Along with being the owner of the Buffalo Sabres, Terry Pegula is one of the largest donors to Penn State and had a major hand in starting the Penn State Division 1 hockey program which will take the ice in 2012. He officially released a statement about the situation occurring at Penn State through the Sabres organization today:
“The events that are unfolding at Penn State University are deeply troubling and a matter of great concern to me and my wife Kim. As many have expressed, our primary concern is for the individuals and families who may have been victimized.”
“Penn State’s reputation has been severely tarnished. We are encouraged to see the University trustees have begun the process of restoring integrity and trust in the institution. This process will take a period of time and trust will need to be re-earned as a result of these recent disclosures.”
“Penn State is supported by millions of students, alumni, faculty, staff and administrators. Our own support for Penn State and its hockey program is well known and will continue. We expect the University will carry out its educational mission with high standards and integrity.”
While it ultimately doesn’t matter what Pegula has to say about the situation, because he is one of the largest donors to Penn State, he needed to make some sort of statement and that statement was going to be very plain and vanilla. We knew that it wasn’t likely for Terry Pegula to pull his donation and that he wasn’t going to say anything that was going to add to the controversy already going on, but we still needed to hear some sort of statement.