RI tennis legend seeks release from house arrest
BOSTON – Rhode Island tennis legend Gordon “Gordie” Ernst, is asking to be freed from court-ordered home confinement so he can take a job with a tennis club in New York City.
“Mr. Ernst desperately needs a job to help support himself and his family and to meet his financial obligations to others. Ending his home confinement on March 17 will enable him to accept this employment opportunity and do well in the position,” his lawyer, Tracy Miner, wrote U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
In 2022, Ernst, 57, was sentenced to 30 months in prison – the longest sentence yet for a defendant in the “Operation Varsity Blues” case.
New job offer as camp director
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons released Ernst on Sept. 17, 2023, to home confinement, meaning he will have completed six months as of March 17. He asks that it be terminated on that date so he can take a position as tennis coach, program specialist and camp director at HCK Recreation Inc. in New York starting on April 27.
In that role, he would be running a summer camp and coaching students in tournaments – all of which will involve some early mornings and late evenings and be subject to last-minute changes – a schedule that will not work with home confinement, which requires schedules to be approved in advance or to have set hours, he said.
The motion emphasizes that Ernst has complied with all conditions of his home confinement and “wants to put this behind him and start to rebuild his life financially and emotionally.”
Ernst, who now lives in Maryland but hopes to move to New York, also asked the court to permit him to travel in the states of Maryland, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts without prior court approval, but with prior notice to probation. His elderly mother remains in Rhode Island and he would like to travel to other states to visit family members and, perhaps, attend tournaments.
The motion indicates that federal prosecutors are expected to object.
Ernst given the longest sentence so far in Varsity Blues scandal
Prosecutors at the time argued that Ernst warranted a significantly harsher sentence than others charged in the case because of his “raw greed” and the “breathtaking scale” of his offenses.
Ernst appealed for leniency, portraying himself as the product of a difficult upbringing in Cranston in a family that sometimes struggled to make ends meet but seemed from the outside to be the pinnacle of athletic success. He alleged that he was routinely beaten by his father, Richard “Dick” Ernst, a legendary coach who died in 2016.
According to prosecutors, Ernst accepted nearly $3.5 million in bribes while working as tennis coach at Georgetown University in exchange for identifying wealthy high school students who would not have otherwise qualified for the team as promising tennis recruits.
He collected at least $2 million more than any other coach or administrator charged in Operation Varsity Blues, according to the government’s sentencing memo.