USRowing investigation finds sex-abuse allegations ‘credible’ against legendary Penn rowing coach

The governing body of competitive rowing on Tuesday released a 154-page investigative report concluding that allegations of sexual misconduct against a former University of Pennsylvania coach who allegedly abused a 13-year-old multiple times in 1973 were “credible” and that it did not find evidence to suggest that his accuser fabricated her story.

USRowing said in an accompanying statement that it had rescinded honors it had granted to Ted Nash, including its 2005 Man of the Year recognition and the 2013 USRowing Medal of Honor, the organization’s highest award.

The governing body said it was contacted in late 2022 by Jennifer Fox, now 64 and a documentary filmmaker, who reported that she had been sexually abused as a child nearly five decades earlier by Nash, who died in 2021 at age 88.

The alleged acts did not involve Penn or its rowing program.

Fox, who grew up in Narberth, met Nash when she was taking horseback-riding lessons from a farm owner in suburban Philadelphia. Nash lived next-door, and coached the riding lesson participants on running. But he wasn’t just any neighbor.

» READ MORE: Late rowing great Ted Nash subject of investigation over childhood sexual-abuse allegations

Nash was a two-time Olympic medalist and eventually was a nine-time Olympic coach. At Penn, he coached rowing from 1965 until 1983. He also was cofounder of the National Women’s Rowing Association.

USRowing, which is based in Princeton, retained the New York law firm of Shearman & Sterling, which conducted its 16-month inquiry pro bono. The organization said that it had “determined that the gravity of Ms. Fox’s claims outweighed Mr. Nash’s inability to respond to these allegations.”

In its summary, the law firm said that it had not reached a conclusion on whether any legal standards had been met, but “we found Ms. Fox to be credible, our investigation corroborated many of her allegations against Mr. Nash, and we did not uncover evidence that expressly refutes Ms. Fox’s claims or suggests a motive for Ms. Fox to fabricate her account of abuse.”

The law firm said it interviewed 47 people and conducted detailed analysis of additional primary evidence. The report contains more than 100 pages of exhibits, including handwritten diary entries and notes Fox made in the 1970s, as well as notes sent by Nash to Fox about the same time.

» READ MORE: As abuse allegations swirl, Penn covers up the signage at rowing center named for coach Ted Nash

Shearman & Sterling said it also interviewed a female rower who alleged that Nash made an unwanted sexual advance against her.

“Having reviewed the investigation’s findings, USRowing believes there is compelling evidence supporting Ms. Fox’s allegations of child sex abuse by Mr. Nash,” USRowing said in its statement, which was signed by Amanda Kraus, the organization’s CEO, and its board of directors.

“Regardless of Mr. Nash’s contributions to the sport of rowing, our commitment to the safety and well-being of our participants – especially youth athletes – is of the utmost importance and compels us to act in accordance with our values,” USRowing said.

The governing body said it also was encouraging “all other organizations affiliated with Mr. Nash, and who may have granted him similar honors, to review the full report.”

In late March 2023, the university covered the signage at the Coach Ted A. Nash Land Rowing Center less than two weeks after the New York Times published Fox’s account of what happened.

“Penn Athletics has covered the signage in the indoor rowing center until the results of the USRowing commissioned investigation are known,” a spokesperson said at the time.

In a statement emailed Tuesday night, a spokesperson for Penn Athletics said: “From the beginning, we have taken this matter seriously, and we are carefully reviewing the report commissioned by USRowing.”

Fox wrote and directed The Tale, a 2018 movie based on her experience trying to cope as an adult with being sexually abused as a child. Nash was not named in the movie.

Fox told the New York Times on Tuesday that the investigative report and the rescinding of honors for Nash by USRowing had given her a sense of closure.

“Even if we don’t get you in life, we will get you in death,” she said. “Your legacy can be ruined.”