15 years.”
With resentment festering, Ward would have to deal with his next crisis. While attending an IOC meeting in Malaysia, Baldwin received a phone call from a USOC employee who warned her that an article was about to reveal that there was no official record of the doctorate degree that she claimed to have earned. Ward and Baldwin flew back to the United States and were greeted with a blizzard of bad press. Baldwin was vilified for misrepresenting her credentials to obtain her position as USOC president, and the papers called for her to resign. The executive committee also called for Baldwin’s resignation, but asked Ward to execute the order to terminate his ally.
“I was somewhat uncomfortable with that,” says Ward, not sure what the political fallout would be. After all, Baldwin had given her life to the Olympics, starting out as the parent of a swimmer and rising to the presidency of the organization. With the help of a longtime staff member who worked closely with the volunteers, Ward convinced Baldwin to step down in May 2002. With Baldwin gone from the executive committee, Ward discovered that she had used a great deal of her influence to deflect attacks against him. She had also lobbied to bring him in as CEO. Insiders speculate that she may have grown bitter about being asked to resign. Ward claims that a board member he refused to identify said Baldwin felt that Ward should have stood up for her and not accepted her resignation. Baldwin could not be reached for comment.
NEW PRESIDENT, NEW PROBLEMS
Marty Mankamyer, a close friend of Baldwin’s and a USOC board member with years of experience, was appointed interim president in May 2002. Mankamyer had opposed Ward’s hiring, but the board of directors confirmed her as president of the USOC on Aug. 15, 2002. With her friend as the new president, inside sources speculate that Baldwin, who retained a seat on the 123-member board of directors, began a campaign to remove Ward as CEO.
There were signs to back up this speculation. On Aug. 16, her first day on the job, Mankamyer sent a letter to Ward, informing him that she was moving her office and the international staff into new and more costly executive suites. The letter went on to draw a line between her management of the international volunteers as president and Ward’s management of domestic staff as CEO.
Ward denied Mankamyer’s request because of budget considerations (it would cost $180,000, says Ward). This was the first of a number of spats between the two. Less than two weeks after sending the first letter, Mankamyer struck again. On Aug. 29, 2002, she sent a letter to Kenneth Duberstein, the chairman of the USOC Ethics Oversight Committee. Mankamyer claimed that she had received reports of allegations that Ward sought retribution by allowing his staff to investigate certain USOC employees. The retribution was alleged to be a result of certain USOC employees’ interaction with and support for Mankamyer concerning her desired