Jets legend Joe Namath accused of covering up child sex abuse at football camp: Report

Joe Namath has been accused of turning a blind eye to child sex abuse at a football camp more than half a century ago. In details revealed by the New York Post, it paints a damning picture of alleged inaction by the Jets Hall-of-Famer at the camp bearing his name where he let coaches get away with reported sexual abuse.

The protagonists in this sorry tale are the former NFL quarterback, accuser Philip Lyle Smith, and football coach Philip Foglietta. While not known at the time when all of them met each other Joe Namath Instructional Football Camp, Foglietta, who was the Brooklyn Poly Prep Country Club football coach, has been revealed as a serial paedophile based on his record.

Smith, now a 64-year old married Florida real-estate broker, has alleged of the sexual harrasment that went on back in the football camp when he was just 12 years old. The accusations in the court papers are damning and they read,

"This case is equally about the many adults in positions of power at the [camp] including Joe Namath and [ex-Jets defensive back and camp partner John] Dockery, who were aware of, tolerated and covered up known sexual abuse at the camp, abuse that had a lasting effect on Doe."

The unnamed Doe in this case is Smith. He says that he was groomed and abused as a minor by Foglietta, which included getting special benefits that involved the former Jets Super Bowl-winning quarterback. As he explained to the New York Post,

“It was a dream come true for a 12-year-old. [Foglietta] always made sure Joe Namath threw me at least one pass almost every single day and said hello to me almost every single day. I was feeling very special.”

It worked because, as Smith admits, the Hall-of-Fame quarterback was his idol growing up. But he also says that his estimation of the man went down after his alleged encounters with Foglietta. He continued,

“Back in those days, Joe Namath was my idol. And he went from my hero to a zero in my life.’’

The allegations are repeated in the court filings,

“Some campers even thought that Doe was Joe Namath’s nephew and made comments to him to this effect. This was because Foglietta made sure that Joe Namath always recognized Doe’s presence and that Doe received special attention whenever Joe Namath made an appearance.”

In return for the special favors from Namath, Foglietta recruited Smith from his school and brought him to the camp to groom him. The coach reportedly made him sleep in his room by explaining,

“‘Oh, you’re not paying, so you can’t stay in the room with all the [other] guys. You’re going to stay with me in my room.’... He had the entire evening with me alone. The sexual abuse physically started there with his actions, started with massages, then it became naked massages where I was naked. He became naked, and it escalated from there, and it lasted the entire week.”

Smith alleges that it involved the coach forcing him to masturbate naked and showed him pornographic pictures.

Joe Namath should have known about sexual abuse at his football camp

Smith says that Namath should have known from the arrangements that a 12-year old boy did not have a separate bed and room of his own and instead was putting up with the coach. He alleges that this was not an isolated event and this started in 1972 and continued during camp stints in 1973 and 1975.

The lawsuit alleges that the school where Foglietta was employed later discovered and admitted this pattern of behavior. This case was filed under the Child Victims Act, now expired, which had temporarily reopened the statute of limitations so that alleged victims could file civil suits against institutions and individuals.