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Retired boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard said he cried for Jerry Sandusky's accusers after hearing of the former Penn State assistant American football coach's arrest on child sex abuse charges nearly a year ago.
An abuse survivor himself, Leonard said he hopes the accusers can draw from his own story and willingness to speak out about a problem that garnered national attention following the Sandusky scandal.
"What I had heard about Penn State - I cried for those victims," Leonard said after speaking at Penn State's inaugural Child Sexual Abuse Conference.
"Because I knew what they'd dealt with, what they lived with ... It's such an awful thing that eats away at you, that makes you feel that you're to blame."
Sandusky, 68, was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison earlier this month after being convicted on dozens of criminal counts covering abuse allegations both on and off campus. Eight accusers testified at the June trial.
Leonard said he didn't plan to reach out to the accusers.
But asked what advice he would pass on, Leonard said it would be to "surrender".
He continued: "Surrender means, 'Yes it did happen,' but now deal with it. Speak up, speak out. Because if it happened to you, you can prevent it from happening to somebody else," he said. "It's being of service." The university hopes to become a leader in the research, treatment and prevention of child sex abuse. President Rodney Erickson said the origins of the conference go back a year, after Sandusky's November 5 arrest.
The arrest plunged the school into scandal and led to the sacking of the late Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno.
At the first full day of the conference, Erickson outlined ways the school is reaching out to help victims of abuse.
"Child abuse is a tragedy for children, for families and for society, and the time to step up the effort to stop it is now," Erickson told attendees.
Leonard revealed last year in a book that he was sexually abused by a coach while in the amateurs, something that haunted him throughout his life and led him to turn to alcohol and drugs.
The issue is still difficult for Leonard, who said he has been sober for six years. He choked up at times during his speech in a conference centre ballroom.
Besides the book, Leonard said he had spoken out before a large group on the topic just once before, for a TV show.
He had qualms about speaking at Penn State and sought beforehand to prepare his 15-year-old daughter, Camille, who accompanied him to State College, about what he would talk about since he thought she did not know.
"She looked at me, and said, 'Pop, I know,"' Leonard said. "And that's a good thing because our kids need to know more. They need to be protected more."
Leonard said he was abused in separate instances by two men, both of whom are now dead. He did not identify them.
"People need to hear more of this. You know what, use me, I will be that leader," Leonard said. "I will stand right there and say, 'Yes, something must be done now.' Not later, now."


Sugar Ray Leonard says he cried for Sandusky sex abuse victims

Sugar Ray Leonard

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Former champion tells Penn State conference how he lived through nightmare of sex abuse


Sugar Ray Leonard says he cried for Sandusky sex abuse victims

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Former champion tells Penn State conference how he lived through nightmare of sex abuse

Former champion tells Penn State conference how he lived through nightmare of sex abuse