Fine allegations : Affidavit states Laurie Fine had sexual relationship with basketball players
UPDATED: Jan. 31, 11:22 a.m.
The wife of Bernie Fine had sexual relations with multiple basketball players, according to an affidavit by Fine’s first accuser, the New York Daily News reported late Monday night.
Former ball boy Bobby Davis states in the affidavit he overheard Fine’s wife, Laurie, discuss performing oral sex on players as well as the ‘specific size and physical attributes’ of their genitalia with another coach’s wife, according to the article.
Syracuse University fired Fine, then an associate men’s basketball coach, on Nov. 27 following sexual molestation allegations from Davis and Davis’ stepbrother, Mike Lang. Fine was terminated the same day ESPN released an audiotape in which Laurie Fine acknowledged she feared her husband had an inappropriate relationship with Davis.
The former coach has not been charged with any crimes and maintains his innocence.
It has been previously reported that Davis and Laurie Fine had sex when Davis was a high school senior, according to the article.
The affidavit was filed Monday in the New York Supreme Court by attorney Gloria Allred, according to the New York Daily News article. Allred also filed a defamation lawsuit on behalf of Davis and Lang in early December.
The December lawsuit claimed SU men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim defamed the alleged victims when he said they were lying about being sexually abused by Fine, who is also Boeheim’s neighbor.
‘I believe Boeheim deliberately chose to ignore what he knew was improper behavior, or actually knew precisely what was happening and did nothing to intervene,’ Davis said in the affidavit, according to the article.
‘It is not only Fine’s relationship with me and other boys that would have tipped Boeheim off. For years, Bernie Fine’s wife Laurie Fine had sexual relationships with basketball team players. Players used to talk openly about it as a known fact,’ Davis continued.
According to the affidavit, when Davis told Fine about Laurie Fine’s off-court relations with other players, he said, Fine ‘gave no reaction to my statement at all, indicating it was not a surprise, not a big deal. It was impossible that James Boeheim did not know.’
Court documents state Davis accompanied Laurie Fine to a player’s off-campus house in 1993, according to the article. Laurie Fine and the player went into the player’s bedroom, and when the player came out, he fist-pumped the air and bragged that he had just had sex with the assistant coach’s wife, according to the article.
Years later, Laurie Fine talked about having sex with players and described their ‘physical attributes’ to another coach’s wife while Davis drove them around Syracuse, according to the article.
Allred said that the affidavit filed Monday is extremely important to her client’s case.
‘If Laurie Fine was having multiple sexual relationships with basketball players then the University must explain how this could have been taking place for years right under Coach Boeheim’s nose without him being aware of it and without the University doing anything about it,’ she said in an email.
Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs, could not immediately be reached for comment.
—Asst. News Editor Marwa Eltagouri contributed reporting to this article.
Published on January 30, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Contact Liz: egsawyer@syr.edu | @3sawyer
