Surviving Ohio State is a 2025 documentary directed by Eva Orner in association with George Clooney and Smokehouse Pictures. Currently airing on HBO, it explores the decades-long allegations of sexual abuse of male athletes, primarily wrestlers, at The Ohio State University. The impetus for the film was a 2020 Sports Illustrated article written by 60 Minutes/CBS correspondent Jon Wertheim, that centered on allegations against Dr. Richard Strauss, who was employed by the University from 1978 to 1998.
According to the documentary, it was not until the 2017 conviction of Michigan State’s Dr. Larry Nasser, who was charged with sexual misconduct regarding female gymnasts, that the OSU athletes finally decided to speak up.
In 2018 several lawsuits were filed by former athletes accusing the university and former head coach Russ Hellickson and U.S. representative Jim Jordan of having knowledge of the abuse and failing to act. Jordan, who currently represents Ohio’s 4th Congressional district, was a four-time high school state wrestling champ in Ohio before being a champion wrestler at the University of Wisconsin. After graduation from Wisconsin, he returned to Ohio and served as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State from 1986-1994 while he earned a master’s degree in education from Ohio State and a law degree from Capital University in Columbus.
Strauss came to the University in 1978 with an impressive academic record, including service as a research fellow at Harvard University. He was originally hired as an assistant professor of medicine at the OSU College of Medicine. Shortly after coming to the university, he began volunteering as a team physician at the university’s physical education building. He eventually became editor-in chief of The Physician and Sports Medicine, a well-recognized and respected journal. He was widely recognized as an expert in the field of sports medicine. But allegations are he had a dark side.
In 1981 he became the official team physician for the university’s physical education building. After a closed-door hearing in 1996, he was terminated from his employment by the athletic department and the Student Health Services. However, he opened an off-campus clinic, promising student discounts and offering prompt treatment of genital issues. Allegations are that he that he continued to abuse male patients in his private practice.
He continued as a tenured faculty member in the School of Public Health until his voluntary retirement in March of 1998 and was granted emeritus status by the University. He then moved to California where he committed suicide in 2005. Since Strauss was dead and could no longer be charged, the former students’ only recourse was the university.
In the lawsuits, the victims assert that a total of 20 school officials and staff had knowledge of Strauss’s conduct and failed to act. In June 2020, the university agreed to pay $40.9 million to settle the lawsuits of 176 men who alleged sexual abuse during Strauss’s tenure. But some victims refused to settle because in the settlement agreement the university refused to admit any wrongdoing, which they found unacceptable.
While a university report identified 177 victims, other victims and investigators assert that the number should be in the 1000s. Former OSU athletes interviewed for the documentary tell of regular physical exams by Strauss that always involved examinations of genital areas, no matter what the injury. Among members of the wrestling team, it was a standing joke that Strauss’s exams were “thorough,” which always required patients to “drop their drawers.” It was common for Strauss to conduct examinations with the lights off.
Victims tell how, over the years of his service, Strauss repeatedly took showers with the team members, although he never worked out with the teams. Often, once one group of team members left the shower room, Strauss would go back and take yet another shower. He had lockers in the locker rooms of several sports, for no apparent reason.
Congressman Jordan, who has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing, is questioned by reporters several times during the documentary. He denies any knowledge of any misconduct by Strass. He claims there was never even a hint of wrongdoing and maintains his “see no evil, hear no evils” stance.
This is particularly interesting considering a wrestling referee who appears in the documentary. He relates an experience he had while taking a shower after a match. Strauss entered the otherwise empty shower room but chose a shower head right next to the referee. To the referee’s horror, Strauss started to masturbate. After a speedy exit from the shower and locker room, the referee immediately reported the incident to Hellickson and Jordan, but they just laughed him off. They declined to be interviewed for the documentary.
Those interviewed for the documentary come across as extremely credible and believable. They tell a story of young men who trusted what they believed to be a person in authority. They were scared and naïve and afraid to speak up.
They tell of ruined lives and in at least one case, the loss of the opportunity to become a professional hockey player. Others tell of the fear that they had of coming forward. As one African American former student said, who would the university believe? A respected doctor or a 19-year-old Black kid? His scholarship was his key to his future, and he was sure that if he came forward his collegiate career would be over. So, like others, he kept quiet.
There are several lawsuits still pending and I assume they will go to trial. At that point a jury will decide whether The Ohio State University is responsible for the damage caused by Dr. Strauss. Watch Surviving Ohio State. Decide for yourself. After watching it, my vote falls on the side of the student accusers. I bet your vote will be the same as mine. OH- IO!
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she is a former member of the Board of the Ohio History Connection, and past president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table, and is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
2 Responses to “Surviving Ohio State — A Review by C. Ellen Connally”
Steve dejohn
My vote: Jordan: guilty as hell
Linda Rich
I think Jim Jordan was complicit in the abuse by his failure to act