camp greylock death

Good luck processing and understanding how much you've hurt young men.". Widow of Randolph R. Rosenbaum, former owner/ director of Camp Greylock for Boys. In a letter dated Aug. 15, 2016, UCLA notifies Mainwaring he has been banned from campus and from working with UCLA athletes. In 1948 she married Leonard Levine, an accountant who had fought in the third wave at Normandy; he died in 2001. But Victor changed over three summers at camp. Fourteen men, including Robert Bender (above), now allege they were molested during this time. "Good, this has been a big test for you, and I'm happy to say you passed it and you are on your way to the Olympics," Mainwaring said. (Clockwise from top left) Mainwaring accusers David O'Boyle, Vernon Sharples, Michael Waxman, Tym De Santo, Robert Bender and Robert Druger. She wrote a 2017 book titled, "The Unspeakable Loss: How do you live after a child dies?" Mainwaring, a 69-year-old Los Angeles resident and United Kingdom national, molested campers from 1975 to 1979 while working as a counselor at Camp Greylock in Becket, prosecutors alleged. Eventually, Mainwaring masturbates Benjamin to completion. The university manages NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and it is perennially viewed as one of the nation's top tech schools -- the MIT of the West. New York's criminal statute of limitations on Druger's allegations was long expired, and there was no evidence that Mainwaring committed a federal crime, so the FBI forwarded the case to the Los Angeles Police Department. It's a quiet, early morning at UCLA's Drake Stadium, the sun still low. He says Mainwaring once "tried a bad touch on me" during a post-workout massage, at which point Stephens cut the cord. Zenoff, now 54, recounts the tragically short life of his older brother, Victor: They grew up on the East Coast in the 1970s. Another gave Mainwaring tens of thousands of dollars over the years; that man recently found himself crying alone in his car in the wake of the coach's arrest. The lawyer did not respond to repeated emails seeking additional comment. There's not gonna be any more boys. He fumbles with a stopwatch. The Camp Greylock, located in Ferrisburgh, VT, is a childcare facility that supervises and cares for children. In an interview with The New York Times that year, she reflected on the womens movement and balancing her home and work responsibilities. The coach then masturbated the boy to climax. With Benjamin, the detectives had a shot at bringing a case to the district attorney. The stranger keeps talking, but the words are mostly a blur to Benjamin. Many had endured pervasive shame. Greylock offers a structured program that combines instruction and game play in . He takes out a note pad and starts writing. Michael Waxman, shown near his home in Maine, says he was only 13 when Mainwaring molested him at Camp Greylock. expressed perhaps most personally at Camp Greylock, the all-girls summer camp in the Adirondacks that she ran from 1955 to 1971. . The coach pushed his mental training, and he was adamant there should be no girlfriends and no sex. @campgreylock on Instagram 868 photos and videos Often, the coach would talk about a group of other select youngsters he trained -- his "international squad" -- at a summer camp in America. Three men now allege they were molested during this time. Nosenko says he never discussed this part of the training with Sanchez or other members of the squad. Seven men now say he molested them there, including Michael Waxman (above, right), shown with the coach in a yearbook image. EARLY THE NEXT morning, June 28, 2016, Mainwaring picks up Benjamin outside his apartment en route to Drake, as if nothing unusual happened the night before. Some had spiraled into alcohol, drug or sexual addiction; others had considered suicide. "I've been in therapy since 2002.". Sitting on the back deck of his home outside Syracuse last fall, Druger says the full gravity of the abuse didn't hit him until the past few years. "I couldn't even think. "Coach Avondale," Benjamin says. How do you get them to trust you? At that point, he says, the Zenoffs were too devastated to tell anyone else what Victor had confided to his mother. He was on his own -- not on the UCLA track team but hoping to get there. He has an early workout the next day at Drake. Her mother was a hospital secretary, her father a salesman. The campus sits on 300 acres of land, high in the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts. . Mainwaring works in the Disability Services and Programs office at the University of Southern California. And then third, you've got to