From Penn Live:

A new bombshell dropped in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal Thursday.

It came in the form of a single line in a court order on a related insurance coverage case involving Penn State, and its full ramifications can’t immediately be gauged.

But that line was eye-popping in itself.

The line in question states that one of Penn State’s insurers has claimed “in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU’s Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky.”

The order also cites separate references in 1987 and 1988 in which unnamed assistant coaches witnessed inappropriate contact between Sandusky and unidentified children, and a 1988 case that was supposedly referred to Penn State’s athletic director at the time.

These guys might want to hold off on rebuilding those two statues.

UPDATEPhilly.com reports Penn State paid to settle the claims:

Pennsylvania State University paid settlements to end claims that Joe Paterno and other coaches at the school knew as early as the 1970s that Jerry Sandusky was sexually assaulting children, according to court filings and a person familiar with the payouts.

One accuser was a child when he allegedly told Paterno in 1976 that Sandusky had molested him. Two assistant coaches witnessed Sandusky’s misconduct with children in the 1980s, and a former athletic director also was told about sexual contact between the former assistant coach and a child, the filings state.

Oh, wow.