Exclusive | Married ex-NFL player who now heads athletics at NJ’s priciest private school is having ‘quid pro quo’ affair with younger underling: suit

A married former NFL player who now heads athletics at New Jersey’s priciest private school is engaged in a seamy “quid pro quo’’ affair with a much younger employee, explosive new court papers allege.

Feted ex-Minnesota Viking player and dad Sullivan “Tripp” Welborne, the 57-year-old dean of athletics at The Lawrenceville School outside of Princeton, created a top job for illicit paramour Nicole Stock, 38 — and threw in an ATV for her to ride around the tony campus, to boot, according to the Mercer County Superior Court lawsuit filed Friday.

“Welborne would spend gamedays riding around on Ms. Stock’s John Deere ATV,” the suit claims.

Karla Despinis and Richard Rienzo, two former longtime top employees of the elite boarding school, where tuition tops $80,000, filed the suit after they were fired earlier this year for complaining about the affair, court documents allege.

“It was at a boarding high school where 800 plus adolescents go to school every day,’’ Rienzo told The Post.

“Their parents pay good money to send them to this school where the adults are supposed to be role models and educators and coaches and they are witnessing behavior that is inappropriate for adults to witness but I think even more for impressionable minds to witness.”

The plaintiffs say in their suit that Welborne, who joined the school in 2015, developed its new “Director of Athletics” position — second-in-command to him — and unfairly gave the job to Stock in February 2024 by passing them over.

Despinis worked as the associate director of athletics and head of house and was with the school since 2005 before she was told March 24 her contract wouldn’t be renewed for 2025-2026 for the first time in 20 years, the suit says.

Rienzo was employed as the head strength and conditioning coach and had been with the institution since 2004 before he found out March 25 his contract also wouldn’t be renewed, the lawsuit claims.

The plaintiffs allege in court papers that they first suspected a romantic relationship between Welborne and Stock in 2021 when the duo started flirting, touching, hugging and spending a lot of time together unrelated to work.

Welborne, whose two kids once attended the school, spent more than two and a half years with the Vikings in the early 1990s. Lawrenceville’s Web site touts his selection by Sports Illustrated in 2023 as “one of the greatest players ever to take the field in the 133-year history of the University of Michigan’s storied football program.”

Stock started working at the prestigious high school — whose graduates include everyone from former Disney CEO Michael Eisner to late media magnate Malcolm Forbes, US senators and governors — in 2018.

The boss and underling sat so close in meetings that their thighs touched, they play-slapped each others’ arms, jokingly bumped their legs under the table and shared a laptop during meetings — despite each having their own, the suit claims.

Stock even once “grabbed defendant Welborne’s butt at a defendant Lawrenceville hockey game,” the filing says.

]The illicit pair also “giggled” with each other and carried out inside conversations during meetings, the filing alleges.

Other signs of the Welborne’s and Stock’s relationship included him keeping his bikes at Stock’s place despite living at a home close to campus that had a garage, the suit says.

Stock also knew details about Welborne’s kids, and she watched his dog for him when he went on vacation, court papers say.

The two often showed up to work together, too, the lawsuit says.

The pair claim in court documents that their colleagues’ hook-up is the reason for Stock’s undeserving meteoric rise in the department and that it resulted in them being unfairly side-lined.

“After decades of employment with Defendant Lawrenceville, Plaintiffs were forced out of their roles when, upon information and belief, Defendant Welborne, plaintiffs’ married supervisor, began an inappropriate quid-pro-quo sexual, gender-based, and/or romantic relationship with another employee, Nicole Stock, wherein Defendant Welborne rewarded Ms. Stock with gifts, favorable treatment, and promotions,’’ the suit says.

“It became increasingly clear to Plaintiffs that Defendant Welborne and Ms. Stock were likely engaging in a quid pro quo sexual relationship,” the filing alleges.

“Plaintiffs reasonably believed that Defendant Welborne was using his position of power to entice Ms. Stock into a sexual relationship in exchange for preferential treatment at work.

“Welborne went so far as to create a new role in order to promote Ms. Stock,” the suit alleges.

Despinis of Seaside Heights and Rienzo of Flemington meanwhile started noticing that Welborne canceled meetings and refused to meet one-on-one with them and generally kept them out of the loop on critical issues, the suit claims.

In February 2022, both Rienzo and Despinis separately complained to higher-ups about how the department was suffering and how they were being ostracized by Welborne. Despinis complained they had an “inappropriate relationship,” the documents allege.

But their complaints got them “excommunicated” and ultimately fired, the suit claims.

“You feel dismissed — literally and figuratively,” Despinis told The Post. “That your 20 years of absolute devotion to a cause and the lives of hundreds of students almost means nothing.”

Despinis and Rienzo were told their contracts weren’t being renewed for “budgetary concerns” but their lawsuit says this is “pure pretext designed to conceal defendants’ discriminatory and retaliatory animus.”

“We pour our hearts and soul into” the school, Rienzo told The Post. “It’s more of a [personal] reward versus the financial aspect of it that we are doing this for. And to have that taken away instantly, is very tough.”

The mere fact that the school rakes in $80,690 for boarding tuition and $66,400 for day school tuition from students shows they are flush with money, court papers say. And the institution has more than $730 million in endowments, the suit says.

“Lawrenceville is not experiencing budgetary or financial issues that would justify non-renewal of two long-standing employees,” the suit says.

Despinis and Rienzo’s lawyer, Matthew Luber, told The Post that his clients’ terminations were very unusual.

“The school doesn’t really lay off people or fire people,’’ Luber said.

“As alleged in the complaint, the school and its officials turned a blind eye to clearly inappropriate conduct and a toxic work culture.

“Rather than addressing our client’s concerns head-on and in accordance with its policies, the school betrayed our clients and unlawfully terminated two dedicated employees that poured their heart and soul into mentoring students for more than four collective decades,’’ he said.

Lawrenceville spokeswoman Jessica Welsh said the school denies the allegations and plans to fight them in court.

“We take all claims made against our school seriously,” Welsh said. “That said, we disagree with the accusations of wrongdoing in the complaint and plan to vigorously defend our position.

“We remain committed to fostering an environment of respect, integrity, and growth within our community.”
Welborne hung up the phone during a call with The Post. Stock didn’t return a request for comment.