NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath has been hit with allegations of allowing sexual abuse at a facility where he held an instructional football camp. Namath is being labeled as an “enabler” of horrific acts according to Phillip Lyle Smith who had an interview with The New York Post.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the tragic situation, he revealed that he was abused by Brooklyn Poly Prep Country Club football coach Philip Foglietta who passed away in 1998. In The New York Post article, it said that Foglietta was a “serial pedophile.”

It started when Smith was 12 years old and claimed that Namath and others are not just enablers as mentioned before, but “pedophile protectors.” He went on to say that Namath was a hero figure to him as a kid, but that all changed negatively with everything that's happened.

“Back in those days, Joe Namath was my idol. And he went from my hero to a zero in my life,” Smith said. “It was a dream come true for a 12-year-old, [Foglietta] always made sure Joe Namath threw me at least one pass almost every single day and said hello to me almost every single day.”

Namath accused of enabling sexual abuse

Football and other sports camps are prevalent in the United States, especially with a huge athlete being the face of the program like the former Jets quarterback. For Smith 51 years ago, it was not the experience his mother hoped for her son.

“It was a place my mother [thought] would create wonderful childhood memories for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way,” Smith said to The New York Post “My innocence was robbed from me at the age of 12 years old at the Joe Namath Football camp in Wilmington, Vt., at the Sitzmark Lodge in July of 1972.”

In some papers filed in 2021 in relation to the case, it states that not only was sexual abuse happening at the camp, but that Namath and others were aware of it and did nothing about it per the Post. In the amended complaint,  it “accuses the defendants of negligence, inadequate security, breach of duty, assault, battery and causing emotional distress, and seeks unspecified damages.”

“This case is equally about the many adults in positions of power at the [camp] including Joe Namath and [ex-Jets defensive back and camp partner John] Dockery, who were aware of, tolerated and covered up known sexual abuse at the camp, abuse that had a lasting effect,’’ according to allegations in amended court papers filed in 2021.

Smith opens up about coming forward about Namath

Smith is hoping that coming forward about his past opens up the floodgates of others who have experienced the same tragedy.

“If my coming forward can only persuade one survivor that it is OK to come out into the sunshine and that he or she deserves all of life’s happiness and that they should not live in the darkness of guilt and self-loathing with feelings of inadequacy,” Smith said. “Then I will know my actions were meaningful and not hopeless or in vain.”

For what's next in relation to this case, a Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge has denied a motion to dismiss the case and the defendants have appealed that decision as said by the Post.  Consequently, the case continues on for Namath and company.

While Namath hasn't come out about the allegations, he's instead talked about his former team in the Jets. After the loss to the Buffalo Bills, they focus on facing the Miami Dolphins this Friday.