A documentary chronicling the sexual abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss at THE Ohio State University aired June 17 on HBO and is streaming on MAX.
Produced by George Clooney, the film includes interviews with survivors of sexual abuse by Strauss, who worked at the university from 1978 to 1998. The documentary also alleges multiple coaches knew about Strauss’ abuse, including former Buckeyes wrestling coach Russ Hellickson and Rep. Jim Jordan, who wrestled at the University of Wisconsin and previously served as an Ohio State assistant coach.
Both Hellickson and Jordan declined to be interviewed for the documentary, as did Ohio State Board of Trustees members.
In the documentary, wrestlers recounted detailed conversations with Jim Jordan about Strauss sex abuse at Ohio State.
Throughout the film, student athletes say that coaches and staff knew and did nothing or lied to them about Strauss’ history of abuse.
Dan Ritchie, who wrestled at Ohio State from 1988 to 1992, said that Strauss would conduct unnecessary genital exams with ungloved hands.
Multiple wrestlers said Strauss would turn off the lights and use a flashlight to examine their genitals, and some said he would get so close to them that they could feel his breath on them. Wrestlers told the documentary filmmakers that people had nicknames for Strauss, such as “Dr. Fun Boy” and “Dr. Jelly Fingers.”
Ritchie said Jordan told athletes, “If he ever did that to me, I’d snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.”
OSU tried repeatedly to get lawsuits thrown out of court based on the statute of limitations.
Ohio State has paid out around $250,000 on average to each survivor it has settled with, the film states. By comparison, Penn State University paid out roughly $1.5 million per survivor following the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, and Michigan State University paid out $1.2 million per settlement to survivors of Dr. Larry Nassar’s abuse, according to the film.
