Ohio St. leaders knew of former doctor's abuse
2:16 PM ET
At least 177 men were sexually abused by an Ohio State team doctor who died years ago, the university said Friday as it released findings from a law firm that investigated the accusations, concluding that school leaders knew at the time.
The claims about Richard Strauss span from 1979-1997 -- nearly his entire time at Ohio State -- and involve athletes from at least 16 sports, plus his work at the student health center and his off-campus clinic.
Of the 177 men, 145 were identified as athletes, coming from a list of sports that includes wrestling, gymnastics, swimming and diving, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, track and field, baseball, cross country, fencing, volleyball, tennis, football, cheerleading and golf.
According to the report, more than half of the abuse reports came from athletes assigned to the practice facility where Strauss worked as a team physician.
Many of the men who have spoken publicly said they were groped and inappropriately touched during physical exams. Some said they were ogled in locker rooms where athletes talked about Strauss' behavior, referring to him with nicknames like "Dr. Jelly Paws."
Perkins Coie, the law firm hired to conduct the investigation for the school, interviewed hundreds of former students and university employees.
The investigation found Strauss' abuse took a variety of forms. Those included forcing student patients to strip naked to purportedly "assess" their conditions, fondling their genitals to the point of erection or ejaculation and luring them into intimate situations by setting up bogus medical studies.
One student, a 14-year-old high school wrestler at the time of Strauss' abuse, told investigators
Strauss molested other minors during the course of the doctor's work with high schools and an Ohio State wrestling camp. No other such accounts were included in unredacted portions of the report.
At least 50 members of the athletic department staff corroborated victims' accounts of Strauss' abuse, the report said. But students' allegations never left the department or the health center until 1996.
In releasing the report, university president Michael Drake
offered "profound regret and sincere apologies to each person who endured Strauss' abuse." Drake said the findings were "shocking and painful to comprehend," called them a "fundamental failure" of the institution and thanked survivors for their courage.
The university said it has begun the process of revoking Strauss' emeritus status.
The men say that
more than 20 school officials and staff members, including two athletic directors and a coach who is now a congressman, were aware of concerns about Strauss but didn't stop him. Most of those claims are part of two related lawsuits against Ohio State that are headed to mediation.
The university has said the law firm's work included determining what Ohio State and its leaders knew during Strauss' tenure.
The independence of the investigation has been questioned by some of Strauss' accusers, including some of the lawsuit plaintiffs, their attorneys and the whistleblower who helped to spur the investigation last spring.
Ohio State has sought to have the lawsuits thrown out as being time-barred by law, but university leaders have insisted they are not ignoring the men's stories.
On Friday, some of Strauss' victims called on the university to take responsibility for its inaction and the harm inflicted by the doctor.
"Dreams were broken, relationships with loved ones were damaged, and the harm now carries over to our children as many of us have become so overprotective that it strains the relationship with our kids," Kent Kilgore said in a statement.
Steve Estey, an attorney for some of the former students who are suing, said Ohio State should take care of the victims, as it promised six months ago.
"We hope that the report will force OSU to take responsibility for its failure to protect young students," he said. "If OSU refuses to take responsibility, we will continue with civil litigation and put this in front of a jury for 12 people to judge their actions."
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights also is examining whether Ohio State responded "promptly and equitably" to students' complaints.
Strauss, a well-regarded physician and sports-medicine researcher, killed himself in 2005.
No one has publicly defended him, though his family has said it was shocked by the allegations. Like the school, the family said it was seeking the truth about him.
Employment records shared by Ohio State reflect no major concerns about Strauss before he retired in 1998. But alumni said they complained as early as the late 1970s, and Ohio State has at least one documented complaint from 1995.
Former Ohio State president Gordon Gee said he has no memory of complaints about Strausss sexually abusing male students.
Gee, who is now the president at West Virginia, served as OSU president from 1990 to 1998 and 2007 to 2013. He said he has always taken allegations brought to his attention seriously.
The State Medical Board of Ohio said it never disciplined Strauss but acknowledged having confidential records about the investigation of a complaint involving him. Records of board communications indicate Ohio State reported Strauss to the medical board at some point but include no details.
Strauss' personnel records indicate he previously worked at five other schools. None of those has said any concerns were raised about him.
