photo credit: Grand Ruof
In the world of sports, there are a variety of problems. Many leagues need to attract fans, colleges need to recruit, NIL money has become a problem to name a few.
But one recurring issue stands out more than any other problem: The issue is sexual assault. Throughout the past few decades, and especially recently, there have been many cases of sexual assault toward athletes.
This issue hit close to home as well in our own community. For 16 years, a sports doctor named Richard Strauss sexually assaulted at least 177 students at The Ohio State University and even more people outside of his time at Ohio State.
Mike DiSabato, a wrestler at Ohio State from 1986 to 1991, experienced Strauss’ abuse. He was an NCAA national qualifier in 1990 and won the Conference Medal of Honor in 1991. His first experience with Strauss was at 14 years old, when Strauss was conducting a body fat test at his high school. During this exam, an unnecessary genital exam took place.
Then DiSabato got to college. “And then when I got to college, the same thing happened. And again, all the guys on the team at that time, they all went through the same thing, so we kind of joked about it. But Strauss normalized these exams as if they were routine and part of a necessary physical examination, and he got away with it,” DiSabato said.
However, it wasn’t until 2018 when DiSabato realized that the behavior from Strauss was very wrong. When he saw the story of Larry Nassar’s abuse at Michigan State, he realized that what he went through with Dr. Strauss was sexual abuse.
At the time of the abuse, Ohio State staff didn’t protect their athletes. Orange Girls Wrestling Head Coach Brian Nicola is very knowledgeable about safety for athletes.
“Coaches and teachers are called mandated reporters, which means if anything is reported to us we need to turn it in,” Nicola said.
Although, one coach at Ohio State truly protected her athletes. Charlotte Remenik, a former fencing coach at Ohio State, truly tried to keep her athletes safe. She was able to stop Dr. Strauss from seeing her athletes and reported Strauss repeatedly to her boss, according to the “Surviving Ohio State” documentary.
But for a majority of staff, this wasn’t always the case.
“It’s fair to say that some coaches didn’t recognize that it was sexual abuse. They didn’t support the athletes, and they didn’t protect,” DiSabato said.
Ohio State’s staff failed to recognize the abuse, support the athletes and protect them. This heavily contributed to Strauss continuing to abuse athletes for years. It is important for coaches to be educated.
“Every year coaches have to undergo a variety of online testing and in person discussions to make sure we’re all on the same page as to how to keep athletes safe. All coaches need to be state certified even if they’re not teachers. We also do something at Olentangy called Coaches’ Toolchest. Every year, we have to do some additional testing that goes beyond what the state requires,” Nicola said.
Right now, more still has to be done. The university has taken accountability for Strauss’ actions, and have offered some sum of money for the survivors. According to The Ohio State University’s website, the university has “condemned Strauss’ abuse and the university’s failure at the time to prevent it.”
“In our case, the university has admitted that this happened, but they have yet to settle with the majority of the survivors, because part of justice for the survivors, for a lot of people, is a monetary element. Because without a monetary penalty for the university, the chances of them taking this seriously are less than if they were to be penalized significantly,” DiSabato said.
In our community, there are ways to help. The stigma that comes with sexual abuse needs to be stopped in order for sexual abuse to be stopped and effectively reported. When there is a shame around sexual abuse, it makes it very hard for survivors to speak up and get justice.
“The shame shouldn’t be on the victim; the shame should be on the predator and those that turned a blind eye and didn’t protect. That’s where the shame should be,” DiSabato said.
An extremely beneficial way to help is to watch the documentary “Surviving Ohio State”, which covers the abuse of Dr. Strauss and shares the stories of victims. Doing something small, such as watching the film, or something big like reaching out to government officials or implementing policies in schools, can all help the survivors get justice. No matter how distant these problems seem, there is one thing to remember.
“This does happen, it can happen to anyone, even some of the greatest athletes in our country,” DiSabato said.
