpatrick molested him.
Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty a year ago in Circuit Court in Bartow to four counts of attempted sexual battery on a child.
Fitzpatrick admitted he was guilty and paid $10,000 in restitution to each of the four victims listed in the criminal case. At least two of those victims were plaintiffs in the civil suit.
One of the major accusations from the seven men who filed suit was that the Red Sox players, including some of the team's star players, knew what was going on and that the team's executives also knew.
