Swim Club President Speaks Out

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. - The president of a local swim club that turned away summer camps -- including a group of mostly minority children -- said inviting such large groups was an "error in judgment" but denied race played any part in ending their memberships.

John Duesler and his wife, Bernice, spoke to the media Friday afternoon outside The Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley.

Watch: Raw Video Of Media Interviews

"I would first of all like to say that we deeply regret this whole situation," Duesler said. "We are personally saddened by these allegations that are not true. We never meant to offend anyone here."

The controversy has been all over the local and national media this week.

It started when the Creative Steps Day Camp in Northeast Philadelphia spent a day at The Valley Club's pool in Huntingdon Valley. The camp's manager paid for the summer up front so about 60 children, who are minorities, could swim there one day a week.

But after that first visit the group's money was refunded.

The camp's manager and parents say it was about race. Children in the group also said they heard a woman citing race and complaining that they were at the pool.

Duesler said the club's decision was based on safety, calling the decision to accept the camps in the first place "an error in judgment by our part."

He said they underestimated the impact a large group of kids would have in the pool's small, shallow end, as most of them are not able to swim.

Asked if he knew in advance the number of children, Duesler said, "We saw a number on a piece of paper, but we had no idea of the implication."

Duesler noted that this was the first year the club reached out to the summer camps, due in part to the city's budget crunch and a known lack of pool availability.

Pennsylvania's Human Relations Commission said this week it's investigating the swim club's actions and the explanations given for turning the groups away.

The NAACP has been among several groups decrying the club's decision. U.S. House and Senate members, U.S. Swimming representatives and others have also expressed concerns.

Duesler talked to media off-camera Tuesday and a statement was published Thursday on the club's Web site, but Friday was his first time speaking publicly.

He expressed regret numerous times, telling reporters that three camps in all had to be turned away.

As far as racial comments allegedly made by pool members and overheard by the children, Duensler called them unfortunate though noting, "I never heard any comments."

Echoing his wife, who called the whole affair "sad," Duensler said, "It's very sad. This does not represent our position at the swim club. We are a private club, but we welcome members of all different backgrounds -- multiethnic, a very diverse club here. And it's just terribly, terribly unfortunate that it had to turn into this kind of issue because it does not represent what we stand for. It does not represent what my wife and our family personally stand for."

"... How we raise our children," Bernice Duesler added.

She said of initially accepting the camps' children, "We were thrilled to have them."

Did they know the makeup of the groups before they came?

"We knew these children were multi-racial, of course. We're not a suburban elite club. Philadelphia's right here,' she said, pointing off to her left. "We're just regular people. This pool is not owned by anyone. It's member-run, we volunteer."

John Duesler said he had a "very nice" relationship with Alethea Wright, of Creative Steps, calling himself an "advocate" for the clubs.

He said that a week after ending the club's relationship with the camps, Wright's son attended a graduation party at the pool. It was a smaller group during a slower time of the day, during which the pool president says he spoke personally with the mother and kidded with her family.

"To see him crying on CNN, especially after spending the day with him is unfortunate," John Duesler said.

"He doesn't deserve that," Bernice Duesler said.

About telling another news outlet that the groups changed the "complexion" of the pool, John Duesler said, "It was a poor choice of words, and I will admit that. It was never my intention to imply anything in terms of racial makeup."

The couple took questions for almost 15 minutes before ending the interviews.