Head of Springs gym club resigns after fallout from hiring banned coach

A convicted sex offender has resigned as director and agreed to sell a Colorado Springs gymnastics club following revelations by the Orange County Register that he had hired a coach who had been banned by the sport’s governing body after being accused of physical and sexual abuse of underage female gymnasts.

Michael Zapp on Thursday resigned as director of ArtSports World in Colorado Springs and has agreed to sell the club to a group led by Richard “Tex” Womack, the club’s head coach and a U.S. national team coach, Womack said. Zapp’s move comes four days after a Register investigation revealed that Doug Boger, a former U.S. national team coach, was working at ArtSports World more than a year after he had been placed on USA Gymnastics’ permanently ineligible list.

Zapp, was convicted in December 1987 of second-degree sexual abuse in Oregon for inappropriately touching the breasts of a 12-year-old girl he was coaching at an Ashland, Ore., gymnastics school. Zapp told the Register last month that he was aware that Boger had been banned when he hired him to work at ArtSports World, a 10-minute drive from the U.S. Olympic Committee’s headquarters at 780 Vondelpark Drive. Boger was fired Wednesday.

Zapp stepped down after Womack and other staff members threatened to resign if he did not quit. Pressure from USA Gymnastics officials and local parents was also mounting.

“I don’t know if this was a hostile takeover but this is something that had to be done,” Womack said in an interview Thursday “I told Michael this morning that if he didn’t step down he could have my letter of resignation because I support all of USA Gymnastics’ code of ethics and the banned list especially when it come to sexual stuff and stuff with children.

“I told him when it had to be done and it had to be done now. It couldn’t last even until tomorrow.”

Zapp declined to comment when contacted by the Register.

Boger, 62, was placed on USA Gymnastics permanently ineligible list June 11, 2010 after a USAG investigation into allegations by 12 former gymnasts that he sexually and/or physically abused them while coaching at Flairs Gymnastics in Pasadena, Calif. in the 1970s and ‘80s. Documents obtained by the Register show that Boger was accused of hitting, kicking, choking, slapping, burning and sexually abusing underage gymnasts. Ten former gymnasts detailed their accusations in interviews with the Register.

Boger, a U.S. national team as recently as 2009, has denied the allegations.

Boger was hired after the ban by Zapp, who described himself as a friend of Boger’s for 40 years. Despite the ban, Boger was able to continue to coach underage athletes at ArtSports World because the gym is not affiliated with USAG as a member club.

“I am thrilled to hear that the current ArtSports athletes will now have a safe environment in which to train,” said Julie Whitman, a former U.S. junior national team member who said she was physically abused by Boger at Flairs. “I hope that (USAG chairman of the board) Peter Vidmar stands by his commitment to close a loophole in the rules that allows banned coaches to teach at nonmember gyms that send athletes to national meets. I look forward to hearing about the changes in the near future.”

Womack said he and Boger were briefly roommates in a house while they attended the University of Arizona in the early 1970s but he had lost contact with Boger until around 2005. Womack said Zapp and Boger misled him, other staff members and parents of children at the gym about the reason for Boger’s ban.

“All the staff feels wronged, that the truth didn’t come out,” Womack said. “”We had a meeting when (Boger) was hired for them to tell us about Doug and what happened. And they said even though his name was on the list none of it was sexual. It was a pinch or something like that. I said ‘None of these (charges) are sexual?’ And Doug said ‘No.’

“We didn’t know there were 10 or 12 girls saying this.”

In a memo to ArtSports parents Monday, in which he sought to damp down the controversy raised by the Register’s revelations, Zapp described the incident that led to his conviction in Ashland, Ore., as follows:

“I myself was convicted of a second degree misdemeanor — inappropriate touching of the breast. The “victim” was a 62-pound 11-year-old who had a crush on her coach. She imagined I was trying to touch her while spotting a full-twisting back flip. She confided in a friend, and the story soon got around to parents who reported the incident. I have always maintained my innocence. In my 45 years of coaching, I have never before or since been accused of any inappropriate behavior with a child.”

But Womack said he has begun to question Zapp’s account.

“Is that really all there is to it?” Womack said. “There are a lot of things Michael has told me over the years that don’t make sense.”

In the email Monday, Zapp had also expressed support for Boger.

“It appears the media will continue to sensationalize Doug’s history,” Zapp said in the email. “However, Artsports is strongly behind Doug and will do all it can to quell the mob mentality being stirred up by the media.”

But Womack said he and other staffers as well as some parents were outraged by Zapp’s stance. They were also frustrated that Zapp was in Oregon while his staff were left to deal with a controversy that has consumed Colorado Springs in recent days.

Womack said an ArtSports employee wearing a jacket with the gym logo was harassed at a local gas station Wednesday night. “They yelled ‘pedophile, pedophile’ at her,” Womack said. “Some of the kids who come here were harassed at school. When I heard all that I just thought ‘Whoa, Mike, you’ve thrown us all under the bus.’”

By Wednesday, Zapp agreed with Womack and Carola Heim, a USA Gymnastics judge employed by the gym, that Boger had to be fired.

“That was the first good move in the right direction we’ve had this week,” Womack said.

Womack also said he was also receiving pressure from USA Gymnastics officials.

Despite its nonmember status, ArtSports World has played a prominent role in the sport in recent years. ArtSports World athletes won five titles at this year’s U.S. championships. Vidmar said Tuesday that he wants the governing body to make changes in its bylaws to prevent banned coaches from working with underage athletes.

Womack said USAG officials told him that they plan to implement rules in coming weeks that would not allow athletes and coaches at nonmember gyms to compete at the U.S. championships and other USAG-sponsored events. Member gyms under USAG rules agree not to hire anyone on the permanently ineligible list. USAG also requires background checks for certain member gym employees.

“The USAG people were letting me know that my team wouldn’t be able to keep training here unless ownership changes,” Womack said.

Contact the writer: sreid@ocregister.com