This open letter from USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus is courtesy of the USAswimming.org.
Dear USA Swimming families and members,
In light of recent events, I want to take the time to address a very important topic – the safety and well-being of USA Swimming athlete members.
As some of you may or may not know, former swim coach Rick Curl was sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday. Mr. Curl was placed on the published list of ‘Individuals Permanently Suspended or Ineligible’ for USA Swimming Membership in September of 2012. This action was the result of USA Swimming conducting an investigation that led to the identification of the victim in April of 2012 and our receiving a copy of the victim’s previously rumored settlement agreement with Mr. Curl. USA Swimming immediately filed a police report to initiate criminal proceedings in this matter, and through our National Board of Review process, Mr. Curl’s USA Swimming membership was permanently revoked.
A chronology of the investigation and review preceding is below:
| Rick Curl Investigation Chronology | |
| 1. | April 2011: USA Swimming receives a report from a former swimmer who had heard from his roommate that Mr. Curl had an inappropriate relationship with a minor female swimmer in the 1980s and that a confidential legal settlement had been entered into. USA Swimming initiates an investigation. |
| 2. | April 2012: USA Swimming identifies and locates Kelley Currin. USA Swimming’s Director of Safe Sport contacts Ms. Currin who agrees to file a complaint. USA Swimming’s investigator interviews Ms. Currin. Investigation ongoing. |
| 3. | July 23, 2012: USA Swimming initiates a petition against Mr. Curl under its rules, seeking to temporarily suspend his membership at an emergency hearing, and to permanently ban him from membership and place his name on USA Swimming’s published list of Individuals Permanently Suspended or Ineligible for USA Swimming membership. |
| 4. | August 1, 2012: Mr. Curl waives his right to an emergency hearing, and his USA Swimming membership is temporarily suspended by the USA Swimming National Board of Review, pending a final hearing on the action, set for September 19, 2012.* |
| 5. | September 18, 2012: Mr. Curl informs the National Board of Review that he is: voluntarily and permanently relinquishing his USA Swimming membership; waiving his right to a final National Board of Review hearing, and accepting the sanction requested by USA Swimming.* |
| 6. | September 18, 2012: The USA Swimming National Board of Review enters an order revoking Mr. Curl’s membership, permanently banning him from membership; and directing that his name be placed on USA Swimming’s published list of Individuals Permanently Suspended or Ineligible for USA Swimming Membership. |
*The Amateur Sports Act requires that a member be afforded the opportunity for a hearing before being declared ineligible. The right to a hearing can be waived.
Contrary to some media reports, USA Swimming first learned of Ms. (Kelley) Currin’s name in April of 2011. I also did not have any firsthand knowledge of her identity until that time. Upon receiving firsthand information of her name, we then initiated an investigation to locate Ms. Currin which eventually led to our having direct contact with Ms. Currin in April of 2012.
At USA Swimming, we have the highest levels of compassion and concern for abuse victims, but we also must adhere to deliberative processes for those being accused of inappropriate conduct.
We continue to work hard to grow our Safe Sport Program. Our advancements in the areas of background checks, pre-employment screening, training and education, and com¬plaint reporting have been significant. In addition, I’m proud to say that our annual House of Delegates meeting at the USA Swimming convention consistently works to evolve and strengthen the USA Swimming Code of Conduct to better address any Safe Sport-related issues.
We remain committed to responsibly and diligently addressing any issues we have within or organization and I’m proud of the good work our Safe Sport Program had done since its inception in 2010. Since that time, 36 members have been sanctioned for Code of Conduct violations, 30 of whom have been banned for life. We continue to take action to remove individuals from our sport that should not be a part of our member organization.
Finally, I would encourage you to take the time to visit our Safe Sport website to learn more details about the program and USA Swimming’s commitment to providing a safe environment for all its members. The Program is a comprehensive abuse prevention initiative rooted in six core areas: Policies & Guidelines, Screening & Selection, Training & Education, Monitoring & Supervision, Recognizing, Reporting & Responding, and Grassroots Engagement & Feedback. www.usaswimming.org/protect.
Thank you,
Chuck Wielgus
USA Swimming Executive Director
It’s good to know all the facts, which indicate that there is a lot of blame to go around about this horrible situation. I don’t believe USA Swimming is to blame as much as others who didn’t report it at the time. But blame is not going to help Kelley recover from what was done to her, which can’t be undone. What can help her is to stop thinking of herself as a victim and getting psychological counseling to teach her to accept what happened, learn from it, and view it in a different perspective so she can move on positively with the rest of her life and stop being a victim of something that happened early in her life.… Read more »
It is obvious if you read Kelley’s statement and the timeline that Wielgus is presenting in his statement (or lies), that he is nothing but a piece of garbage. Our great sport needs Wielgus and his allies to go away.
