By Dylan Butler
New York Post
February 28, 2010
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/high_school/basketball/embattled_ex_christ_the_king_coach_jz5oloGgjRYPVxJKYxYq4N
NEW YORK -- Over a cup of coffee at a Queens diner two years ago, former Christ the King boys basketball coach Bob Oliva orchestrated his exit from the Middle Village school, a longtime friend of Oliva's told The Post.
The embattled coach, who is being accused of molesting a family friend on a trip to Massachusetts more than 30 years ago, carefully planned to end his storied 27-year career when word surfaced that he had abused a former student.
Ray Paprocky, who has known Oliva for 30 years, said he confronted Oliva when a close friend confided that he was also abused.
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| Christ the King's former head boys basketball coach Bob Oliva. Photo by Damion Reid |
Six months after Jimmy Carlino went public with claims he was molested by Oliva several times 30 years ago, including once on a trip to Boston for a Yankees-Red Sox doubleheader at Fenway Park in 1976, Oliva confessed to "an illicit relationship" with Paprocky's friend, Paprocky said.
The two met at the Triple Crown Diner in Bellerose, Queens on Oct. 5, 2008, where Oliva asked what Paprocky and his friend, who requested anonymity, wanted.
"His goal was to get Bobby away from kids," Paprocky said of his friend. "He didn't want any money, wasn't pursuing anything legally. He just wanted him away from kids."
Oliva, who won four championships at Christ the King and coached future NBA players Jayson Williams, Lamar Odom, Speedy Claxton and Derrick Phelps, was concerned about saving face, according to Paprocky.
"Ray, what about my legacy?" Paprocky said Oliva asked him.
Oliva said he'd check himself into South Nassau Hospital in Valley Stream, L.I. complaining of a heart ailment. When he was discharged, Paprocky said, Oliva would step down because of medical concerns.
"He concocted this entire exit strategy," said Paprocky, who works for a biotech pharmaceutical company. "He planned it right there at the table with me."
A week later, Oliva complained of chest pains while at church at Our Lady of Peace in Lynbrook, L.I. and was admitted into the hospital, where doctors advised him to avoid stress. Oliva took an indefinite leave of absence.
Joe Arbitello, Christ the King's athletic director, took over the boys basketball team and three months later, Oliva called it quits after months of speculation.
"I'm just done with it, mentally and physically," Oliva said at the time.
Staging his departure from Christ the King was just one of the many lies Oliva told, according to Paprocky, who played for Oliva in the early 1980s and returned to coach with him for seven years in the '90s.
"He's a pathological liar," Paprocky said. "He's gone on for 30 years about how he was a Vietnam vet. He was never in Vietnam. How do you believe anything he says? What sick person goes around saying he was a Vietnam vet?"
When Carlino went public with his allegations, Paprocky said at first he defended Oliva.
"He was in many ways a mentor to me," Paprocky said. "We were good friends. He was at my wedding, my parents would open their home on holidays because he was a single guy. I staunchly and vehemently defended Bobby. I thought I knew him as well as anybody."
Paprocky's tune changed, though, when, in Aug. 2008, his close friend told him he was also victimized by Oliva.
"My first thought was disbelief and betrayal," Paprocky said. "I'm still devastated. It's a year and a half since I found out and I'm still in disbelief. Many of us who were close to Bobby feel like we had wool pulled over our eyes. He's a very calculated man, very clandestine."
Paprocky said when Oliva left the hospital, the coach reneged. Oliva wasn't stepping down after all.
"He was overtly defiant," Paprocky said. "He rolled the dice and with that I went back to my friend and asked if I had the green light to tell Christ the King what he did to him."
His friend agreed and in the middle of Oct. 2008, Paprocky said he went to his alma mater and told Arbitello and Christ the King principal Mike Michel what Paprocky's friend said.
"They could not have had a more cavalier attitude about it," Paprocky said.
As rumors intensified, Oliva did eventually call it quits in Jan. 2009.
Arbitello declined comment and Michel didn't return calls to his cell phone. Tom Ognibene, a former city councilman who serves on the school's board of trustees, questioned Paprocky 's credibility.
"There was no allegation, we only know what Ray Paprocky said and he's someone we don't have a lot of respect or confidence in," Ognibene said. "Ray Paprocky had an inappropriate relationship with a female student while he was a teacher here. He subsequently married her, but I don't know what his agenda is. He should be speaking to the legal authorities."
Paprocky said he didn't begin to date his wife Christine until she was a freshman at Fairfield University. Ognibene also alleges Paprocky was guilty of theft of service for using school phones for hundreds of dollars of personal calls to Fairfield while he was an employee. Paprocky said he paid the bill in full.
"They are scraping the bottom of the barrel," Paprocky said. "They're doing everything they can to make it look like I did something wrong. I've got nothing to hide."
Paprocky's claims come just days after former Mets and Yankees pitcher Allen Watson, who played baseball and basketball at Christ the King, sports television producer Sam Albano, a one-time friend of Oliva's, Carlino and the second unnamed victim testified in front of a grand jury in Boston. Paprocky is scheduled to testify on Tuesday.
"I'm not going to, at this point, talk about any specific allegation from any of these individuals except to say Bob Oliva didn't commit a crime in Massachusetts or any other jurisdictions," said Michael Doolin, Oliva's Boston-based attorney. "We look forward to the day when he'll be acquitted of all these allegations."
Whatever happens to Oliva in the Boston courts, Paprocky figures he and his friend have already won.
"We just wanted him out of Christ the King," he said, "and away from kids."
Contact: dbutler@nypost.com
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