Lions linebacker says his favorite memory of college football was accidentally breaking ‘dirtbag’ Joe Paterno’s leg

Paul Sancya/AP

When Detroit Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy was a sophomore at Wisconsin, he accidentally broke Penn State head coach Joe Paterno’s leg when he and another player collided with Paterno on the sideline.

Ten years later, Levy does not regret the moment. Rather, in an interview with Men’s Journal this week, he called Paterno a “dirtbag” and said the inadvertent injury was his “proudest moment in college.”

From Men’s Journal:

“Ten years later, Levy now calls that incident “my proudest moment in college,” as history has since revealed Happy Valley’s sad secrets. “That dirtbag, man,” says Levy of Paterno, who was recently implicated as being aware of child sexual abuse committed by his assistant Jerry Sandusky as early as 1976. “We’ve gotta stop prioritizing sports over humanity,” says Levy. “Just because somebody can throw a football or coach football, they’re excluded from their wicked acts.”

In 2012, Paterno was fired as head coach of Penn State’s program after details surfaced that he allegedly knew about Sandusky’s sexual abuse of as many as 15 children. Paterno died two months later. That same year, Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse. He is serving 30 to 60 years in prison.

Here’s the play that Levy is referring to: