I was not sexually abused by Philip Foglietta but by the Rev. John Miller during my time at Poly Prep. It pains me to express both of these names in the same sentence, with the same contemptible distinction, let alone mention John Miller and expound upon my personal experiences. Those who knew him, needless to say, will understand why. In all honesty, the fact that I make this association is in itself, an admission to how I am still processing and healing from the experiences of abuse and trauma as a student at Poly Prep. Even though Philip Foglietta’s unbridled reign of violence and abuse remain the focal point and cause of so much hardship, childhood sexual abuse has many faces. I have anguished in an attempt to process many experiences that I had endured and witnessed during this time. Although Philip Foglietta has befittingly become the infamous icon of Poly Prep’s condoned sexual abuse, he was during my time by no means the only one. The greatest crime in this whole saga which perpetuates to this day is without any doubt the crime of omission that was and is skillfully exercised by the past and current administrations of Poly Prep. I am greatly disturbed by this, and the time has come for this systemic culture of abuse, deceit and greed to be accountable and succumb to its just end. It is for this reason that I share my story and support of my friends and fellow classmates who have suffered immeasurably. I believe that by virtue of our collective will and compassion this deplorable crime against children will no longer be tolerated - anywhere. I hope that my statement here serves as a catalyst for others to share their story, to heal and to transcend fear and self-interests knowing that this issue is an opportunity to propel the positive and inevitable changes. Thank you. Chris Georges ‘76 It started in the summer of my freshman year at Poly when I mispronounced his name approaching the football training field. I was not from an affluent background so my used sneakers and banlon socks made me stand out like a sore thumb. It took a few days for my parents to afford football cleats, athletic socks, a jock strap, gym shorts and a mouthpiece but Foglietta took this as an insult. he told me so. "Don't you ever insult my intelligence... gomminee gotz" Later in that week of double sessions under the summer's scorching sun when no other boy was looking he attempted to grab my scrotum. I was sitting in the whirlpool tub in the training room trying to relieve a sore hamstring when he struck. With that I stopped his hand from going further north, asked if he was gay, and insisted he never touch me again. I told my dad that evening and he found it hard to believe. So as not to jeopardize the financial assistance given to me by Poly, dad and I agreed to keep it to ourselves. There were no further attempts at grabbing or groping me throughout the rest of my days at Poly, however, every time he needed a human subject to block, tackle, kick or punch under the auspices of demonstrating and teaching others how to block, tackle, kick or punch... I would be called forward. Additionally he warned many of my peers to stay away from me because I was “a ratfink pussy" and the most "undisciplined faggot" he'd ever met. On two occasions in my sophomore and junior years at Poly my parents were called in to meet with Headmaster Williams and Harlow Parker. I know the agenda was to inform my parents that I was "undisciplined" and an agitator to the athletic coaching staff. I was not invited in to those meetings but on the advice of a friend's mother who was an academician at another high school, my mom insisted I attend. With pencil and paper in hand, she took notes and wrote down names. Not infrequently did I enter Poly's training fields and dirt floor gym from Battery Avenue. I had a cousin living on Battery and was friends with some guys who also lived on Battery. I will estimate that I saw Foglietta in his green Impala with some young boy groping and even felating him at least ten times. I told my father of this and he even came by to pick me up one afternoon and saw it for himself. On both of those occasions in William's office my father reported these sightings. On both of those occasions we were rebuffed and told it was a malicious rumor that I had started and that I was on very thin ice. Were I not a valuable member of the JV and Varsity teams I would be asked to leave Poly but Foglietta “liked” me and wanted me to stay. I was inducted in to the Varsity Club in my junior year. I quit the club in my senior year after the football season so I would never have to interact or suck up to that pedophile ever again. I was accosted by three of his goons one day and stripped of my varsity sweater. Again I told my father. Again we decided to let it ride. Soon after this assault and battery I asked Foglietta for one of the films of a football game in which he himself said I had played exceptionally well. I was intending to apply to Cornell and Penn State where films and letters of recommendation were absolute prerequisites in order to play football. I got no letter, no film that year nor did I even get a trophy nor honorable mention at the football team's dinner. Not infrequently do I awaken from sound sleep or have night terrors of those years under Foglietta's rule. Knowing now what I do know of the number of poor boys who suffered sexual molestation by him, I feel lucky. My father is no longer alive. At his request I did "let it ride". Now I join the club of boys who were unwitting targets of that bastard, a varsity club of survivors. Now I want to go for a ride with my prey-fallen brothers giving help or support or fellowship wherever needed. Name Withheld By Request Poly Prep 1970s Graduate I continue to hope that more victims will come forward with