Kelly Currin was serially molested when she was 13-years-old by Coach Rick Curl. For a background on the events that led up to his sentencing, see this link: [
Link]
As you read this, memorize the names of those who did nothing to save her or report this abuse to the police,
USA Swimming, or the
American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA)
Here you have a victim that was left to languish while sycophants (and I am calling out
USA Swimming Vice President... David Berkoff as one of them) allowed Kelly Currin to suffer in both silence and consequence. Of course David Berkoff ended up climbing the ladder into a sweet spot as a
USA Swimming vice president chair but even after all the facts mentioned below were shoved down his throat he has never apologized or tied to make it right for Kelly Currin. In fact none of them have and below is a shopping list of names.
This is the statement of what happens to a child molestation victim. Pretend that this is somebody you know or you are related to when you read this. A son, daughter, friend.
May 23, 2013
Statement by Kelley Davies Currin:
The sexual molestation committed by Rick Curl and subsequent payoff to silence me has been called the worst kept secret in the swim world. Yet today it is appalling that a number of people in positions of authority had the opportunity to take action against Rick Curl and each one of them failed miserably. Now that justice has been levied against Rick Curl, it is time to hold accountable USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus and Vice President David Berkoff, as well as former USA Swimming National Team Director and Hall of Fame coach Mark Schubert, for their actions in helping create a culture that protects predator coaches and vilifies young victims who have the courage to come forward.
Wielgus, Berkoff, and Coach Schubert all had knowledge of Rick Curl’s sexual abuse of me and selfishly decided to look the other way. While I was battling demons from the childhood molestation, Wielgus, Berkoff, and Coach Schubert contributed to the glorification of Rick Curl by allowing him to coach at one of the most prestigious swim centers in the country for almost two decades, supporting his induction into the swimming Hall of Fame, and providing him with center stage status at the 2012 Olympic Trials.
Leaders are put in positions of authority to make difficult and tough decisions, especially when it comes to protecting children. Wielgus, Berkoff, and Coach Schubert flunked the leadership test. On behalf of countless other swimmers with similar stories, I am calling for Wielgus and Berkoff to immediately resign from USA Swimming and allow real leaders with the commitment to protect molestation victims to take over.
Further, Schubert and others should be immediately be banned by USA Swimming for refusing to protect not only me as a young swimmer but others who may have subsequently victimized by Rick Curl.
Thinking back over the last 30 years I am gravely disappointed that numerous people in a position of power had a chance to do the “right thing” by speaking out against Rick Curl and taking steps to ensure that minors were protected from him. One person after another was presented with an opportunity to think beyond their own interests and do what is best for children. Each of these persons demonstrated that they were mere weaklings who selfishly chose to remain silent and do nothing. Who knows how many children have been affected due to these feeble decisions?
Let me start with the University of Maryland Athletic Director who was in office at the time that Mr. Curl’s sexual abuse of me came to light. My parents went to him first as Mr. Curl was the head coach at the University in 1987. While thankful that he terminated Rick Curl from his position, this Athletic Director conducted no further action which would serve to protect minors.
Mitch Ivey, who is a former United States Olympic coach and a suspected pedophile himself, is one of the first coaches I told about my sex abuse at the August 1987 Pan Pac Championships. I got no reaction from him. He did not say a word. He took no action. After arriving at the University of Texas, I told the story of my abuse to a room full of people at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes gathering in Austin, Texas in 1987. UT head men's swim coach Eddie Reese was present. I sat down with Mr. Reese afterwards and provided him with more details as to what happened to me. He took no action. I also told UT head women’s coach Richard Quick about my abuse in 1987, who just said, "I'm sorry" and, at least to my knowledge, took no action. Coach Quick knew what I was going through in my freshman year. Even though I finished second in the NCAA 200 Butterfly, Coach Quick decided that I should go to the hospital for my eating disorder only if I did not make the Olympic team. Since I finished sixth at the Olympic Trials in 1988, I was admitted to the hospital from mid-August until mid-October of that same year. It was no secret why I was hospitalized. Jill Sterkel, then the UT assistant women’s swim coach, came to the hospital to visit as did Randa Ryan, the then on-deck assistant women’s swim coach and now the University of Texas Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director.
Coach Quick left the University of Texas for Stanford in 1988 and was replaced by legendary swim coach Mark Schubert, who was the USA Swimming National Team Head Coach from 2009 through 2010. Schubert knew when he arrived at UT in 1989 what Rick Curl did to me. I told him. To Coach Schubert, however, I was just another swimmer. When he learned that I was abused and was suffering both mentally and physically, Coach Schubert’s reaction was to remove me from all UT swimming programs. I was deemed a distraction and therefore expendable. Coach Schubert tossed me aside like a piece of trash. Coach Schubert otherwise took no action at that time as he was obviously more concerned about himself rather than the athletes he was trusted to safeguard by their parents. I continued to try to swim for two more years but lacked the support that I needed and was left with no choice but to leave the sport before the 1992 Olympic Trials.
Perhaps the most glaring example of ineptitude is the story of former Olympic gold medalist and current Vice President David Berkoff. Back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, Mr. Berkoff was part of a group of swimmers which was discussing “over a handful of beers” that Rick Curl was “banging” me and that Mitch Ivey was sleeping with one of his swimmers (see attached email). Mr. Berkoff claimed that he formed a subcommittee when he became part of the USA Swimming Board of Directors in the early 1990’s in order to address pervasive sex abuse within USA Swimming and that the idea was “shot down” by John Leonard, the then and current Executive Director of the American Swim Coaches Association (“ASCA”).