come to church with me once.". Again, secrecy was mandatory. Robert Oliver, who oversaw student housing at Caltech, said in an oral history that Mainwaring was secretive about his counseling sessions with students. I'm calling you to see if you repented for molesting young men and boys. Photos by Rachel Bujalski and Susannah Ireland (Sharples portrait) for ESPN. Above all else, he just wanted to make the UCLA team. Andrew Zenoff says his older brother, Victor, spun into a life of drugs and risky behavior after his alleged abuse by Conrad Mainwaring. ", But then: "That summer camp experience with Conrad absolutely changed him. He keeps thinking about the goal: higher testosterone levels, better performance. DECADES AFTER HER eldest son confided that he had been molested by Conrad Mainwaring and then died a few days later in a hiking accident, 78-year-old Nisha Zenoff sits on a couch in her Northern California home. Sharples didn't need much persuading; he felt honored. "There has been darkness that has been part of my life," Max says. But he was neither a professor nor, formally, a counselor. ", She sifts through the shots and smiles. I think that one was in Mexico. That night, after brushing his teeth, Allinson walked from his cabin to the field. But Stephens' blog comment would prove to be a beacon for anyone typing in Mainwaring's name. Citing employee privacy policies, a spokesperson for USC declined to say whether the school had known about Mainwaring's dismissal from Caltech or comment on why he left. One female athlete said he coached women for a time at Santa Monica College, and a school spokesperson confirmed that Mainwaring was employed part time as a track coach during the spring of 1996. "What are you willing to do for it, how much mental energy are you prepared to give? "I really think of [Mainwaring] as a killer. Many campers grew up to become leaders in law, business and medicine while proudly calling themselves former Greylock Girls., Regardless of age, she wanted these girls to know you can do anything and be anything, Ms. Kiddon, her daughter, said. Returning Parent Log In. The spokesperson says the school wasn't made aware of any allegations against Mainwaring until this past February, at which point law enforcement authorities were notified and the school began a review of Mainwaring's time on campus. In later years the property was divided into smaller camps. She remained on the board of the schools Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life and also advised the Taub Center for Israel Studies. In another letter to Sharples, he wrote, "I trust that you will not tell anyone where I am or what I am doing, as for the first time I can be away from the newspaper and wagging tongues and people I cannot tolerate.". And then one day, Conrad Mainwaring walked into the store where Sharples worked, MC Sports. "If you're going to get to college and be a decathlete or get to the Olympics, you need flexibility, so we need to do this drill tonight," the coach said. Allinson, now a corporate executive living with his wife and children in Northern California, says after that night, "I knew my life had completely changed. ", Allinson says the abuse continued and eventually "started happening in the bunks, while the campers were out playing maybe a dozen times. "He was sort of like a hero figure to my brother," Zenoff says. Hittin' me with an umbrella! The stranger approaches Benjamin; he nods in the direction of an older man in a track jacket and white Adidas cap, perched on a folding chair about 10 feet away. She raised billions of dollars for the school. "He has abused many boys and young men, some of whom are my friends. He was nervous and called out for Mainwaring. Naomi Ruth Bronheim was born on April 15, 1923, in the Bronx to Nathan and Malvina (Mermelstein) Bronheim. IN THE SUMMER of 1975, the textile hub of Leicester, England, a gloomy, downtrodden city 100 miles north of London, had little to offer 15-year-old Vernon Sharples. Greylock is the Northeast's preeminent traditional residential summer camp for boys, entering its Mainwaring, the article boasted, has "degrees in music, theology, psychology; graduate degrees in education, developmental psychology, and counseling; as well as a diploma in physiotherapy." Mainwaring competes for Antigua-Barbuda in the 110m and 400m hurdles during the Montreal Summer Olympics. Ms. Levine in 2004, the year she retired from N.Y.U. The athletic fields at Camp Greylock were surrounded by woods, as seen in this map from a camp yearbook. Mainwaring later got him a job as a junior counselor at Camp Greylock in the late 1970s. Other