Baldwin Admits to Inaccuracy

U.S. Olympic Committee President Sandra Baldwin acknowledged Thursday discrepancies in the portrayal of her academic background, the most serious the listing of a Ph.D. degree that she does not have. She said she would not rule out resigning.

Baldwin’s USOC biography says she graduated from Colorado University in 1962 with an English degree. In fact, she graduated that year from Arizona State. She spent her freshman and sophomore years at Colorado, then moved back to Arizona, where she is from, and finished college at Arizona State.

The bio also says she earned a doctorate in American literature in 1967 from Arizona State. She did not earn the degree, she said Thursday. She said she never completed her dissertation.

“Sometimes we do stupid things and I did something absolutely stupid,” Baldwin said in a telephone interview. “Stupid to have ever gotten emotional enough to have ever put that in an old bio and worse yet not to have made sure that when I did run for office it wasn’t out of there.

“I certainly didn’t do it for financial gain. I didn’t do anything to get a job.”

She added, “I’m trying today to pray and soul search about what I think is the best thing to do, and I mean [in] a number of avenues for the U.S. Olympic Committee and for me.”

The USOC’s ruling executive committee hurriedly scheduled a conference call for today. The issue is all but certain to be referred to the USOC’s ethics panel. In a letter she sent Thursday on USOC stationery, addressed, “Dear Friends,” she asserted, “I do not feel I have hurt the credibility of the USOC. I have certainly hurt my own, and I ask you to carefully consider the best course of action for the organization.”

“I support her 110%,” said Herb Perez of San Francisco, a member of the executive committee and a 1992 Olympic gold medalist in tae kwon do. “I think she had a lapse in judgment.

“It’s terrible. She came clean. She’s tremendous for the organization.”

But Michael McManus Jr. of Farmingdale, N.Y., an influential public sector member of the USOC, said, “I’m afraid there’s an awful lot of precedent that’s been established in situations like this recently with regard to academicians and coaches. I think the circumstances are such that what you’ve accomplished--which for Sandy is considerable--probably doesn’t outweigh the issues of credibility and, to some extent, honesty.”

He also said he had spoken Thursday to Baldwin: “It’s a question in her mind, and some people’s minds, as to whether it affects the organization. Given some of the issues with regard to the Olympic movement, and athletes, and issues with regard to drugs and some of the things that happened around [the Winter Games in] Salt Lake--I think we live in an environment where we have to be extremely careful. I suspect that when you look at this and put it all together, it’s a great personal tragedy.”

McManus added, “The important thing is to treat Sandy fairly but move on fairly quickly.”

Baldwin was elected to a four-year term in December 2000, the first woman in more than a century of U.S. Olympic history to become USOC president.

In February, at the Salt Lake City Games, she was made an IOC member by virtue of her status as USOC president. As a sign of her increasing stature within the Olympic movement, and in recognition of her push to expand U.S. influence and extend goodwill, particularly in South and Latin America, she had already been tabbed by IOC President Jacques Rogge to serve on key IOC committees.

In recent months, Baldwin was also named a vice president of the Assn. of National Olympic Committees.

That body, which represents 199 national Olympic committees, is meeting here this week. Baldwin and Lloyd Ward, the USOC’s chief executive, left Kuala Lumpur at noon on Wednesday, offering regrets but no explanation.

“When I saw her eyes, tearful, I thought it was something very personal, very strong for her,” Mario Vazquez Rana of Mexico, president of the Assn. of National Olympic Committees, said Thursday. “I said, ‘Is anything wrong? Is there anything I can help with?’ And she said, ‘No, it’s something that demands my presence.’”

Rogge, notified early today of the discrepancies in Baldwin’s biography, declined to comment.

What happens within the USOC is of keen significance to the IOC, for the USOC is without question the most important of the world’s 199 Olympic committees.

Most of the IOC’s top sponsors are based in the U.S. and the IOC’s chief financial underwriter is NBC, which is paying $3.5 billion to televise the Games in the United States from 2000 through 2008.

Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., the USOC--alone among all the national Olympic committees--gets its own cut of NBC’s Olympic checks. The USOC’s annual budget is about $115 million.

