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Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky watched a game from the university president's Beaver Stadium box just one week before his arrest on charges of child sex abuse, but was not issued an invitation, the Harrisburg Patriot-News reported Thursday.
The report confirms Wednesday's statements by former Penn State linebacker Brandon Short, who told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that Sandusky watched the Oct. 29 game against Illinois in then-president Graham Spanier's box with board of trustee members.
Current president Rodney Erickson said earlier this week that trustees were briefed on the grand jury investigation of Sandusky by Spanier in May or July of last year. The first media reports about the molestation probe surfaced March 31.
Erickson, who was provost at the time, said he was not at those meetings.
Citing a source close to the board of trustees, the Patriot-News reported Sandusky later showed up at a gathering of the Penn State booster club. The win over Illinois was historic, since it gave former coach Joe Paterno his record-setting 409th victory.
Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon told the paper that records for the past three seasons show Sandusky was not invited to sit in Spanier's box.
Athletic director Tim Curley, who has since left the post in the face of perjury charges in the Sandusky case, did not want to provide Sandusky with tickets to the game, but relented after pleas from Sandusky's wife, the report stated.
Sandusky was arrested Nov. 5, prompting Spanier's resignation and Paterno's firing a few days later. Curley was also arrested for perjury along with former university VP Gary Schultz, though both have maintained their innocence.
The revelations come as Erickson tries to calm alums' anger over how the university has handled the Sandusky situation.
Erickson, who intends to step down when his contract expires in June 2014, is holding three town hall events with Penn State alumni.
The first of those sessions was held in Pittsburgh Wednesday night, and two more will follow in New York City and King of Prussia, Pa., near Philadelphia.
Sandusky, who has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting 10 boys over a 15-year period, could face trial as early as this spring. Sandusky, 67, served as Paterno's defensive coordinator for more than two decades, retiring in 1999.
