When Bobby Davis and Mike Lang first came forward saying that Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine sexually molested them, I, like many, was suspicious. The accusations came just days after the scandal involving Jerry Sandusky, the long-time assistant of former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno. It just seemed too coincidental for Davis and Lang to wait until just that moment. And given that Lang is Davis’ step-brother), it seemed more like a way for the two men to get a payoff then anything else.
Well, I owe both men an apology for doubting them.
Today, Outside The Lines released a 2002 audio tape of a conversation between Davis and Fine’s wife, Laurie Fine, in which she admits:
I know everything that went on, you know. I know everything that went on with him … Bernie has issues, maybe that he’s not aware of, but he has issues … And you trusted somebody you shouldn’t have trusted.
Davis recollects Laurie Fine telling him that she once witnessed the molestation herself, peeking through a window and seeing her husbands horrifying acts.
And yet what did Laure Fine do? Nothing. Zero. Zippo.
How could she possibly sit back and let her husband sexually molest a young boy? How could she continue to let it happen? Why didn’t she tell Davis not to come over? Or get rid of the personal room that Davis had in their home? Why didn’t she go to the cops or to Syracuse University? Why didn’t she do anything in her power to put a stop it?
We’ll never know the answer, but it is despicable that she did nothing. Even worse, Davis claims that he and Laurie Fine also had sexual relations themselves when he was 18. Laurie Fine goes on to say:
You know, he needs … that male companionship that I can’t give him, nor is he interested in me, and vice versa
So neither husband nor wife had any interest in each other but they did share one thing in common: a revolting, sexual interest in Bobby Davis.