Tom Junod Profile picture
Apr 20 11 tweets 4 min read
A woman is raped by a football player. She tesifies against him and lives in isolation in the freshman dorm. One night, there is knock on her door. She opens it, and another football player fills it. “Hello,” he says. “My name is Irv Pankey, and I believe everything you say.” 1/
When @pinepaula and I were working on #Untold, our story about Todd Hodne and his crimes at Penn State 4 decades ago, many people asked us a question about the coaches, cops and players who learned about Hodne in real-time: “What would you have had them do?” 2/
Irv Pankey is our answer. 3/
One of 12 African-American players on @PennStateFball team in 1978, Irv saw in Betsy Sailor something of his own isolation. He thought, “She does not deserve to be a pariah” and went to her door. He said “You will never have to walk on this campus alone again.” 4/
He is the only player to have done so, though he eventually found others to follow his example. He changed the life of a brave woman shattered by a two-hour sexual assault at knifepoint, a woman who forevermore called Irv Pankey “my guardian angel.” 5/
Betsy Sailor and Irv Pankey graduated and went their separate ways, Betsy to a long career in HR and Irv to the Los Angeles Rams. They did not see each other again for more than 40 years. Last September, our story #Untold brought them back together. 6/
Today, “Betsy & Irv,” the film @nicole_noren made for @ESPNFilms from their reunion in State College premieres on @ESPNPlus. It features Betsy Sailor and Irv Pankey, now in their 60s, telling their story. It is a film as beautiful and luminous as its heroes. 7/
I was in that room and did those interviews. I was there when Betsy spoke of calling her mother to tell her she had been raped. I was there when Irv once again knocked on Betsy’s door and time went away. I will never forget and if you watch “Betsy & Irv” neither will you. 8/
“What would you have had them do?” is more than a rhetorical question, because it has an answer. Be a helper. Be a hero. Be like Irv Pankey. Knock on the door. Believe. 9/
What would you have had them do? Here is Irv Pankey’s answer: “I had to go get her.” 10/
Here is the trailier for nicole_noren’s beautiful film. The trailer is just a minute long, and yet you can’t miss the light it shines, the light *they* shine: “Betsy & Irv.” End.

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More from @TomJunod

Apr 17
A few days ago, I received an email from someone who had read the story @pinepaula and I wrote about the crimes of a former @PennStateFball player named Todd Hodne. The reader wanted to talk about another Nittany Lion, Irv Pankey. 1/
Irv Pankey is the player who came to the aid of one of Todd Hodne’s victims, Betsy Sailor, after she testified against Irv’s teammate in court. Irv did not know her. His aid was unsolicited and unbidden. But it changed Betsy’s life. 2/
The reader responded to Irv as the light in a tale of nearly unremitting darkness. But he also said that Irv reminded him of a piece of advice that Fred Rogers offered to help people deal with dark times and terrible events: “Look for the helpers.” 3/
Read 12 tweets
Jan 20, 2021
Let's give the devil his due: he's tireless. He has an iron constitution. . He wasn't just a politician; he was a desperate man, and from his desperation he drew the power to hypnotize vast crowds. 1/
He was never anything less than a finisher, which is what made him dangerous, especially down the stretch in an election. Even today, he couldn't do anything but try to make the sale, even to people who supposedly loved him. 2/
Even today, he couldn't think of anything to say to them but the classic kiss-off of a bitter man: "Have a good life." 3/
Read 15 tweets
Jan 14, 2021
Joanne Rogers — Mrs. Rogers — died this morning at the age of 92. There was no one else like her, except maybe her husband Fred. 1/
That I had both of them in my life — Fred for four and a half years, Joanne for 22 — is not just one of the great gifts of my life; it is the gift that seems so unaccountable that it is the closest I’ve come to the experience of grace. 2/
The last time I spoke to Joanne was Wednesday, 1/6, after the atrocity at the Capitol; I called to give her comfort but of course I also call to receive comfort in return. And that’s how it always was. 3/
Read 7 tweets

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