p16_Layout 1 1/17/15 10:01 PM Page 1 SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015 SPORTS NCAA agrees to restore wins to Penn State, title to Paterno STATE COLLEGE: The NCAA agreed Friday million fine spent in Pennsylvania, not come. Hundreds of students celebrated Penn State’s then-President, Rodney Michael Boni, a lawyer for one of the to restore 112 football wins it had stripped spread to abuse-prevention programs Friday night with a subdued rally outside Erickson, agreed to the sanctions in 2012, victims who testified at Sandusky’s trial, from Penn State and Joe Paterno in the around the nation. the university’s administration building, in the weeks after Sandusky was convicted. said he supported the restoration of Penn Jerry Sandusky child-molestation scandal The pact emerged just days after a fed- followed by a march to the nearby Beaver Just days earlier, former FBI Director Louis State’s scholarships and bowl eligibility last and to reinstate the venerated late coach eral judge declined to rule on the constitu- Canyon apartment area. As many as 500 Freeh released a scathing report commis- fall, but does not believe Paterno’s victories as the winningest in major college football tionality of the sanctions and weeks before people joined the march. sioned by Penn State’s trustees, and the should be reinstated because they were history. a Pennsylvania court was to hold a trial on Someone projected a huge photo of school removed an iconic bronze statue of “tarnished” by Sandusky. The agreement, swiftly approved by the the legality of the penalties. Paterno onto the side of an apartment Paterno from the school’s Beaver Stadium. He also said he sensed a shift in Penn boards of the NCAA and the university “Hopefully, today we’ll begin to make building. Others chanted, “We are Penn Freeh’s report accused Paterno and oth- State’s attitude after the criminal case after intermittent talks heated up this right the damage that has been done,” said State!” In the agreement, Penn State er top Penn State officials of burying child against Sandusky wrapped up and it con- week, lifts the last of the sanctions Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Jake acknowledged that the NCAA had acted in sex-abuse allegations against Sandusky to cluded civil settlements with victims. imposed in 2012 and wipes away the black Corman, who had sued the NCAA with good faith in the Sandusky matter, and avoid bad publicity. The report portrayed “There was a movement away from marks that had tainted one of the nation’s state Treasurer Rob McCord. “Today is a vic- university President Eric Barron said he the Hall of Fame coach as more deeply what I thought was a genuine mea culpa most celebrated college athletics pro- tory for due process, which was unafforded believed the agency had a legitimate con- involved in the scandal than previously on the part of Penn State, having accepted grams. After more than two years of criti- in this case. Today is a victory for the peo- cern about institutional control. thought. The alleged cover-up by Paterno, the NCAA sanctions, and one toward, ‘Why cism that the NCAA had overstepped its ple of Pennsylvania. Today is a victory for NCAA officials said Friday that their then-university President Graham Spanier did we cave so easily?’ That was disap- authority, officials with college sports’ gov- Penn State nation. The NCAA has surren- motivation in the deal was to start funding and two other Penn State administrators pointing,” Boni said. erning body did not back down. Instead, dered.” The unprecedented scope of the abuse-prevention programs with the fine. allowed Sandusky to prey on other boys The sanctions eliminated all wins from they said they were focused on ending liti- sanctions had drawn intense criticism from “The victors are those of us who were for years, it said. 1998, when police investigated a mother’s gation that had held up distribution of the Penn State alumni and fans who defended advocating for the children,” said Harris Paterno was never charged with a complaint that Sandusky had showered university’s $60 million fine to fund child Paterno as innocent in the scandal and Pastides, an NCAA board member and crime, although Spanier and the two other with her son, through 2011, Paterno’s final abuse-prevention programs. called the school’s athletics program a president of the University of South former administrators continue to fight season as head coach after six decades Before the deal, the NCAA had agreed national model. They accused the NCAA of Carolina. They did not back off their right charges in court. Paterno’s family called with the team and the year Sandusky was last year to eliminate some of the sanc- rushing to judgment to assert its domi- to take such action. “The board felt they Friday’s announcement “a great victory for charged. The restored wins include 111 tions, including reinstating Penn State’s full nance, ultimately punishing people who had to quickly and decisively put forward a everyone who has fought for the truth in under Paterno and the final victory of complement of scholarships and letting had nothing to do with Sandusky. set of sanctions. I hope we never have to the Sandusky tragedy.” 