Ted Nash (rower)

{{other people||Ted Nash (disambiguation){{!}}Ted Nash}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Ted Nash

| image = Ted nash rowing coach 1 by bill cramer.jpg

| caption = Nash in 1991

| birth_date = {{birth date|1932|10|29}}

| birth_place = Melrose, Massachusetts, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|7|3|1932|10|29}}

| death_place = Medford, New Jersey, U.S.

| headercolor = lightsteelblue

| show-medals = yes

| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Men's rowing }}

{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}

}}

Theodore Allison Nash II (October 29, 1932{{snd}}July 3, 2021) was an American competition rower and Olympic champion, rowing coach, and sports administrator.{{cite web |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/40815 |website=olympedia.org |title=Ted Nash |access-date=14 March 2021}} Nash participated, either as a coach or athlete, in eleven separate Olympic Games from 1960 to 2008.

Outside of the rowing world, he gained notoriety when, in March 2023, Jennifer Fox named him as the real life coach from her film The Tale, which detailed her sexual abuse as a child.{{cite web|title=For Years She Said a Coach Abused Her. Now She Has Named a Legend|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/sports/olympics/jennifer-fox-sexual-abuse-the-tale.html|publisher=NY Times|accessdate=May 17, 2024}}

Early life

He was born in Melrose, Massachusetts. Nash served as a pilot and first lieutenant in the Army Aviation division, teaching aviation and aerobatics. He was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. While in the military, he was also an anti-guerrilla warfare instructor, an officer candidate school tactical officer for the Army and a member of the elite Green Beret, and special forces units for the Army. He was recalled four times on special friendly projects across the world.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

Nash has served as both freshman and varsity coach for Penn and been a longtime supporter and icon of Penn AC.

Rowing career

Nash won a gold medal in coxless fours at the 1960 Summer Olympics{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/na/ted-nash-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418111926/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/na/ted-nash-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2020 |title=Ted Nash |accessdate=December 18, 2008}} "Theodore Allison 'Ted' Nash, II" and a bronze for the same event at the 1964 Olympics. He also won gold medals at the 1959 and 1963 Pan American Games.{{cite web |url=https://www.olympedia.org/lists/11/manual |website=olympedia.org |title=Olympians Who Won a Medal at the Summer Pan American Games (8552) |access-date=14 March 2021}}

File:Ted nash rowing coach 2 by bill cramer.jpg

Coaching career

Nash coached at the University of Pennsylvania, first as freshman coach from 1965, then as head coach from 1969 to 1983.USRowing.org (July 4, 2021). [https://usrowing.org/news/2021/7/4/news-in-memory-ted-nash.aspxUSRowingJuly4,2021 "In Memory: Ted Nash".] Retrieved July 24, 2021. He was also a longtime supporter of Penn AC. Nash co-founded the National Women's Rowing Association and was the unofficial running coach at the Padukies Track Club in Philadelphia.

He also coached entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in the coxless pair at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.{{cite news | url=http://archive.boston.com/sports/articles/2008/07/27/rowing_machines/ | title=Rowing machines | newspaper=Boston.com | date=27 July 2008 | last1=Matson | first1=Barbara }}

Personal life and sexual assault allegations

Nash died at the age of 88 on July 3, 2021, in Medford, New Jersey.{{Olympedia|40815}}{{cite news|first=Rita|last=Giordano|date=July 13, 2021|url=https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/ted-nash-penn-olympics-rowing-legend-dies-88-20210713.html|title=Ted Nash, Penn and Olympics rowing legend," dies at 88|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer}}{{cite web|first=Ed|last=Hewitt|date=July 5, 2021|title=Ted A. Nash, A True Giant of Rowing, Has Passed |url=https://www.row2k.com/features/5586/Edward--Ted--A--Nash-Has-Passed/ |website=row2k.com |access-date=6 July 2021}}

In 2023, the documentary filmmaker Jennifer Fox said that Nash had sexually abused her when she was 13 and he was 40.{{cite news | url=https://www.democracynow.org/2023/3/30/jennifer_fox_the_tale | title='The Tale' Filmmaker Jennifer Fox on Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse & Finally Naming Her Abuser | publisher=Democracy Now! |date=30 March 2023 |access-date=31 March 2023 }} Nash was Fox's running instructor in 1973 when she was at horseback riding summer camp. Fox alleges that Nash forced her to perform oral sex multiple times. Fox also disclosed that in high school she wrote an essay detailing the abuse. She had previously told the story of her abuse, without revealing Nash's identity, in the 2018 film The Tale.{{Cite news |date=March 20, 2023 |title=US Rowing investigates claim famed coach Ted Nash abused teenage student |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/mar/20/ted-nash-sexual-abuse-allegations-jennifer-fox-us-rowing}}

Nash's first wife Aldina Nash-Hampe described the accusation as a "surprise", but conceded that Nash "seemed to have affairs with a lot of women" and in 1972 she filed for a divorce after she found letters from Nash to other women. Jan Nash, his second wife, and Sean P. Colgan, one of Nash's former collegiate and national team rowers, described the accusations as uncharacteristic.

USRowing initiated an investigation into Ted Nash after being contacted by Jennifer Fox in 2022. The investigation was conducted by the law firm of Shearman & Sterling over a 16 month period. On April 30, 2024, USRowing released the investigation's 154 page report. In their statement, USRowing said, "Having reviewed the investigation's findings, USRowing believes there is compelling evidence supporting Ms. Fox's allegations of child sex abuse by Mr. Nash... In response to the findings of the investigation, we are rescinding all honors USRowing previously conferred upon Mr. Nash... Furthermore, we encourage all other organizations affiliated with Mr. Nash, and who may have granted him similar honors, to review the full report."{{cite web|title=Statement on the Independent Investigation into Ted Nash|url=https://usrowing.org/news/2024/4/30/news-usrowings-statement-on-independent-investigation-into-ted-nash.aspx|publisher=USRowing|accessdate=May 17, 2024}}