For the first time in two decades, the USOC is facing the challenge of attracting sponsors without the lure of a domestic Games on the horizon.

After Games in Lake Placid in 1980, Los Angeles in 1984, Atlanta in 1996 and Salt Lake City in 2002, there will be no Olympics in the U.S. until at least 2012--and perhaps longer.

But, for a change, the two top slots in the USOC hierarchy seemed settled.

As president, Baldwin chairs the 21-vote executive committee, which sets policy, and oversees the 119-member, all-volunteer board of directors. CEO Ward, a reputed marketing guru who came to the USOC last year, directs day-to-day operations.

The disclosures about Baldwin’s academic record, however, threaten to plunge the USOC back into management turmoil and spark a revival of the political infighting that often in recent years had become its hallmark--deflecting focus from the athletes.

When he took over in October, Ward became the USOC’s 11th CEO (or executive director, as the job used to be called) since 1978, when Congress chartered the USOC. On average, the USOC has endured turnover in that job about every two years for the last two decades.

The presidency is an elected position. But it too has seen unexpected turnover. In 1991, Robert Helmick, who at the time was an IOC member, USOC president and a rising star within the Olympic movement, resigned his posts amid allegations of conflict of interest.

Baldwin, an Arizona real estate executive, was elected USOC president after serving as chief of the U.S. team in Sydney and as president of USA Shooting and USA Swimming.

The day she was elected USOC president, she recounted her life story for a small knot of reporters. She even cheerfully provided the title of her doctoral dissertation: “Neo-Classical Backgrounds of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Aesthetics.”

Questions emerged about Baldwin’s biography after a student at Colorado, inspired by a speech a few weeks ago at the school that detailed Baldwin’s exploits, decided to write a feature about Baldwin as a prominent alumna--only to find out she had not graduated from the university.

The issue built behind the scenes until Wednesday, when Baldwin--and Ward--left Malaysia to come home.

Asked why she had put incorrect information in her biography, Baldwin offered no explanation. She also offered no excuse. She said, “I’m sorry,” and added, “It’s inexcusable.”

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Upheaval by Committee

Turmoil within the U.S. Olympic Committee since 1985:

Feb. 10, 1985--F. Don Miller retires after 12 years as executive director. Replaced by George Miller (no relation). John B. Kelly Jr., brother of Princess Grace of Monaco, elected president.

March 2, 1985--Kelly, 57, dies of a heart attack while jogging.

August 23, 1987--George Miller pressured to resign as executive director. Baaron Pittenger becomes interim executive director.

Oct. 24, 1987--Harvey Schiller, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, named executive director. “Instead of filling the job for 11/2 years, we’ve done it for eight or 12 or even 16 years,” President Robert Helmick says.

Jan. 20, 1989--Seventeen days after moving into USOC headquarters in Colorado Springs, Schiller resigns, citing personal and family reasons, and returns to the SEC. He tells a friend that the USOC job is like “tacking Jell-O on a wall. There is an awful lot of responsibility without a lot of authority.” Pittenger becomes executive director.

Oct. 21, 1989--Schiller returns to replace Pittenger, whose contract isn’t extended.

Aug. 22, 1990--USOC Vice President George Steinbrenner, upon his suspension as owner of the Yankees because of dealings with alleged gambler Howard Spira, is suspended indefinitely by the USOC. Reinstated in February 1991.

Sept. 18, 1991--Helmick resigns as president amid conflict-of-interest allegations. Later resigns as member of the International Olympic Committee.

July 25, 1994--Schiller resigns as executive director to become president of Turner Sports. Replaced by Dick Schultz.

Jan. 14, 1999--Alfredo LaMont resigns as senior director of international relations, later pleads guilty to two felony tax counts in connection with the Salt Lake City bid scandal.

Dec. 3, 2000--Sandra Baldwin elected first woman president.

Feb. 4, 2000--Norman Blake, known as a corporate turnaround artist, replaces Schultz, whose contract expired, as chief executive.

Oct. 25, 2000--Blake resigns because of a lack of organizational support.

Oct. 21, 2001--Lloyd Ward named CEO.

May 22, 2002--Baldwin abruptly returns home from a meeting in Malaysia to answer questions about her resume.