November 9, 2011, Scandals in hockey similar to the one at Penn State University for HockeyPrimeTime.com

Penn State scandal re-introduces reality to sports

Columns

Written by Denis Gorman

Tuesday, November 08, 2011 21:06

The heinous sexual abuse scandal at Penn State has re-introduced reality into the often unreal world of sports. Hockey has faced similar stories and all involved have been labeled – permanently. Nausea. Confusion. Disgust. Fury. Those were the physical and emotional reactions when the horrific story began to emanate from State College, Pennsylvania, on Saturday afternoon. A former defensive coordinator for the Penn State football team, Jerry Sandusky, was arrested and charged on 40 counts of child sex abuse. The university's athletic director, Timothy Curley, and senior vice president for finance and business, Gary Schultz, were charged with covering up Sandusky’s crime. Then the report was made public. In the disturbingly graphic 23-page grand jury report, Sandusky is alleged to have forced eight male victims to have sex with him. A ninth victim has since come forward and Fox 29 in Philadelphia reported Tuesday night that sources put the number of victims closer to 20. What the Penn State story has proved is that as much as people employed in the world of sports want to say – want to believe – that they are insulated from reality, the truth is that sports is a microcosm of society. As inconvenient and uncomfortable and ugly as the truth is, sports are not immune to the world at large, flaws and all. Hockey in particular has had its core shaken three times with stories similar to the one being played out in State College. The most well-known stories were former junior coach Graham James having pled guilty in 1997 to assaulting Sheldon Kennedy and another player 350 times, Mark Hardy’s arrest for felony sexual abuse, and the disturbing saga of Mike Danton and David Frost. In his powerful memoir Playing With Fire, Theo Fleury wrote of the physical and mental abuse James, his coach with the Western Hockey League’s Winnipeg – now Moose Jaw – Warriors inflicted upon him. Fleury and Kennedy have become advocates for child sex abuse victims. James, who also coached the Swift Current Broncos and Calgary Hitmen, was pardoned by the Canadian Parole Board in 2007. He was taken into custody by Winnipeg police at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport in October 2010. The Canadian Post reported last week that James is living in Montreal while awaiting the start of his trial. Hardy was arrested in Washington D.C. on May 21, 2010, after a family member complained to police that the former Los Angeles Kings defenseman was committing unwanted sexual acts. Charges were subsequently dropped against Hardy who was employed at the time as an assistant coach by the Kings. He is now employed by the Kings’ ECHL affiliate, which is owned by AEG, as an assistant coach. Even though Mike Danton, Sheldon Kennedy and Theo Fleury have overcome demons to become productive members of society, they are forever labeled as victims because of acts committed against them by the powerful. The most bizarre of the stories was that of Frost and Danton. Initially, Frost was Danton’s agent but as the relationship evolved, Frost became the controlling being in Danton’s life. Danton entered into a bizarre series of agreements with a figure skater and strip club bouncer – and later, a police dispatcher – in 2004 to murder Frost. Danton, who changed his surname to Danton from Jefferson, claimed to the parole board that the target of the murder-for-hire was his father, Steve Jefferson. Danton was paroled in 2009 and as part of his parole, he is not allowed face-to-face contact with Frost or Jefferson. Danton enrolled at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in January 2010 and this past September Danton made headlines again for saving a teammate from dying on the ice during a Swedish third division game. Even though Danton, Kennedy and Fleury have overcome demons to become productive members of society, they are forever labeled as victims because of acts committed against them by the powerful. In the 1968 movie The Lion In Winter, the wife and the three sons of King George II conspired with and schemed against one other in order to take what they believe is theirs, the throne as the King of England. In a compelling exchange, John Castle, as Prince Geoffrey, said, “My you chivalric fool, as if the way one fell down mattered,” to his brother, Prince Richard, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins. Richard replied, “When the fall is all there is, it matters.” Jerry Sandusky, Graham James, Mike Danton, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz and Mark Hardy have fallen. Joe Paterno, Graham Spanier and David Frost will fall. Their reputations are forever tarnished. Forever. On Twitter: @HockeyPrimeTime and @DenisGorman

Last Updated on Wednesday, November 09, 2011 02:23

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