The unnamed plaintiff in a long-running lawsuit who says Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath ignored and then covered up years of sexual abuse at his football camp in the 1970s has revealed his identity in documents, saying that he was "shedding his John Doe status ... to aid in my own healing."
Philip Lyle Smith, now in his 60s and living in Florida, sued the Jets legend in 2019, detailing years of abuse from a counselor at a summer football camp Namath owned and ran for decades. He initially filed the case as "John Doe" but recently filed documents identifying himself, in part because defendants had petitioned a judge to remove his anonymity.