Penn State to renovate abuse location
Colleges: Penn State plans to renovate the building where former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually molested boys.
University spokesman David La Torre told The Associated Press on Friday that Penn State plans to remodel the football shower and locker room area as a direct result of Sandusky’s crimes. The former defensive coordinator was convicted of assaulting some of his victims in the team shower.
La Torre said renovation plans to the Lasch Football Building were drawn up shortly after Sandusky’s arrest in November. But he said Penn State can’t move forward until all legal proceedings in the case are over.
Reminders of the Sandusky child sex abuse scandal – and the senior school officials accused of covering it up – are all over Penn State’s campus and State College. School officials say they are still weighing how to deal with the other imagery associated with the scandal.
A statue of late coach Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium has turned into a target for critics angered by former FBI director Louis Freeh’s findings that Paterno and other university administrators concealed allegations against Sandusky in 1998 and 2001 to avoid bad publicity.
Some have called for the statue to be taken down.
“You go to a Penn State football game and there’s 100,000 people down there and they got that statute and you know doggone well they’ll start talking about Sandusky,” former Florida State coach Bowden told the AP. “If it was me, I wouldn’t want to have it brought up every time I walked out on the field.”
Mickelson moves up in Scottish Open
Golf: Phil Mickelson broke out of his slump with an 8-under-par 64 at the Scottish Open at the Castle Stuart links in Inverness, leaving him five shots off the second-round lead shared by Alexander Noren and Francesco Molinari.
Noren used another round of 66 to move to 12 under alongside Molinari, who couldn’t match his blistering 62 on Thursday but managed a 70.
• Matteson leads by one in John Deere Classic: Troy Matteson shot a 3-under 68 for a one-stroke lead over Jeff Maggert and Brian Harman after two rounds of the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill. Matteson was at 13-under 129.
Dunn out of Olympics after doping test
Olympics: Relay sprinter Debbie Dunn took her name off the U.S. Olympic team roster after testing positive for excessive testosterone.
Dunn, who finished fourth in the 400 meters at Olympic trials, was selected for the American relay pool. She is the 2010 world indoor champion at 400 and would have been a likely candidate to run in the Olympic 1,600 relay, which the American women have won every year since 1996.
• Softball team, player in Hall of Fame: The 2004 U.S. Olympic softball team and three-time gold medalist pitcher Lisa Fernandez have been inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in Chicago.
• Griffin officially off team: Blake Griffin has officially withdrawn from the Olympics because of a left knee injury and Anthony Davis has been added to the U.S. basketball team’s roster.
• Gay wins 100 meters at London meet: American sprinter Tyson Gay prepared for the anticipated chilly Olympics here by winning the 100 meters at the London Grand Prix in dreary conditions. The former world champion won in 10.03 seconds in a headwind of 1.2 meters per second.
Dykstra faces more time in prison
Miscellany: Former All-Star outfielder Lenny Dykstra pleaded guilty in Los Angeles for hiding and selling sports memorabilia and other items that were supposed to be part of his bankruptcy filing.
Dykstra, 49, entered his plea in U.S. District Court to one count each of bankruptcy fraud, concealment of assets and money laundering. He is serving a three-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement.
He also was sentenced this year to nine months in jail after pleading no contest to charges he exposed himself to women he met through Craigslist.