their stories because it does help with those who have been abused to hear these things, even though it is troubling you feel that you are not alone anymore, believe me you do. Thanks Name Withheld By Request Poly Prep Attended between 1970 and 1974 October 2002 will be a month I will never forget because it dislodged a closed up well of emotions and pain I had stored away for over 30 years of my life. Yes, 30 years of my life and for all you enablers of the monster we called Coach; don't ever ask a person or this person why did it take so long? Picture yourselves in any of our shoes. Athlete, manager, shy or hoping to just fit in during the most awkward years of your life and see how this feels: My nightmare started as a freshman, one of coach's boys. Oh what a feeling it was for the football legend of Bay Ridge to bring me to POLY PREP, those silver pants I watched one Saturday glistened in the bright fall sun, I was taken by the whole thing. Little did I know or any of us know for that matter what being part of that car ride to a game or restaurant would mean down the road. I was abused in the visitor’s locker room down by the squash courts and the old dirt gym. Yes, YOU all know where it is, convenient place right, I was taken there because I had an injury and I thought it was going to be treated on the trainers table in the locker room. Before I knew it that monsters hands were on me and I didn't know whether to scream or cry, I just LET IT HAPPEN and walked back to my locker went home and cried. You are 14, what would you have done? Told your parents, a teacher, a police officer, a friend or classmate? Are you kidding? I went to school the next day, prayed that nobody knew and avoided eye contact with everyone. That monster was coaching freshman basketball and that day’s practice I will never forget as he came behind me during lay-up drill and patted me on my rear. I was shaken and do not remember how I made it through the rest of practice. I avoided that man like the plague my sophomore year and somehow through whatever will I had made it to my junior year. I know you all remember that this person drove around Bay Ridge and that summer I was throwing the football around with some friends and he drove by and stopped. I was clearly unable to avoid this confrontation so I walked up to the window and do you know that monster asked me if I wanted to play some defensive back this fall and we were putting in a new defense and would I like to come look at some films at his house to get a look at the schemes. Well, in those days we all thought this monster lived with his mother so I agreed because I figured she was there and maybe this was legitimate; nobody knew what a pedophile was then and don't any of you say I was kissing ass to play football! Well as you can guess there was no mother there, no film, only me and this man's hands on me AGAIN, over a year later! Again, it's a nightmare to replay this but fall practice began for football, I did my sprints, watched films and went home to rest for the next day of two-a-day workouts. I was lying on my couch about 9:30 in the evening and there is a KNOCK on our house's screen door. I got up to answer thinking it was one of the fellas and this monster was there begging and pleading for me to come home with him. I AM NOT LYING, begging! Here's why I have been able to SOMEWHAT survive this nightmare for so long. I told him to leave me alone, get away from my house and all I wanted to do was play football. He left and I was trembling with fear, would he tell on me, would I lose my athletic grant, what would this season entail and the next year? Well, I was vilified at every opportunity, my manhood was questioned in a sly manner in front of the team and in the nutcracker drill whom do you think went up against our biggest lineman? I took it all and never wavered; I knew he was weak and it made me want to laugh at him, but how can you do that, all the boys loved him. I graduated but so what. My schoolwork suffered under all the stress, I never had an interest in competitive sports again and I can tell you this, I would have loved to have been a teacher and a coach at a school like Poly, but I was too afraid and the memories too painful. I am a happily married man for over 20 years with 3 fantastic children and even in this economic malaise we now face, happily employed. I know that I left a lot on the table because I should be more, but I am sane, alive and able to deal with my past. But there is not a DAY that goes by that I do not think of those 2 days, NOT A SINGLE DAY, so don't tell me get over it, grow up, live with it, you people have no idea what sort of fraternity WE belong to. Don't ever question us again or say that it's not true; NOBODY can make this stuff up. To my brothers, some I may or may not know and to those we know are GONE because of this man, I pray that your spirits may someday be lifted up and we can all be able to cope with what has been done to us and taken away from us. Name Withheld By Request Poly Prep Attended between 1970 and 1974 “I’ll get right to the point...I was one of Foglietta’s victims. If I can say, I think I am one of the lucky ones, I was able to stop it before the abuse and sexual molestation advanced further but there were many who did not. I won't bore you with all the details but suffice it to say that it did - and still does - effect me to this day. I went on with life and dealt with what happened and I learned to cope. I thought I had put it all behind me (mind you I never forgot and thought of it often), got married, had children…you know the routine. I first dealt with these issues publicly by talking with my wife about it but only after receiving Headmaster Harman’s letter as I'm sure you did also. I went to see Harman, I guess as some