comments trickled in over the next few years, until the fall of 2017, when the #MeToo movement was changing the national dialogue on sexual abuse and more people found De Santo's blog and shared their experiences. Andrew Zenoff sought out his reporter friend. First, Mainwaring hadn't voluntarily left education -- at least not at Caltech -- as he had suggested. Fourteen men say they were molested during this time. One time, he rolled his car and nearly killed himself. He's a serial child molester, and he molested me when I was at UCLA. "My time in UK was so pleasant and inspiring!" Two men now allege they were molested during this time. ", "That must be painful. Ms. Levine speaking at New York University in 2002. Posts Videos Tagged Eventually, O'Boyle is done. In the spring of 1990, 18 months after he was fired from Caltech, Mainwaring was hired by the University of Southern California to work in its Disability Services and Programs office. But then the detectives caught a break. The world's greatest track athletes have run here through the years, in front of thousands of cheering fans. ", But things soon unraveled for Mainwaring at Caltech. The university gave her a Presidential Medal. That was true for David Allinson, a track star with Olympic ambitions in 1979. She wanted to free herself from being an ordinary woman, Ms. Levine said. Michael Waxman, Robert Bender and Vernon Sharples describe the lasting damage they say they suffered because of Mainwaring. had a meager endowment and, with its crumbling campus buildings and drab dormitories, was struggling to attract students. Michael and Lukas immediately started rebuilding the camp's infrastructure and improving the facility. Brian knows this isn't true because of what he's learned through the network. He was hired as the associate master of student housing, essentially the No. The man comes into focus: early 30s, flowing blond hair, piercing blue eyes. I knew I deserved to be there because I was as smart as, and often smarter than, everyone else in the room, she once said. Sharples says he can't recall why Mainwaring wanted to keep a low profile. "The goal is to get from zero to 100," he says. Ms. Levine, second from left, in the 1950s at an American Jewish Congress Womens Division event, with Eleanor Roosevelt at her left. Last summer over sixty boys were Seniors at Greylock, and the friendships are the reason . I don't know what to do about that. Visiting camper seriously injured in fall from moving bus on Martha's In addition to the latest podcast from ESPN Investigates, here's where to find ESPN's Emmy-winning TV documentary and latest updates on the Mainwaring investigation. He told Allinson to relax: "You need to be able to focus, and you need to learn how to slow your heartbeat down. Several Syracuse squad members would visit him at Colgate, and new members joined. Victor was dead, found at the bottom of a 600-foot cliff. Some of the members were UCLA students, some were not and some were Olympic-level athletes who had finished college. Outside the Lines broke the story of the arrest -- prompting several additional men to contact reporters and describe how Mainwaring had sexually abused them. Bender and six other former Syracuse students say Mainwaring used his veil of secrecy to molest them in the dorms, using virtually identical tactics. Divided equally between junior and senior campers, Greylock features a varied program of arts and adventure, land sports, and watersports. "And so I just went along with it. He lasted just over a year. Benjamin feels paralyzed as O'Boyle turns to Mainwaring and stays on him, relentlessly, for 12 minutes, video rolling. the reporter asks. The power of the track was not lost on Yuri Nosenko, newly 18 and a freshman when he was training at Drake on a fall afternoon in 2001. The men now range in age from 22 to 59. Mainwaring wouldn't charge Nosenko for his services, but there were three requirements. 19 High-End Summer Camps - Best Summer Camps - Town & Country "I'm calling to ask for your forgiveness.". "His name is Conrad Montgomery Avondale Mainwaring. ", Mainwaring, an avid letter writer, emphasized the need for secrecy in correspondence with Vernon Sharples in the early 1980s. Producer Greg Amante, associate producer Tonya Malinowski and researcher John Mastroberardino of ESPN's investigative unit contributed to this report. "He had code words for all these things," Nosenko says. At the time that Stephens made his 2011 remark on De Santo's blog, Mainwaring was mostly invisible on the internet, despite having been an Olympian who coached Sanchez to a gold medal in 2004. His bar mitzvah conversation led to a call with a federal agent in New York, which led to a call with the FBI in Los Angeles. Afterward, the coach presented another "mental challenge." 