Michael Gutman graduated from Penn State University in 1971 with a master's degree in engineering. His son graduated from the school in 1997, followed by his daughter in 1999. Both went on to earn medical degrees at Emory University.
Yet, when Gutman walks around his neighborhood, he is shy about representing Penn State.
"I am afraid to walk out with my Penn State hat or T-shirt on," Gutman said. "I don't want people to make nasty comments. People have done that before."
Gutman went to Costco Monday wearing an Emory T-shirt.
He is not alone in his angst. Like Penn State alumni all over the country, graduates living in the Atlanta area have been dealing with the child abuse scandal, which culminated this week with NCAA sanctions that, while stopping short of the "Death Penalty," might prove to be worse.
"When I first heard about what was going on at Penn State, I was devastated. Now it is absolutely heartbreaking," said Sojourner Marable Grimmett, who graduated from PSU in 2003 with a master's degree. "Although the sanctions against the institution are seen as worse than the 'death penalty,' I believe they are warranted because it sends a clear message to the world that sexual assault and abuse is not and should never be tolerated on any level. ... I am saddened that it is my alma mater, but they are taking the right steps."
Grimmett was one of several students selected from Clark-Atlanta University, where the football team played in a one-sided stadium, to attend Penn State, where more than 106,000 rabid fans show up at Beaver Stadium autumn Saturdays to cheer Paterno and the Nittany Lions.
"Man, the Joe Paterno statue [removed on Sunday] represented everything I thought was positive," said Sean Thompson, who also graduated in 2003. "I have gone to many games as a student and now an alum. It was great to see Joe run onto the field and going up there to sit in the stadium with 100,000 people is electric."
But Thompson, like other alums who follow the program, is torn. He said the NCAA punishment is too harsh, especially given the status of the two main characters: convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky is in jail and Paterno is dead.
"Generally speaking, Paterno was probably a good guy and the one bad person in this whole thing is Jerry Sandusky," said Dr. Thomas Lyons, a former center at the University of Georgia and an eight-year NFL veteran. "Unfortunately some good guys made some bad mistakes in not being aggressive and saving the children. I feel bad for Paterno and the family."
Lyons' son, Jordan Lyons, played tight end at Penn State from 2004-07, when the team won 35 games and three bowls. All of those victories are now vacated.
"I don't think players care too much about that right now," Lyons said. "We feel bad for the kids who are there right now, who didn't have anything to do with it."
Debra Duska, whose parents and siblings all attended Penn State, said that when the sanctions were handed down, she phoned the office of university president Rodney Erickson and demanded his resignation.
"The president has not handled this well," said Duska, who attended Penn State from 1991-94. "I think the sanctions are a little harsh and the administration should be punished as well."
Duska said Erickson has not responded to her yet.
Gutman said the scandal overshadows everything else on campus, particularly the stellar academic programs. Both his children earned chemistry degrees there. Kim Linden, who earned a master's degree in 1987, a year after Paterno won his second national championship, agrees.
"We are a good school academically and hopefully we can recover," Linden said. "But the impact is not even measurable. This is a classic example of the higher up you are, the harder you fall. It is travesty, really."
