Betsy & Irv: A Love Story 40 Years in the Making

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2022

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The story of Betsy Sailor and Irv Pankey is unlike any you’ve heard before. It’s a story that, for years, was shrouded in darkness, tied inextricably to the unspeakable crimes of a former Penn State football player named Todd Hodne. ESPN’s Tom Junod and Paula Lavigne first brought Hodne’s horrific crimes to light this spring in their meticulously reported feature “Untold.” But in the midst of their reporting, they stumbled onto another, completely opposite story. A story of compassion, friendship, and ultimately, 40 years later…love. You can watch the short film "Betsy & Irv" on ESPN+. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get started, I wanted to let you know that this episode features graphic descriptions
0:05.2	of sexual assault.
0:07.4	Listener discretion is advised.
0:09.9	Tom, you know, in this story that you and Paul Levine are here to tell us, there are
0:15.4	so many places that we could start that I'm struggling a little bit to figure out where
0:20.5	exactly to do it.
0:22.5	But I think starting with a man named Irv Panky on October 25, 1978 might make the most
0:31.1	sense because what was happening exactly on that date?
0:34.8	So Irv Panky was a football player for Joe Paterno and the Penn State Nenelions.
0:44.7	My name is Irv Panky.
0:53.2	He was one of a bunch of Penn State players that went to the center of county courthouse
1:00.5	on October 25, 1978 in support of a player named Todd Hodney.
1:08.4	Todd had been accused of raping a Penn State student named Betsy Sailor.
1:18.3	On this day, she was bringing charges against him.
1:22.3	I went to show support from my teammate, but when the fact started coming out, she's very
1:32.4	straightforward in her testimony.
1:35.2	She didn't waver a bit.
1:37.7	She was unflinching in her testimony.
1:43.4	Players started looking at each other like holy shit.
1:47.7	Maybe she's telling the truth.
1:51.2	I think that they were used to dismissing accusations like Betsy's, but Betsy was such
1:57.4	a powerful witness on her own behalf that they started shaking their heads.
	...

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