Rick Curl Banned for Life from USA Swimming

Braden Keith
by Braden Keith 10

September 19th, 2012 National, News

On the day when he was scheduled to have his hearing in front of USA Swimming, Former Curl Burke Swim Club founder Rick Curl has instead been banned for life by the governing body of most of swimming in the United States.

Curl’s name now appears along 66 others on USA Swimming’s “individuals permanently suspended or ineligible” list. The specific sections of the Code of Conduct outlined are 450.1 and 401.1, which read as below, from the rule book that was in place at the time of the alleged actions.

450.1 (1985) GENERAL – As herein set forth, the Corporation may censure, suspend for a definite or indefinite period of time with or without terms of probation, or expel any member of the Corporation, including any athlete, coach, manager, official, member of any committee, or any person participating in any capacity whatsoever in the affairs of the Corporation, who has violated any of its rules or regulations, or who aids, abets, and encourages another to violate any of its rules or regulations, or who has acted in a manner which brings disrepute upon the Corporation or upon the sport of swimming. The Corporation may also conduct hearings on any matter affecting the Corporation as the national governing body for swimming.

401.1 (1986-1994) GENERAL –  As herein set forth, the Corporation may censure, suspend for a definite or indefinite period of time with or without terms of probation, or expel any member of the Corporation, including any athlete, coach, manager, official, member of any committee, or any person participating in any capacity whatsoever in the affairs of the Corporation, who has violated any of its rules or regulations, or who aids, abets, and encourages another to violate any of its rules or regulations, or who has acted in a manner which brings disrepute upon the Corporation or upon the sport of swimming.  The Corporation may also conduct hearings on any matter affecting the Corporation as the national governing body for swimming.

The fact that the accusations occurred in the 1980’s, where the rule book was very different and less specific in outside-of-the-pool violations, the decision does not give any further insight into findings of the USA Swimming investigation.

Curl was expected to receive his rules-mandated hearing in front of USA Swimming today, but has apparently declined the opportunity. This would not necessarily imply an admission of guilt, but declining a hearing on the subject, according to the established procedures, effectively constitutes a “no contest” outcome.

The attorney representing the victim, Robert Allard, disagreed, saying “The decision on behalf of Mr. Curl to capitulate without a public hearing conclusively demonstrates that each and every one of the allegations that my client presented are completely 100% true and accurate.”

Upon hearing of the news, the alleged victim Kelley Currin said “”I am happy to hear that Rick Curl may finally be starting to accept responsibility for what he did to me. I can now only hope that USA Swimming will accept responsibility for refusing to ban Rick Curl when they had knowledge to do so.”

Now that this case is settled, or at least moved beyond the scope of the USA Swimming Board of Review process, the attention of the swimming community will shift fully toward the pending litigation against former National Team Director Mark Schubert that mentions many of the same accusations as did the Rick Curl complaint.

For the full backstory on this case, please check out this tracking page: http://swimswam.com/tag/rick-curl/

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11 years ago

top reporting these sex & all crime stories except murder. No one gets a fair chance once accused. No one would want to be publicly complained about and accused. They can do home detention and accuser should do home detention. Do away with Civil courts and NDAs and have both go with no publicity to treatment.

BaldingEagle
11 years ago

Where is the response from John Leonard, of ASCA, about all this? Rick Curl was a VP of ASCA in the 90’s.

baxter
Reply to  BaldingEagle
11 years ago

i don’t think curl is chinese, nor had an incredible final 100 split in a 4IM

don
Reply to  baxter
11 years ago

haha..touché

Mirror Traffic
11 years ago

I’ll have a bowl of curly fries in tribute to his many contributions to swimming.

Very Concerned
11 years ago

Hopefully jail time is next for Curl. Should criminal charges be filed against him, he’ll find it much more difficult than it was in manipulating USAS to negotiate his exit. Jail time too for his buddy Noah Rucker. Clear them all out of the organization, out of swimming period and hopefully, out of society.

Reply to  Very Concerned
11 years ago

I’m just guessing here, but I’m assuming the statute of limitations regarding this issue is on Curl’s side here. (Obviously, I wish it weren’t, but I’m assuming there really isn’t much to be done on the big issues.)

baxter
11 years ago

good. i think her the women’s parents should be banned for life from parenting as well…

Bullddoze
Reply to  baxter
11 years ago

Good point.

ChestRockwell
11 years ago

I think I speak for many people when I say “Holy Shit.”

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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