SAN JOSE — Two weeks after a former San Jose State gymnast came forward with allegations of debilitating verbal abuse by her former head coach – and exposed a 2018 university-led investigation that forced his retirement – dozens of former gymnasts and their parents are coming to his side calling him a “bedrock” of the program.
In a “statement of support” for former head Coach Wayne Wright, who was accused of instilling a culture of fear among team members and calling them “slut” and “stupid,” his supporters said that Wright is “a person of sound character and integrity.” Wright retired in 2018 after internal investigators interviewed 25 former and current gymnasts, along with staff members, but the university wished him well on his departure without mentioning its findings that “confirm a coaching style of verbal abuse and intimidation.”
“My first reaction was, that is not in Wayne’s nature,” said Hawley Almstedt, who knew Wright when he was first an assistant coach at San Jose State more than 20 years ago. “It breaks my heart to read about someone else having such a horrible experience when I had such a positive one.”
Former gymnast Amy LeClair, who is now 28, had told her story of verbal abuse at the hands of Wright to the Bay Area News Group earlier this month after the university continued to laud Wright on social media and mention him in a fundraising appeal.
Wright’s departure came a year before the university reopened an investigation into former head athletic trainer Scott Shaw, who had been allowed to continue working at the school for more than a decade after 17 female swimmers came forward in 2009 with allegations of sexual assault. LeClair also accused Shaw of sexual abuse and settled earlier this month with the university. San Jose State has paid out more than $5 million to settle claims from more than two dozen victims of Shaw. He has pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges stemming from those accusations.
LeClair said she is heartbroken that other gymnasts signed a letter supporting Wright, but in some ways isn’t surprised because Wright played favorites.
“There were girls who were in the spotlight and then there were the underdogs,” LeClair said Friday. “I’m here for the underdogs, to give them a voice because Wayne has made them feel small and afraid.”
On Friday, a number of those “underdogs” came forward for the first time to support LeClair and also share their stories of bullying by Wright. Patricia Aubel, a former SJSU gymnast, said she participated in the 2018 investigation but said it wasn’t easy to come forward.
“I’ve talked to girls who are on the team at the same time as me and like 10 years later, it still affects them and they’re not willing to talk about their experience because they were worried he’s going to find out,” Aubel said. “That just shows me like how strong of control he even has over their lives now.”
Responding to a request for comment, Wright wrote in a text Friday that he appreciates the letter of support and “I understand and respect that everyone had their own individual experiences and wish nothing but the best to all athletes.”
He didn’t directly address the accusations against him.
Almstedt, who wrote the supportive letter and sent it to other former gymnasts and parents to sign, said that Wright had called her after the story about LeClair’s accusations ran. Although Wright didn’t specifically ask her to write the letter, Almstedt said, “I think he was hopeful that somebody would.” She offered to do so, and drafted the letter saying that Wright “genuinely cared for us and looked out for our well-being” and “not one of us can think of this gymnastics family without a sense of appreciation for Wayne Wright.”
Within a couple of days, she said, 60 people had signed, including parents and a former athletic trainer.
Katie Jo Merritt, who competed at SJSU until 2011 and grew up competing in gymnastics with LeClair, was one of them. When the story broke, it was Wright she called “just to make sure that he was OK with everything.”
“It’s a competitive collegiate sport. It’s not supposed to be a party every day,” she said. At the same time, “I don’t discredit what they have to say because that’s what they lived. That’s their truth.”
She signed the letter, she said, “because that is not what happened to me.”
LeClair’s personal account of bullying and belittling by Wright during her years at San Jose State was bolstered by the 2018 in-house investigation that concluded that Wright had pitted teammates against each other and “utilized body-shaming as a method of applying control over the team members,” the report found.
Wright was able to finish the season before retiring in July 2018 with an agreement with the university “not to seek or accept employment, or volunteer at SJSU, or any of its affiliated auxiliary organizations.”
To LeClair’s twin sister, who was also on the gymnastics team, the letter of support from one group of gymnasts shows that Wright continues to exert control over the women he coached and, in the end, is still pitting them against each other.
“It doesn’t surprise me that he found his favorites and that they signed a letter for him,” Allison Falat said. “When you were on the team, you would do anything to be in his good graces.”
That’s not how Wright’s supporters see it. Wright “respected his gymnasts of all abilities and mentored them beyond purely coaching,” they wrote.
“We could not be more grateful.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com