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EVENING OF EXCELLENCE - SECOND MILE AND PATERNO SHARE SALUTE
Lancaster New Era (PA) - Thursday, March 20, 1997
Author: GREG GRASA
HERSHEY - It was billed as “A Celebration of Excellence,” a special evening honoring Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno.

But Paterno himself was the first to point out that this night really was a salute to his assistant, Jerry Sandusky , and The Second Mile organization that Sandusky founded nearly 20 years ago.

“It should be a tribute to Jerry Sandusky and the volunteers in The Second Mile,” Paterno said of his defensive coordinator, who has been an assistant coach for 29 of Paterno’s 31 seasons as head coach. “These are special people, it’s a special project and I just feel privileged to be a part of it tonight.”

A crowd of about 600 filled the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center’s main banquet room Wednesday night to honor Paterno and support a noble endeavor. The Second Mile is a charitable organization that gives disadvantaged youth a second chance. More than 105,000 children across Pennsylvania are currently benefiting from the organization’s network of eight prevention, early-intervention and community-based programs.

“In the environment we’re in right now, Jerry and The Second Mile really prophesied what was going to have to happen with welfare - helping people without having the federal government or the state necessarily do it,” Paterno said. “That private sources could do it and could do it well. The Second Mile is a great example of what people can do who have leadership and who want to do it without a massive bureaucracy.”

Sandusky , whose organization grew out of his own experience as a foster parent, credited Paterno for allowing him the time to nurture The Second Mile and his extended family over the years.

“The Second Mile owes a lot to the Penn State football program and Joe Paterno, who allowed me to divert some of my attention to establishing our organization,” Sandusky said. “I don’t believe there is another major football program in the country in which that could have happened.”

In light of that, Wednesday’s event was an appreciation of both Paterno and The Second Mile. Gov. Tom Ridge and Republican state Sens. Robert Jubelirer and David Brightbill headed a list of luminaries in attendance, which also included a Who’s Who of Penn State athletics.

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