Advocates: Organization not interested in protecting kids from child molesters
When two former basketball players accused former AAU president Bobby Dodd of sexual abuse in December 2011 — just weeks after sex abuse scandals erupted at Penn State, Syracuse and the Citadel — the youth sports organization took immediate and aggressive steps intended to show the world that it would not tolerate predators in its ranks.
Just days after ESPN reported that Dodd allegedly abused the men when they were teenagers in the 1980s, his successor Louis Stout announced that the AAU would appoint not one but two independent task forces to review its child safety policies and procedures.
“This is not Penn State. This is not Syracuse,” Stout said during a news conference at the AAU’s national headquarters in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. “This is not the Citadel. This is the AAU.”
When Stout died in 2012, so did the AAU’s resolve to combat sexual abuse, according to members of one of those task forces. The AAU’s decision to allow accused sexual predator Rick Butler, perhaps youth volleyball’s most influential coach, to continue participating in its volleyball tournaments suggests the organization is more interested in public relations than protecting kids from child molesters, they said.
“It is so despicable and so disheartening,” said Lauren Book, the founder of Lauren’s Kids, a Florida victim advocacy group. “Money and winning are more important than protecting children. There is no difference between the AAU and Penn State and Jerry Sandusky.”
Florida attorney Ronald Book, Lauren’s father and another member of the panel, called on AAU sponsors such as Disney and McDonald’s to cut ties with the organization until it bars Butler from participating in its events.
“They need to say ‘We don’t want to be part of this until you clean this up,’” he said.
The Books’ outrage comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed June 23 in Florida state court by Sarah PowersBarnhard, a Jacksonville-area volleyball coach who says she was sexually abused by Butler during the early 1980s when she was a minor.
Powers-Barnhard’s lawsuit says the AAU violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act while allowing Butler to participate in its events even though its own policies bar membership to people accused of sexual misconduct.
Powers-Barnhard’s Powers Volleyball Club and Butler’s Sports Performance team both competed last week in the AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships in Orlando.
“It is horrible to walk into a gym — and there he is,” Powers-Barnhard said.
AAU president Roger Goudy did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for the organization said she could not discuss Butler due to the pending litigation.
The AAU hired a private investigator in 2011 to look into allegations that Dodd had sexually abused two former players when he ran a Memphis basketball program during the 1980s. The organization notified Memphis police, but Dodd has never faced criminal charges stemming from the accusations. The AAU reportedly paid Dodd $1.5 million after he stepped down in late 2011.
Stout quickly formed two panels to review the AAU’s policies after the sex abuse allegations against Dodd became public. One task force looked into conducting background checks of coaches and volunteers who work with children. The Youth Protection Task Force — which included Lauren Book and her father — reviewed AAU policies and recommended changes.
Chris Newlin, the president of the National Children’s Advocacy Center and another member of the Youth Protection Task Force, said he is “disappointed” the AAU would continue to allow Butler to participate in its events.
“The AAU did not embrace the issue of culture change like Louis Stout intended,” he said. “It seems more interested about protecting the brand over protecting at-risk children.”
Butler, the owner of the Aurora, Ill., based Sports Performance, was barred for life by USA Volleyball in 1995 after Powers-Barnhard and two other women told an ethics panel he had sex with them when they were minors. USA Volleyball, the sport’s governing body — it sanctions tournaments and selects American Olympic teams — reinstated Butler in 2000 as an administrator. He is still barred from coaching girls in USA Volleyball events.
Butler did not return requests for comment; he has acknowledged in the past that he had sex with the women but said they were 18 years old at the time. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said it found “credible evidence” in 1995 that the allegations against Butler were true but he has never faced criminal charges.
Despite the allegations, Butler remains a powerful figure in youth volleyball. His team is a perennial power and the Junior Volleyball Association, an organization he helped found, merged its national championship with the AAU’s in 2010. The Junior National Volleyball Championship draws thousands of teams and generates millions of dollars.
“It is a money thing,” Lauren Book said. “The AAU should be held accountable for this.”