67% of employees would recommend working at Camp Greylock for Boys to a friend and 66% have a positive outlook for the business. His name was Conrad Mainwaring. In fact, to this day, some of the men report feeling wildly conflicted -- angry and tortured by the abuse yet convinced that some of their achievements would not have been possible without him. Brian came out from Colgate, and after a workout, Mainwaring gave him a massage and masturbated him, again couched as part of mental training. There, Victor developed a close relationship with a certain counselor, a man whose distinctive qualities drew campers to him. Mainwaring left Syracuse in the summer of 1985 for Colgate University, about 40 miles down the road in Hamilton, New York, where he worked in the admissions department. He has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of sexual battery by fraud and is free on bail pending the outcome of his case. On Center Lake in the heart of the beautiful Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts our camp is the home of 350 boys. Initially, Nosenko loved what he found. The camp was founded in 1916 by three brothers, who sold it to a group of former campers in the late 1940s. She contributed to the civil rights movement as a lawyer, then found a second career as chief fund-raiser at New York University. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail a few days later. Naomi Levine, Lawyer Who Helped Transform N.Y.U., Dies at 97 Eventually, Bender says, the training turned physical, with the coach conducting "physiotherapy" that led to inappropriate touching. He says his actions were "Hitler-like. Max writes that he felt pity for Mainwaring because he was "infected with a sickness and then infected others." He worked for the school in student housing. "Good luck to you," Max answers, without thinking. It was about 8:30 on the East Coast -- but he had designs on waking up Conrad Mainwaring three time zones to the west, using a number he found online. The death was confirmed by her daughter, Joan Kiddon. Soon, the coach's lotion-filled hands were under the man's pants and grabbing his penis. It reads, in part: "We recently received several complaints that you utilized as an alleged training strategy inappropriate massaging of the genital region of male athletes," which complainants consider "an assault." It was an open invitation. "Look, you can go talk to him if you want.". She's fighting back tears. Robert Druger says he was sexually abused by Mainwaring while he attended high school in Syracuse, New York, and later when he was at Syracuse University. Nosenko ultimately would be one of Sanchez's training partners in the lead-up to the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Before long, Mainwaring taught Nosenko about mental strength and began discussing testosterone levels, the purported connection between erections and athletic performance, and the importance of abstaining from masturbation. Although O'Boyle's confrontation led to a small victory for those who have accused Mainwaring, none of them believed he would give up coaching. "It's abuse of the brain and the heart and the soul.". Mainwaring works at the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech. ", Some of the longest and most detailed comments came from Vernon Sharples, in the U.K. "I've had a long time to process everything," he wrote. Nosenko came from athletic cloth. Though not good enough to make England's national team, the 23-year-old Mainwaring was to compete as a hurdler for his native Antigua at the upcoming 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Anyone who knows the generative forces that took N.Y.U. He had that dimple. Benjamin lies there stunned, but almost hypnotized. I'm sorry for what was perpetrated on you," Max says. She attended Columbia Law School, where among the other students in the 1940s were such soon-to-be-prominent women as the politician Bella Abzug, the labor lawyer Judith Vladeck and the federal judge Constance Baker Motley. Tym De Santo's random blog post about a vacation improbably became a hub for Mainwaring's alleged victims. He was a captivating figure to many of the young men and junior counselors, famous for his participation in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Her condo overlooks Richardson Bay in affluent Tiburon. About two weeks later, Benjamin works up the nerve to tell his parents, who encourage him to file a report with authorities. But Allinson