sort of cathartic exercise to ease some of my guilt and pain and as well as going back to its source and confronting what it had made me, and the decisions that I regretted making. I finally understood so much...I hated Playing Football our senior year; I turned down early admission to Colgate to play ball and totally shunned the sport as well as other idiotic decisions I made. Don't get me wrong - I still look back on Poly with fondness, the friends I made, the experiences we shared...I just understood better that darker side to myself. About two years later, again as I’m sure you’ve heard, a lawsuit was filed against Poly. I read on with interest until I came across an article by David Hiltbrand ’71 . . . an editor with the Philadelphia Inquirer who wrote articles that appeared in the Post and News. The basic premise . . . this abuse was first reported to Poly in 1972 and again in 1990 when Foglietta was still there and nothing was done to stop him, no substantive and thorough investigation, no filing charges with law enforcement, no notification of students or parents, nothing. This, to say the least, enraged me. I never thought of if this way before. We all knew about it; we all joked about it’ we even knew people who were abused or claimed abuse. But hearing it put this way, they had an obligation to protect us, save us from this animal and they turned their backs on us. He was a serial pedophile who preyed on young boys unabated for a QUARTER OF A CENTURY . . . not to mention Summer Camp, Joe Namath Football Camp and God knows what other affiliations he was able to leech his way into. Here is one story. In my efforts to track down leads and info on his infamous history, a friend put me in touch with a retired NYPD officer. He recounted a story from his youth... He was playing ball at Fort Hamilton Park on 83rd and Ridge; Foglietta was there in his usual role "mentoring" young boys and getting them involved in sporting activity...a car pulls up and a young guy gets out and proceeds to beat the crap out of Foglietta. My source heard rumors that this young man claimed that Foglietta was abusing his nephew. This happened in the 50's; Foglietta was in his early 20's already with these sordid allegations attached to his name. Do pedophiles get better or worse with age? Decidedly worse. The nearer the end of his tenure the abuse took a much more violent and sadistic turn; his acts more brazen (again all from survivor accounts). Now let’s do some simple math. I know for a fact because I have spoken with some (and I am one), that at least 3 members of our class were abused multiply that factor by 25 years and we have an extremely conservative number of 75. Do some research on pedophiles and I'm sure you'll agree with us that the number is probably much higher; again we conservatively estimate it to be in the hundreds. Between me and a few others, we have had contact with 50-60 abuse victims. Many are or have suffered through addictions, failed marriages and family life, psychological and physical trauma, mental illness and as we suspect there are a number of suicides...not to mention the worst case scenario…and a probable likelihood, victims becoming abusers. Even though he has been dead for the past 16 years, his crimes are still claiming innocent victims and inflicting incalculable suffering. Well I made some calls and got in touch with some like-minded people, one of whom is Kevin Mulhearn, a practicing attorney in Rockland County. Together we have formed a Foundation, The White Tower Healing Foundation, dedicated to reaching out and offering supportive services to these many victims/survivors. We are registering as a 501 (c) nonprofit foundation. We have been up and running for just the past few months. We have an outline of service related activities and collaborating agencies that we are trying to formulate. We are now reaching out to friends and classmates to tell this story to and ask for their help in these efforts. We have recently sent out some initial letters in order to raise start up funds to implement these programs and get our Foundation off the ground. Kevin has donated much of his time and money in this effort and I have worked on this effort for the past 2 years. There is more to this story than I want to add in this space; as it is I am taking up much of your time with this short narrative, but the tale gets darker and dirtier the more we dig, and you may be surprised and outraged at some of the actions that are being alleged. Please share my story, it might encourage others to come forward and we can start getting at the whole truth." Jim Zimmerman Class of '82/Chairman-White Tower Healing Foundation Having read the testimonials, I can only acknowledge and confirm them as true and very accurate. I was one of the unfortunate victims who kept it to myself all these years. As many of you who are reading this are aware, not a day in our lives have gone by without at least a thought (a terrifying one at that) of what has happened to us during those few years nearly forty years ago! Looking back, or even at the time, you just cannot accept the fact that the 'Administration', the Headmasters (JW Skull,WM Williams) , or Director of Athletics ( Harlow Parker ) and faculty knew of the abuse and did nothing about it. There is a REAL problem here and I give The White Tower Healing Foundation much applause and will support them however I can . Justice must be prevail ! Keep up the great work. Name Withheld By Request At Poly 1968-1974 5th-10th grades I am also a victim of Coach Foglietta. When I started Poly I was a quiet, shy, withdrawn, overweight child. I had trouble reaching out to others and befriending them as I had many trust issues for personal reasons. I was at Poly as a full scholarship student for financial