2011, after trustees fired Paterno in the the team participate in post-season play. The family of Paterno, who died as the do this again,” said Kirk Schulz, an NCAA “This case should always have been wake of the charges against Sandusky and Friday’s agreement threw out the rest of scandal was unfolding, hailed the agree- board member and Kansas State’s presi- about the pursuit of the truth, not the the team was coached by Tom Bradley. the sanctions, including eliminating a five- ment, while lawyers for Sandusky’s victims dent. unjust vilification of the culture of a great That returns Paterno’s record to 409-136-3. year probation period and scholarship and worried that the NCAA’s retreat sent the The penalties sprung from the scandal institution and the scapegoating of coach- He died of lung cancer at 85 shortly after transfer rules, and restoring the wins that wrong message. In State College, home to that erupted when Sandusky, a retired es, players and administrators who were the season ended. Sandusky was convicted had been wiped out. It also bowed to Penn State’s sprawling main campus nick- assistant coach, was accused of sexually never given a chance to defend them- of 45 counts and is now serving a 30- to Pennsylvania officials’ desire to see the $60 named Happy Valley, the news was wel- abusing boys, some of them on campus. selves,” they said. 60-year prison sentence. — AP Boost for McLaren after Honda win engine argument LONDON: McLaren have been given a available to them, taken as an average of boost after Formula One’s governing body the three. tweaked the rules to allow Honda, the “For example, if the three 2014 manu- team’s new partner, to develop their engine facturers have eight, seven and five unused this season in line with rival manufacturers. tokens respectively at the start of the sea- The Japanese company, who have son, then the new manufacturer will be replaced Mercedes at McLaren, are return- allowed to use six during the season,” ing to Formula One as the sport’s fourth The current manufacturers are allowed engine supplier. to improve their engine using a complicat- Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari are ed system of ‘tokens’ within set limits. allowed to introduce limited upgrades dur- Tne tokens are assigned to parts of the ing the season but Honda, as a new engine and divided into three categories, entrant, had been told to present their meaning that some parts require more engine for approval on Feb. 28 with no fur- than others and manufacturers must ther development permitted. choose which areas to improve. Honda met International Automobile There are 66 tokens and the existing Federation officials last Monday to present manufacturers can use 32 during the their view that the situation was unfair. A course of 2015, with the number reduced document issued to teams on Friday by over time so that by 2018 there will be only Formula One race director Charlie Whiting, 15 tokens available. seen by Reuters and confirmed by the FIA, Honda, who partnered McLaren from did not name Honda but clarified the situa- 1988 to 1992 when they won four con- tion with an amendment in their favour. structors’ titles, quit F1 as a constructor at “As each of the four 2015 manufacturers the end of 2008. will have an homologated power unit at McLaren have not won a race since 2012 the start of the season, we believe it would and finished fifth last year. Double world be fair to ensure that each of them enjoys champion Fernando Alonso has now joined equal opportunities for upgrades during from Ferrari to partner Briton’s Jenson the season,” it said. Button. The season starts in Australia on “We will therefore allow the new manu- March 15, with champions Mercedes again facturer to use the same number of tokens expected to set the pace after a dominant that the other three manufacturers have 2014.— Reuters BUENOS AIRES: Mini’s driver Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar (R) and co-driver Mathieu Baumel of France celebrate their victory at the end of Stage 13 of the Dakar 2015 between Rosario and Buenos Aires, Argentina, yesterday. Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar won the Dakar Rally car title for the Neureuther wins World Cup second time ahead of Giniel De Villiers of South Africa and Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland.