The Blackhawk Sexual Abuse Cover-Up? If so, heads must roll

[ad_1]

One morning in 2010, I sat in the office of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno 83 at the time, and listened to him explain the two reasons he always got up at 5 a.m. morning every day and went to work.

Helping young people was one of them. Surviving was the other. Deep down, the most successful college football coach at the time sparked the feeling that retirement would hasten his demise.

But the following year, the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal unfolded. By the time Paterno tried to get out in front, it was way too late. After 61 years of training at the school, Paterno was made redundant in November 2011. Two months later he was dead.

It was cancer. His relatives were convinced that a broken will had also contributed.

My Name I’ve spent my whole life trying to make that name make sense, Paterno said, crying uncontrollably, the day after his dismissal, according to biographer Joe Posnanski. And now it’s gone.

He was right about it. His name was ruined. The same goes for those of Penn State President Graham Spanier, Vice President Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley. Careers: over. Reputations: destroyed by concealment.

There’s always a fucking cover-up.

And the public outcome of a cover-up involves two essential questions. The first: what did such a know? And, finally, the second: if such and such knew anything, how could he not do the right thing and allow future victims to be the prey? The second question never, ever goes away.

Did the Blackhawks cover up an alleged sexual assault on a player by former video coach Bradley Aldrich during their 2010 Stanley Cup title race? Were then president John McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman, hockey director Al MacIsaac and mental skills coach James Gary aware of the assault and did they not do this? who should have? Was the knowledge of Aldrich’s wickedness even more prevalent in the organization than that?

If the allegations made in separate lawsuits against the Hawks one by the former player, another by a former high school student that Aldrich was convicted in 2013 of assault in Michigan are true, then the reputations and careers must fall.

The Hawks have hired Chicago law firm Jenner & Block to conduct an independent review of the allegations which include the team providing positive references to potential employers after Aldrich left the organization in 2010. It is sincerely hoped that the truth will be fully disclosed, but independent reviews are not always so independent. Maybe the NHL will eventually need to get more involved.

We need to give the experts the time and leeway to do their job well, Bowman said in a video conference Thursday with reporters. I look forward to discussing this in more detail in the future, but for now, I must respect the ongoing litigation and the ongoing independent review. I will not be able to comment on this at this time. We have to let the process unfold.

The Hawks and the NHL have avoided saying whether the investigation’s findings will be made public, which is a troubling sign. Anything that is not transparent would be suspect and a disservice to all of us and especially to anyone who has been sexually assaulted.

In March, UK newspaper The Guardian ran a series on sexual assault in sport, published a series on sexual assault in sport, and specifically looked at sexual abuse by pedophile coaches. There was a story about South Korean Olympic coach Cho Jae-beom, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for abusing a gold medal-winning speed skater. Another story examined the sordidity of former Irish Olympic swimming coach George Gibney, who fled the country to the United States, ultimately avoiding trial. Another explored the actions of the monstrous Larry Nassar, the former doctor of the United States National Gymnastics Team and Michigan State University, who is serving a 60-year sentence for his crimes.

The series did not include the Sandusky scandal. That did not include the University of Michigan scandal surrounding former athletic doctor Robert Anderson, accused of abusing athletes at the school for decades. He left out Graham James, the former Canadian junior hockey coach who was convicted of sexually abusing several players who went on to pursue their NHL careers.

But present in all of the cases mentioned above were varying degrees of concealment. There’s always a fucking cover-up.

And although the names of the abusers may ring the loudest in our memories, many of those who try to keep the cat in the bag who miserably fail to do the right thing end up falling too, inked with the indelible shame that they deserve.

Hours before being sacked, Paterno released a statement saying he would retire at the end of the season. Instead, the Penn States board voted to sever ties immediately, rendering the statement moot. Nonetheless, six words from Paternos’ missive continue to live on as the most meaningful and memorable quote he ever gave to an epitaph, in a way.

I would have liked to do more.

At the end of the day, they still do.

[ad_2]