As expected, Penn State's worst fears might have just been confirmed.

ESPN is reporting that famed Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was indeed aware of sexual abuse by assistant Jerry Sandusky at the school's football program dating back to 1976, according to alleged victims' depositions, which were unsealed Tuesday. 

One of the alleged victims, anonymously listed as John Doe 150, said that he told Paterno that Sandusky had stuck his finger in the then-14-year-old boy's rectum while showering the day after it happened in 1976 and Paterno didn't do anything about it. What's worse is, Paterno allegedly brushed it off altogether.

"Is it accurate that Coach Paterno quickly said to you, 'I don't want to hear about any of that kind of stuff, I have a football season to worry about?'" a lawyer from the school's insurance carrier asked the man. 

"Specifically, yes," the alleged victim replied. "I was shocked, disappointed, offended, I was insulted. I said, is that all you're going to do? You're not going to do anything else?"

The man added that Paterno "just walked away."

This unsealed deposition counters Paterno's 2011 claim that he first learned of Sandusky's sex abuse in 2001.

"I do not know of anything else that Jerry would be involved in of that nature, no. I do not know of it," Paterno testified in 2011 before passing away in January 2012. "You did mention — I think you said something about a rumor. It may have been discussed in my presence, something else about somebody. I don't know. I don't remember, and I could not honestly say I heard a rumor." 

Sandusky, now 72, is serving 30 to 60 years in prison for child molestation and Penn State has doled out a total of $92 million in settlement payouts to 32 claims involved in the sex assault scandal. 

However, the alleged fact that Paterno could have put a stop to this makes it as egregious as the acts themselves. Terrible.

BET Sports News — Get the latest news and information about African-Americans in sports, including weekly recaps, celebrity news and photos of your favorite Black athletes.