Rule 2: Follow the Brain Specimen Trail
September 11, 2012Matt Chaney, Dr. Bennet Omalu – Prophets Without Honor on Football Harm and Traumatic Brain Injury
September 12, 2012
Bob Bowman of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club – Michael Phelps’ mentor and currently (for the fifth time) the American Swimming Coaches Association coach of the year – has become a consultant for global sports powerbroker TSE Consulting. The United States director of TSE is Dale Neuburger, a long-time USA Swimming board member who was its president from 1998 to 2002.
Neuburger ranks right up there – along with current USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus – as someone who might want to brush up on the handbook “How to Improve Your Memory in Five Easy Lessons.” Neuburger lied pathetically in a deposition in the sex abuse lawsuit against USA Swimming by “Jane Doe,” one of the many girl swimmers molested over the years by a coach named Andy King, who is spending the last years of his life serving a 40-year prison sentence.
In that January 2011 deposition, Neuburger was asked about the famous Olympic swimmer Mitch Ivey, a college swimming contemporary of Nueburger’s who went on to become a prominent coach before losing his job as women’s coach at the University of Florida amidst an investigation by ESPN’s Outside the Lines.
Here’s the transcript of that portion of Neuburger’s responses:
Q. Do you know Mitch Ivey?
A. I don’t know him.
Q. Do you know who he is?
A. I know the name.
Q. Have you ever seen him on television?
A. No, not to my knowledge.
Q. Were you on the USA Swimming board of directors in 1993?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you recall any discussions about Mitch Ivey in 1993?
A. No.
Q. So is it your recollection that there were no discussions of Mitch Ivey after he was on ESPN Outside The Lines in 1993?
A. If Mr. Ivey was part of a television broadcast, I’m not aware of it.
Q. You’ve never seen it?
A. I’ve not seen the broadcast that you refer to.
Q. Do you know if he was the coach at the University of Florida?
A. I think that is correct. I can’t give his coaching affiliations, but I believe at one time he coached at the University of Florida.
Q. Do you know if he was fired from the University of Florida?
A. I do not.
Q. Do you know if he’s banned from coaching in USA Swimming?
A. I do not know.
Q. Do you know if he’s still coaching in USA Swimming?
A. I don’t know that.
Q. Do you know if he’s still a member of ASCA?
A. I’m not aware.
Q. Do you know if ASCA pays him a salary or anything right now?
A. I know nothing about Mr. Ivey. I’ve never — to my knowledge I don’t believe I’ve ever met him, and therefore I wouldn’t know any of his business arrangements.
Q. Do you read materials produced by ASCA, newsletters, coaching pamphlets?
A. From time to time, yes.
Q. Do you know if Mitch Ivey has produced any materials for ASCA in the last year?
A. I don’t know.
Irv Muchnick