This whole thing is disgusting. Curl admits to having sex with a 13/14 yr old girl, and he says she made the first move. Disgusting. Predator lying in wait, just went through a course on this, its called “grooming.” This behavior can never be tolerated, ever. Furthermore, I totally agree with Susan, where the hell are the parents in all this. I have two daughters, if anyone did this to one of them there would be hell to pay (and I’m not talking $$$). I would lead the charge on the fight to put that man down. Currin’s parents looked to take a backseat and get paid for their daughters very unfortunate circumstance. How the hell could you allow your… Read more »
I think the wording on complaints is a huge deal for USA Swimming. If Currin initially reported to USA Swimming that Curl raped her, maybe they didn’t act because the word “rape” is not in the Code of Conduct. “Sexual Misconduct” is the terminology used in the Code of Conduct.
Currin’s non-disclosure agreement has “as much detail as possible” and I believe USA Swimming wants that level of detail in the complaint.
Greenbacks comment helped me come to this conclusion. The word “dishonesty” is in the Code of Conduct but not the word lie. For those of you who are thinking about submitting a complaint, review the written code, and use the exact wording so the message you… Read more »
Thank you!
I am not a client of Bob Allard’s, I have never been a plaintiff in any case, but I had tried notifying Pacific Swimming of a swim coach’s horrifying behavior. It went all the way to Colorado, where it was all forgotten.
I learned a lot of lessons from that whole experience, and it is why I believe Kelley Currin is doing the right thing.
I do not believe he wrote that timeline let alone the body of the letter; I bet a lawyer did.
The person that knew who Rick Curl slept with well before 2011 was; (according to David Berkoff), was David Berkoff! The other “witness” he named was the infamous and poorly organized John Leonard.
Whoever the anonymous swimmer is who reported Curl’s molestation in 2011was obviously forced to do it anonymously out of fear of retribution. I wish they would come forward; they deserve many accolades. They obviously can’t out of fear of retribution.
I agree, Chuck probably didn’t write it.
“We remain committed to responsibly and diligently addressing any issues we have within our organization” is a crock of crap!!!
@Scaq Tony – the person(s) who knew Rick Curl molested Kelley were her parents Pam and Gerald Davies on July 26, 1986 and still allowed her to swim with the rapist of their daughter for another 14 months. This timeline is of the utmost significance (see my post on another article in swimswam). The rest is a side show deliberately being held in the forefront for the benefit of Bob Allard and Co. to distract everyone from the real story and that is the criminal charges that should be brought against the the Davies. End of this story.
I think what’s in question, really, is the timeline.
If what you say about Currin’s parents is true, it is horrifying. It just, however, doesn’t change that this is about timeline discrepancies. USA Swimming is saying one thing, Allard and Currin contend something else.
Is it wrong to try to get to the truth?
Bottom line folks – USA Swimming does not care about the athletes only the money. This attitude starts in Colorado Springs and trickles down to the clubs. Most protests are filed because of bounced checks or non-payment. According to court documents, one of the reasons Bill Jewell was terminated from FAST was for dishonesty. FAST was slapped with approx. a $26,000 fine for failure to file paperwork on time (one of Jewell’s responsibilities).
Jill Chasson’ (National Board of Review) husband is on the Board of Directors of FAST.
USA Swimming and their affiliates know how to step it up when money is involved. Dishonesty is a valid cause when it affects them. Jewell was also accused of inappropriate behavior… Read more »
Looks like the fine was $29,600.00. Wow – that’s HUGE!
Are you people out of your minds? Who are YOU to question anyone’s state of mind or mental health? And calling her a gold-digger to boot? Maybe knowing that all the victim-blaming was going to happen made it easier for Rick to agree to a payout. Read her victim impact statement. Then run that through your own experiences, or better yet, those of another victim of rape. How would you react? Sounds like you are saying, “Hey, girl, sorry about all that. But dust yourself off, and GET OVER IT! It’s been 30 years!”
BTW, NDA’s DO NOT mean that a felony can’t be tried later. If that were the case, someone could just come along and throw money at… Read more »
Swim Fanatic makes a good point. Currin likely suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder or some other psychological problem that would have been present before her interactions with Curl.
I think part of the problem is there needs to be a statue of limitations on this kind of thing.. 5 years, maybe 10 at the most. You shouldn’t be able to arbitrarily renege on a settlement 30 years later and start wrecking someone’s life.
This would make for a wonderful, if fairly offensive, trolling post.
No, the problem is that there seem to be a lot of coaches who are pedophiles.