says the relationship took a dramatic turn that summer at Greylock. They proceeded to reorganize the camp with a new vision - one that focused upon individual care, instruction, and fun. That something happened with my cousins. He not only stole our bodies but he stole our minds, too.". Outside the Lines spoke with 14 men who trained under Mainwaring at Drake Stadium or in the Los Angeles area from the mid-1990s to 2016 and say they were abused near campus, usually at Mainwaring's apartment. Mainwaring allegedly molests a runner at his student apartment on the UCLA campus. One day, Sharples was the last squad member to receive treatment, lying face up on a table when Mainwaring instructed him to "think up an erection" and then "think it down." ", "He used his Olympic status to control me. Within days, Victor died in a hiking accident. The death was confirmed by her daughter, Joan Kiddon. His latest squad was a mix of students attending the university and younger athletes he had met at local track meets while working as a counselor at a nearby high school. He points off camera toward what appear to be some of his squad members and suggests he is going to time them. In 1980, just shy of his 18th birthday, Victor Zenoff told his mother he'd been sexually abused by Conrad Mainwaring years earlier. July 15, 2023. "It was a little disheartening, listening to the victims, how they were affected back then, how they're still affected, and knowing that [we] couldn't do anything," Johnson told Outside the Lines. Other than a couple of 1976 clippings from the local Leicester newspaper that touted Mainwaring's spot in the Olympics, searches of old papers unearthed nothing unusual. I hope you know that I'm genuinely sorry. Robert Bender, who met Mainwaring on his first day at Syracuse, says the coach had a "powerful way of pulling you in.". Always.". He had kept the pain mostly to himself all these years, but then he found De Santo's blog and learned that one man who accused Mainwaring of abuse might have been just 12 years old at the time. The Camp Greylock Directors, Staff, Alumni, and Community mourn the passing of one of its most beloved and longest serving Directors who passed away February 19, 2002 at his home in New York City . Sharples files a police statement in England, alleging he was abused in the 1970s. If he doesn't comply, the letter says, he'll be subject to arrest. ", "I didn't know who I was or what I was," he says. The department declined comment to Outside the Lines, citing confidentiality. "A lot of these men didn't even know they were victims of crimes until more recent things started coming out in the news about women, the #MeToo movement and what was happening to them," Johnson says. He didn't complain at the time, but Outside the Lines has learned that another student filed a complaint about Mainwaring. David Allinson (not pictured) says Mainwaring promised him greatness if he followed his direction. Camp Greylock | Find a Camp The Best Sleepaway Camps Need The Best Owners, Camp Greylock O'Boyle can't stay quiet any longer. When Naomi was a girl, she helped prepare a pot of flanken cholent stew on Friday nights in preparation for the Sabbath, and her mother sewed clothes for the family. Its founders were three brothers, George, Gabriel ("Doc"), and Lou Mason. he wrote. You weren't following Christ.". "'Coffee' was masturbation, and 'tea' was a wet dream. Early on the morning of March 21 of this year, reporters found Mainwaring sitting at the track alone, waiting for his athletes to show up. What the stranger didn't know was that Benjamin himself had been molested by Mainwaring -- only nine hours earlier. He's totally different," the friend said. I need to talk with you tomorrow.". We stress the importance of citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, and friendship. About Greylock. The Camp Greylock Directors, Staff, Alumni, and Community mourn the passing of one of its most beloved and longest serving Directors who passed away February 19, 2002 at his home in New the man says. Two thousand miles away, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a man named Tym De Santo was just back from vacation in March 2010. In the summer of 1980, Victor was approaching his 18th birthday -- barely out of high school -- when he told his mother he had been sexually abused by Mainwaring repeatedly over several summers. That influenced my thinking., Naomi Levine, Lawyer Who Helped Transform N.Y.U., Dies at 97, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/07/nyregion/naomi-levine-dead.html. Others considered more direct routes to get at Mainwaring. Camp Greylock | LinkedIn There wasn't a single mention of Conrad Mainwaring, whom De Santo met when he lived in England. Sometimes, squad members were at the apartment at the same time. Any sexual contact, they say, would be seen as consensual. In June 2018, Outside the Lines began investigating a tip that Mainwaring allegedly had molested a 12-year-old boy in the 1970s and might have continued such activity to the present day. His efforts to walk on to the UCLA track team haven't worked out, but under Mainwaring, his running times have improved, buoying his goal of making his country's national team. But according to Benjamin, officers suggest they can't bring charges because he is an adult. He and his mop of blond hair appeared on the inaugural season of HGTV's "Design Star," where he got his nickname because of his varied talents: designer, singer-songwriter, sculptor, photographer, mountain biker, former professional ski racer. had reinvented itself as it expanded through Lower Manhattan. He had a word for messing around with members of the opposite sex: wenching. For that moment, Nisha's analysis sounds detached, more professional than parental. He framed it so well as training like, this is training, it's not sex.". After talking with reporters, Benjamin learned about the LAPD investigation and contacted officers, sharing his own experience. But, as she told it, she was rejected after taking an oral exam because she had a lisp. Greylock parent Nate has had a simply spectacular experience - from how the boys treat one another, to the focus on skill building, (including the tremendous growth I've seen in my own son in certain sports as well as in his leadership), to the tremendous camp spirit, the sensitive and supportive way Mike handled a death in the family, to . After Nosenko had finished his workout one day, Conrad Mainwaring walked up and introduced himself as "Coach Av." Here's how he remembers it: After a few rings, Mainwaring, now 61, picks up. Mainwaring tries to walk away a couple of times, with the aid of a walker he has used since having hip surgery the year before. But once Druger opened up, there was no stopping him. Mainwaring works in the admissions office at Colgate University. But at least two things Mainwaring told Max were lies. 2 spot in the department that oversees student living at Caltech. Adrenaline floods his brain. Finally, the man turns and approaches the coach, raising his cellphone to record the encounter. Yuri Nosenko (not pictured) met Mainwaring at UCLA in 2001. It's unclear how or exactly when Mainwaring arrived at Greylock, but he was a stalwart for at least five summers. Outside the Lines spoke with several other men who say they trained with Mainwaring and had only positive experiences. the stranger asks. "For what? Finally, Benjamin goes to bed. Mainwaring works at Camp Greylock for Boys. The letter also notes that UCLA police spoke with Mainwaring and that he "acknowledged the nature of this physical contact on more than one occasion" but "indicated it may have been inadvertent." ", Mainwaring says that he has been in therapy for years, that he left education, that he wasn't sexually abusive anymore. The Official Camp Greylock Instagram Celebrating 106 years of the #G-G-R-E-Y-L-O-C-C-K!. His dad was once one of the Soviet Union's top 400-meter runners, and his mom was among that country's best women's tennis players. It's a friend -- a reporter -- following up on an earlier conversation: "That guy you told me about -- the one you said molested your brother back in the '70s what's his name again?" This year's tuition is $12,800 for seven weeks. During one of their conversations, Mainwaring explained that he was doing research in psychology and wanted Sharples to be one of his subjects. In the 1950s, two Adirondack girls' camps made a particular point of designing programs that prepared the campers to take significant roles in business and society. One man still credits Mainwaring for his becoming a doctor. Mainwaring meets Vernon Sharples (above), his earliest known accuser, in a Leicester sporting goods store. Those men would operate Camp Greylock for Boys for the next 50 years, until it was sold again in 1994 to a new generation of former Greylock employees. In recent years, several men banded together to raise $13,000 to help pay for Mainwaring's hip replacement. "Like cults use the Bible, he used it in a way that he knew had pull with me. LAPD Detective Sharlene Johnson says it was difficult to find any cases against Mainwaring that fell within the statute of limitations until Benjamin stepped forward.

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