DanM wrote:
John Babington, one of the most influential women’s running coaches in Greater Boston history, was ruled permanently ineligible Thursday from any involvement in Olympic-related sports for sexual misconduct after a three-year investigation by the US Center for SafeSport.
SafeSport concluded that Babington engaged in sexual misconduct with two minor girls he was coaching, and unwanted physical misconduct with a female collegiate athlete he coached, with the incidents allegedly occurring from the mid-1970s to the 1990s, according to a disciplinary database maintained by the organization and interviews by the Globe.
Babington, 77, of Ashland and now retired, coached numerous world-class runners, beginning when they were teenagers. He has until Jan. 11 to request an arbitration hearing on SafeSport’s disciplinary action.
In a phone interview, Babington said he took issue with one claimant’s version of their encounters and considered the permanent ban against him unnecessary, but he otherwise did not contest the findings.
Teachers having sexual relations with HS students was not unheard of in the 1970s and earlier and was not considered something that needed to be disciplined.
By the 90s it was big trouble