Best News: Report: Joe Paterno told about Jerry Sandusky sex abuse as early as 1976

A court order claims that former Penn State football coach knew of sexual abuse allegations as early as 1976. USA TODAY Sports

Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno was allegedly told in 1976 about an accusation of child sexual abuse by former assistant Jerry Sandusky, according to a court order cited in a story published by PennLive.

The PennLive story cites a court order connected to insurance coverage case involving Penn State. The order includes a line that one of the school's insurers has claimed "in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU's Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky." The filing also cites incidents of other assistant football coaches witnessing "inappropriate contact between Sandusky and unidentified children."

Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse in June 2012, five months after Paterno's death, and is serving 30 to 60 years in prison. Lawyers for Sandusky, 72, have been in court this week attempting to overturn his conviction.

USA TODAY

Jerry Sandusky's lawyers want to question witnesses in effort for new trial

Penn State spokesman Lawrence Lokman said school officials involved in cases related to the Sandusky scandal were aware of the new allegations contained in the insurance case in a broad sense. "Many, many people, potential victims and victims have come forward to the university as part of that (settlement) process," Lokman said told the website. "We do not talk about their specific circumstances."

If true, this would be a significant development in the timeline of when Paterno allegedly was aware of Sandusky's actions. Reports, including from special investigator, Louis Freeh, have said Paterno was aware of allegations against Sandusky from 1998.

"Because of a single sentence in a court record of an insurance case, Joe Paterno's reputation has once again been smeared with an unsubstantiated, 40-year-old allegation," said a statement by the Paterno family. "We challenge anyone with evidence of misconduct to come forward and present their allegations in a process that allows a full, fair review of the evidence."

"Over the past four-and-a-half years Joe Paterno's conduct has been scrutinized by an endless list of investigators and attorneys," the Paterno family's attorney, Wick Sollers, said in a statement in obtained by PennLive.Before his death, Paterno maintained he went to superiors in 2001 when he first became aware of an allegation against Sandusky.

"Through all of this review there has never been any evidence of inappropriate conduct by Coach Paterno. To the contrary, the evidence clearly shows he shared information with his superiors as appropriate.

"An allegation now about an alleged event 40 years ago, as represented by a single line in a court document regarding an insurance issue, with no corroborating evidence, does not change the facts. Joe Paterno did not, at any time, cover up conduct by Jerry Sandusky."