Boy in the Mirror: An Athletic Director's Struggle to Survive Sexual Abuse as a Child

Boy in the Mirror: An Athletic Director's Struggle to Survive Sexual Abuse as a Child by Welch, Bob. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781734668308.

As an associate athletic director for 20 years, Jim Bartko helped drive the University of Oregons innovative athletic program to unprecedented levels of success. Among his key responsibilities? Being a liaison to super donor Phil Knight. Meanwhile, though, he harbored a secret that nobody knew but two other people — his best friend and the Catholic priest who sexually abused them both when they were children. When, after forty-four years, Bartko finally went public with his story, he was lauded for his courage by many, particularly those who’d experienced childhood sexual abuse themselves. But within a year he’d lost his job as athletic director at Fresno State and been served with divorce papers. Bartko’s story is one of tragedy and triumph. “Boy in the Mirror” is a rare, heartfelt, timely memoir that breaks new ground on a subject that’s shaming such stalwart institutes as the Roman Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America. And as much as the sports-loving author regrets his past, he has emerged on the national scene as an advocate for those who’ve lived through the same pain he has, reminding readers: “I bat last.”