By: Scott Brinton
Kevin McElroy, former head coach of the Mepham High School football team, and Art Canestro, the former JV coach, say they never imagined any of their players would commit a crime while at a training camp in Pennsylvania last August.
"Who could foresee taking our kids on a field trip and their committing a criminal act?" Canestro said. "If we could foresee kids committing a criminal act, do you think we would take them to football camp?"
But three varsity players repeatedly sexually abused three JV squad members at the camp. And seemingly benign objects like duct tape became weapons in the assailants' hands.
Last Wednesday, the mothers of the players who were assaulted said one of their sons was duct-taped to his bed "from head to toe" one night. According to the mothers, the boy was then covered with a sleeping bag. Meanwhile, the three women said, other players were wearing shorts, suggesting that the weather was too hot for a sleeping bag. That, the mothers believe, should have triggered questions in the coaches' minds.
McElroy and Canestro said a coach did enter the bunkhouse and saw duct tape at the end of the boy's bed. Both said the coach questioned the boy about the tape. The mothers said the coach "never inquired further" about it. McElory, however, said there was an apparent explanation for the tape.
The coach said it was common to see duct tape at the camp. In past years, many players forgot to bring belts with them to camp. Belts were needed to help players hold up their often oversized pants.
Without belts, players wrapped medical tape around their waists to keep their polyester pants on during practices. As a result, the supply of tape, used for treating injuries such as sprains, had been depleted during past camps. So, this year, the coaches forbade its use for anything except medical emergencies. Instead, players started using duct tape to keep their pants up.
McElroy said the coach who asked about the duct tape was told it was needed for tying makeshift belts. That, McElroy said, "was a satisfactory answer."
McElroy also said many players spent nights in sleeping bags. He himself slept in one, or in a sweatsuit. The coach said that during the day, temperatures climbed into the 80s, perhaps even the low 90s. At night, though, temperatures dipped into the 40s, because the camp was in the mountains. The coach in question didn't consider it out of the ordinary to see a player in a sleeping bag, according to McElroy.
Both Canestro and McElroy swore they knew nothing about the attacks while at the camp. They feel terribly for the victims, they said. McElroy described the attacks as "sadistic." To this day, the two coaches say they wonder why the victims never spoke with them about the abuse.
According to the coaches, the victims had opportunities to talk with adults one on one. On the first day of camp, one of the victims approached the coaches to say that his spending money was missing, McElroy said. The coaches told the 11 other players in his bunkhouse to search for the money and report to the coaches in 15 minutes. Soon after, the money turned up under the victim's bed. The victim said he lost it.
The money, McElroy said, might have been stolen. He isn't sure. But it showed up. And he noted that players appeared to be comfortable, on one level or another, approaching coaches with their problems.
The victim was later assigned to carry ice from the cafeteria to the coolers full of Gatorade that sat on the porch in front of the coaches' cabin. Players could stop off there for a drink. Twice daily, Canestro took buckets of ice from the victim and poured them into the coolers. The buckets were too heavy for the victim to lift into the Gatorade dispensers.
On those occasions, Canestro said, he chatted with the victim from anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. The two were almost always alone, with no other players nearby, he said. A few times, a second victim helped the first one carry ice to the coolers, where Canestro spoke with both of them.
Canestro said he made small talk with the first victim about his older brother, a recent Mepham graduate who played football under Canestro. He inquired about the boy's sister, a former student of Canestro's. The idea, the coach said, was to establish a rapport with the JV players, whom he had met for the first time only weeks earlier. Never during any of their daily conversations, Canestro said, did the victim speak about the sex abuse, nor did he give any indication that he had been hurt in any way.
Additionally, McElroy said, the victims had opportunities to call their parents during the camp, and he believes they may have. Still, they didn't tell their parents about the abuse until after camp, when one of the victims needed surgery to stop the bleeding resulting from the sex attacks.
Players couldn't call on cell phones from the camp, because there was no reception in the mountains. There were, however, pay phones in the laundry room next to the players' bunkhouses, the coaches said. The players had as much as 2 1/2 hours of free time per day, during which they were allowed to make phone calls.
McElroy said, "If they didn't feel comfortable talking to the coaches, why didn't they tell their parents? They're trying to hold [the coaches] to a higher standard than the parents of the victims. [The victims] couldn't talk to the coaches, but they should have been able to talk to their parents. That's all I'm saying."
McElroy also said that players' parents were given the camp's phone number before the team left for Pennsylvania.
The victims' mothers said their sons were mentally and physically drained by the brutal attacks against them, causing them to stop taking part in many practices.
McElroy said the three players missed a handful of practices early in the camp. One victim said his feet hurt. It's common for JV players to become fatigued during their first training camp, McElroy said. They aren't used to the high-school level of play, and tire easily because they aren't ready for the intense workouts. He noted, however, that all three victims took part in the camp's final scrimmage on the last day of camp.
Canestro said that coaches performed three nightly bed checks, the first at 10:30 p.m., the second at 11:30 and the third at midnight. He said the duct tape was spotted during one such check. That, he said, shows that the coaches were looking in on the players. Many people, he said, had accused the coaches of failing to watch over the players in any way.
Canestro also said the coaches stayed up past midnight, listening for problems. One night, the coaches heard players slapping water bottles on the floor of a bunkhouse, where there was no abuse. The coaches went to the cabin immediately, stopped the ruckus and disciplined the offending players, Canestro said.
McElroy said that during a team picnic at Mepham on Aug. 29, two days after the camp ended, no one said anything to the coaches about the attacks. He said he didn't find out about them until the first day of school, Sept. 2. Mepham Principal John Didden, who was called earlier that day by a parent who informed him of the attacks, told McElroy about them.
Canestro said, "We did our job. We provided a safe environment. I feel with every false allegation, we have to constantly respond and defend ourselves." He added, "We didn't leave camp. We didn't go out drinking. We know what we did."
