BEAVERTON — The president of Nike Inc. said Thursday he has decided to change the name of the Joe Paterno Child Development Center, a child care facility at the company’s headquarters outside Portland.

Chief Executive Mark Parker said he was deeply saddened by the news coming of the Louis Freeh investigation on the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State.

“It is a terrible tragedy that children were unprotected from such abhorrent crimes,” Parker said.

Nike founder Phil Knight, who defended Paterno at the coach’s memorial service, said “it appears Joe made missteps that led to heartbreaking consequences. I missed that Joe missed it, and I am extremely saddened on this day.”

Nike has not released a new name for the Joe Paterno Child Development Center, which opened in the early 1990s and was remodeled in 2008. The company declined to provide more information about the center or its new name.

— The Associated Press