On the day Penn State's Board of Trustees dismissed Joe Paterno as head football coach, Mike McQueary held a closed-door meeting with a handful of Nittany Lions players and told them he had been sexually abused as a boy.
Sources told ESPN: the Magazine of the meeting, which was held Nov. 9, 2011, the same day Paterno announced his intention to retire at the end of the season. He never got to do so, as the BoT voted that evening to relieve him of his head football coaching duties.
CLICK HERE to read the full ESPN: the Magazine story.
In a profile for the magazine, McQueary, a former assistant coach, spoke of the respect and love he still feels for his former boss and mentor. His admission and details of the closed-door meeting are also included in the story.
"I love that man more than you can ever possibly say," McQueary told the Mag. "He's an unbelievable man. He did unbelievable things. He handled this thing in the best way he could. Was it foolproof or perfect? No. But I didn't handle this in a foolproof or perfect way either. I am loyal to him to this day. I absolutely love him."
McQueary declined to comment for the magazine's profile, other than issuing his kind-hearted statement on Paterno.
Three days before that meeting, Jerry Sandusky was arrested on 40 counts of child sexual abuse, which spanned from 1994 to 2009. By Nov. 9, details had poured out that McQueary witnessed Sandusky raping a young boy in a football facility shower and told Paterno. The late Penn State coach then told former athletic director Tim Curley, who told former vice president Gary Schultz.
Schultz, Curley and former Penn State president Graham Spanier are all awaiting trial on conspiracy charges alleging they knew of Sandusky's crimes and collectively decided to stage a cover-up.
McQueary will be a key a witness for the prosecution in the trial, as the incident he witnessed is widely believed to be the first time anyone other than Sandusky or any of the victims knew about the abuse.
Schultz, Spanier and Curley's charges also include obstruction of justice and failure to report a crime. Each of their maximum sentences, if convicted, would be 39 years.
Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of the 48 criminal counts against him in June, 2012. At his current age of 70, Sandusky is about two years into a 60-year sentence and he will not be eligible for parole for another 28 years. If he is alive, Sandusky could theoretically only leave prison at the age of 98.