UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State’s decision to honor a former board member of Jerry Sandusky’s Second Mile charity — a man who said he witnessed Sandusky enter showers with children — has drawn more than 100 complaints to the university in less than 24 hours.
Penn State selected Bruce Heim to join a group of alumni for an honorary coin toss prior to Penn State’s game Saturday against Army as part of Military Appreciation Day. Mr. Heim, 74, is a Vietnam veteran who received a Bronze Star and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy before earning his MBA from Penn State.
But the decision to honor Mr. Heim, given his ties to Sandusky, who in 2012 was convicted of 45 of 48 counts related to the sexual abuse of boys, have reopened wounds many thought were finally starting to heal.
Mr. Heim, formerly the biggest donor and vice chair of the Second Mile charity geared toward at-risk youth in central Pennsylvania, said he did not do anything wrong.
“I was investigated by five different investigative agencies because of my association with the Second Mile,” Mr. Heim said in an interview Thursday with the Post-Gazette. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I was investigated for two years, spoke to the grand jury for over two hours. … The Second Mile didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t think Jerry was a pedophile.”
Mr. Heim said Thursday he advised former Second Mile director Jack Raykovitz not to alert fellow board members when he was informed by former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley that Sandusky was seen in a shower with a child. Mr. Heim said Mr. Raykovitz told him Penn State looked into the matter and determined nothing inappropriate happened in the shower.
“Jerry in my presence, in the presence of coaches, in the presence of the football team on several occasions had gone in and showered with kids,” Mr. Heim said. “I said every day at the YMCA men shower with kids.”
A Penn State spokesman said the decision to include Mr. Heim was made more than a month ago by a committee comprising 25 people, both inside and outside of the university. The spokesman said no one voiced any questions or concerns about the decision.
In fact, one spokesman wondered why questions were raised about Mr. Heim’s selection in the first place.
“I’m not sure anybody shared the concerns of the folks that were out there,” said Mike DiRaimo, Penn State’s vice president of governmental affairs who also chairs Penn State’s Military Appreciation Day Committee. “I’m just not aware of it. It was not an issue.”
Mr. Heim said the complaints about the coin toss angered and surprised him, but he still plans to attend unless someone tells him he can’t. He was selected by the committee as Army’s representative for the coin toss and will be joined on the field by a Penn State alumnus and the family of a former Penn State football player from the 1920s.
“By not going out, I would be admitting that the Second Mile did something wrong and the Second Mile didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “The shame of this whole thing is thousands of kids are embarrassed because they were involved with the Second Mile.”
Mr. Heim, once recruited to play football by Joe Paterno, played football at the U.S. Military Academy and earned his MBA in insurance and real estate from Penn State. With Penn State playing Army on Saturday, Mr. Heim’s ties to both schools — he allows Army athletics to use his jet every year for recruiting and regularly donates to Penn State — were reasons he was selected for the coin toss.
Penn State board of trustee member Ryan McCombie, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL captain, nominated Mr. Heim for the honor and Mr. Heim was selected over four other nominees. Mr. Heim said Penn State president Eric Barron called him last month to ask him if he would be at the game.
What Mr. Heim did or didn’t know about Sandusky is the reason for the 100 phone calls.
Mr. Heim, who has 15 grandkids and said he remains active in other charities, said the fallout from the Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal continues to surprise him. As someone who saw the Second Mile unfold from the beginning when he was on the first board in 1977 and who donated more than $1 million to the charity, he said those who are angered about his role on Saturday are missing the mark.
“Nobody in the Second Mile had any inkling that he had done anything wrong,” he said. “If you don’t believe it, then why hasn’t there been one charge brought against the Second Mile? They have been investigated just as deeply and as vigorously as Penn State was.”
First Published: October 2, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