When it came time to testify under penalty of perjury in a deposition in January of 2012, however, Mr. Berkoff significantly “backed off” from that comment and generally did not remember anything about this process. “Just an idea that was kicked around without anything formalized” is essentially how Mr. Berkoff described it in deposition. USA Swimming otherwise has no documents as to this alleged “subcommittee”. Mr. Berkoff has otherwise, to my knowledge, done nothing about Rick Curl for literally decades. Mr. Berkoff again joined the Board as Vice President in 2010. Once again, he had the power
and opportunity to do something about this pedophile coach. From 2007 until Rick Curl was arrested in 2012, however, Mr. Berkoff once again proved that he could not care less about me or the fact that Rick Curl presented a risk to minor swimmers. Mr. Berkoff did not once reach out to me to express sympathy or offer his assistance in any way. Like all of the others, he “buried his head in the sand” and looked out only for his own best interests. Mr. Berkoff is a disgrace in my eyes.
Whether or not you believe Mr. Berkoff, I am sure that John Leonard knew about what Rick Curl did to me way back then. According to Mr. Berkoff, everyone knew. And yet, under Mr. Leonard’s leadership, ASCA named Rick Curl as Coach of the Year in 1994. Curl was effectively rewarded for the insidious way that that he treated me when I was just a child.
Knowledge of Rick Curl went straight to the top of USA Swimming. After over two decades of remaining silent, Mark Schubert testified that he told current Executive Director Chuck Wielgus on at least three occasions starting in 2007 about Rick Curl and Ms. Currin. Mr. Wielgus himself testified that 2010 that he had recently been made aware of a “settlement” between Curl and one of his swimmers, presumably me. Once again, nothing was done as Mr. Wielgus took no action. In the spring of 2011, I came forward and, with the assistance of an attorney, presented a claim against Rick Curl with USA Swimming. We provided USA Swimming with a copy of the settlement agreement signed by Curl which constituted an admission of his guilt. Still nothing was done. In July of 2012, Curl was sitting prominently and generally treated as royalty during the United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. Incensed, I hired attorney Robert Allard to present another claim in July of 2012. Only after that time, when Mr. Allard basically held a gun to its head, did USA Swimming take any action. By then, it was far too late.
In sum, I have no confidence whatsoever that USA Swimming will protect swimmers from sex abuse. Its leaders have been given ample opportunity to prove to the country that they are able to put the interests of swimmers ahead of their own. They have failed and have failed in the worst of ways. They have shown their true colors. It is time for a change. It is time to hold those who knew and did nothing accountable. And that time is now. If USA Swimming continues to demonstrate that it cannot regulate itself, then I urge Congressional intervention. USA Swimming is a creation of Congress and therefore Congress needs to intervene and address this crisis. Enough is enough. I am living proof that we have a deep rooted problem in the amateur sport of swimming that requires drastic and immediate action.
Thank you for your time.
Kelley Currin
[Blogger Note: Here is an update I received in February 2014 from an anonymous reader. It's shrill and loud and defends Rick Curl and insults Kelly Currin. I am taking it out of the comments section so as to illustrate and keep permanent what the some of the values towards sexual abuse in our sport was like "back in the day" as compared to today. The answer not much has changed:
"... I was there with you in the pool training by your side. You looked awful and then we found out about your anorexia and we heard later about your parents finding your diary and you not wanting to press charges but your parents did. You KNOW he is not a abuser of children. You willingly got into a relationship with him and had sex with him at 16 as you said before. Isn't that the legal age. You were only 20 years apart. You could have married him. If you were so in love as you acted then you should have gone to him. Instead your mad now how many years later when you know the incident if it really happened was isolated. You destroy him life how many years later because you had to shut up because you agreed to it. You are a wreck. I hope Rick is even more successful now. He is a great coach, a great human being and if he really did those things with you it was isolated and your acting like he is an abuser like Sandusky or whatever his name is. PLEASE. You are being a drama queen. You had fun at the time. You were paid off, you now are so angry you want to destroy lives after he has done so much for so many. I sure if what really happened happened then he was careful to never to anything again because you know what, it would have happened again yet no one has come out to say so. I think you wrote your little diary and made this shit up. Your parents found your fantasies and you didn't want it to come out cuz you knew it wasn't true...and so you shut up and let your family get paid. what are you low on cash again. wtF KELLY! I saw you about the time of these allegations on the poolside, glass your bout with anorexia is over but man you have a serious lying problem or if by chance it happened you like destroying peoples lives when you already got your fucking settlement. You were an adult when you had sex and you were adult when you singed those papers. I wish I had been there in court and known about this so I could have gotten up there and said there is no way this could be true. I was with you a lot a lot a lot. No one was alone with RICK. So you got some rides to practice with him and OMG you were in love with him, we knew that but I never thought you do this too him just because he turned on you when you fucking lied to your family. reason why they didn't do anything in Texas, no one believes you. NO ONE IN YOUR TRAINGING GROUP saw a thing. NO one on trips was ever called alone to Ric. He was on deck those long meets all day long. He didn't have time for this bs. I think your lying. And these people saying how brave you are. BRAVE IS A PERFECT WORD FOR SOMEONE TO COME OUT AND SAY SOMETHING THAT IS A LIE! GET A LIFE! ..."
