The New York Post spoke to the plaintiff in a 2019 lawsuit against Joe Namath, who claimed that he was sexually abused at Namath’s football camp in 1972. The plaintiff, Philip Lyle Smith, attended Brooklyn Poly Prep from 1970 to 1977, where his coach, John Foglietta, allegedly sexually abused him. Smith’s lawsuit claims that Namath and his partner, former Jets player John Dockery, knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it. Smith’s lawsuit also alleges that Foglietta ordered that a cot be brought to his room for Smith to sleep in, but Foglietta never retrieved the cot and Smith wound up sleeping in the coach’s bed. According to Smith, Foglietta would masturbate in front of him and attempted to do the same to Smith. Smith broke his silence about his abuse after 45 years following the Penn State child sex abuse scandal. The lawsuit alleges that Foglietta’s behavior “was an unmissable red flag to Namath, and Dockery that something was seriously wrong with Foglietta and that Doe was at grave risk of harm.”
Former Football Star Joe Namath Under Fire for Ignoring Child Sex Abuse