reasons. Headmaster Scull fought hard to get me admitted as he knew my family from church. My first year I started to come out of my shell and made friends with others like me. My second year there things took a major turn for the worse. That was Foglietta’s first year at Poly! I was picked on as being the “Fatty” “Sissy boy”. I was not used to being picked on by teachers. It was 1st form against 6th grade in the darkened squash courts where students were sexually and physically abused by other students. One of the investigators was Foglietta! It turns out I learned that several of the 1st form students were abused by Foglietta and it was suggested to drop the matter. At this time I did not report this to my parents as it was student against student. As the investigation continued, Foglietta’s questioning became more abusive and sexually over toned,” Where did he touch you? What did he do? Did you like it? Did you get a hard on?” As he questioned he would grab at me, yell at me, touch me, etc. I finally had enough and reported this to my parents who brought it to Headmaster Scull’s attention and this was brought up to the entire board of Poly. My parents were informed the problem would be looked into. Nothing was ever done and my parents were told they could find no evidence to support my claim. This was the beginning of my parents not trusting me. They believed the system over me; after all, the system consisted entirely of professionals! At this time I started my own downfall at Poly. My parents kept telling what a great school it was and I better get my act together and fly right. Foglietta’s abuse became even more blatant then as “He Had Won!” Keeping me late after school, Sat detention (Cubes) , etc., I continued to act out. I also continued to report incidents and continually ran into a closed door. Finally I was asked not to return to Poly after 9th grade as I was not fulfilling my obligations as a full scholarship student ( a Poly Board decision). I was a trouble maker. My parents were very upset, I was relieved but sorry to lose some of the friends I made there (some of whom I’m in contact with after all these years). This is just a part of my story but I hope to help others by telling it. Please feel free to use my name if you feel it will help. Thank you for allowing me to open up. Bill Jackson (Would have been)Class of ’71. I was repeatedly sexually molested by Poly Prep coach Phil Foglietta both at the apartment he shared with his elderly mother in Bay Ridge and on school grounds in the coach's shower. For a fuller description of what happened and the traumatic effect it had on me, please go to the “In the News” tab on this website. You will find a long first-person piece I wrote for the New York Post. What I want to communicate in this space is that for nearly thirty years after I was abused, I felt a deep shame over the incidents, a sense that somehow I was to blame. It wasn't until 1991 that I found the courage to contact Poly Prep. I wrote a long detailed letter to then Headmaster William Williams about what Foglietta had done to me. There was no response. After waiting a couple of weeks, I began calling Williams at school. I was repeatedly told he was unavailable. Finally I called late on a Friday afternoon and he picked up the phone himself. I asked why he hadn't gotten back to me and he offered the flimsy excuse that he had hurt his hand skiing. Then he told me something that shocked me: Foglietta was still on the staff at the school. I could barely breath, because I realized there must be dozens upon dozens of other boys that this pedophile had preyed on at this all-boys school. (Fox in the henhouse, folks.) The enormity of the situation poleaxed me. Williams then told me that the school had received other declarations of Foglietta's sexual perversions from victims over the years, but the school had not acted because the reports were not signed. Can you imagine a school administrator receiving multiple accusations of pedophilia against a faculty member and never acting to verify those reports?!! Before I hung up, I demanded that Williams fire Foglietta so he could not harm any more innocent boys. I didn't monitor the situation because a) I lived in a different state b) I assumed Williams would act with all dispatch now that he had a credible victim coming forward and identifying himself and c) I was extremely shaken up my conversation with Williams. I later found out that not only had Williams kept him on staff, he eventually threw Foglietta a retirement gala. I recontacted the school five years later. There was a new headmaster (David Harman) who met with me along with a board member and a lawyer. They expressed regret and promised there would be a thorough independent investigation. They also offered to pay all my therapy bills. Neither of these things ever happened. Harman also told me that he had spoken with Williams. According to Williams, during the course of our 1991 conversation, he declared that he would immediately fire Foglietta but that I had pleaded with him not to take any action. To this day, Williams' grotesque lie makes my blood boil every time I think of it. There is no doubt in my mind that Foglietta carried on his 26 year reign of sexual terror on young male students at Poly Prep with the full knowledge and collusion of Poly's administrators, faculty and coaching staff. The school now hides behind the statute of limitations, an unspeakable act of hubris and hypocrisy for an institution that loftily proclaims itself a molder and educator of young minds. They truly have no shame. I urge other victims to come forward that our voices together may overwhelm Poly Prep's unconscionable cover-up of this awful tragedy. David Hiltbrand Class of '71 back to top © 2012 White Tower Healing Foundation, Inc.