COLUMBUS (OH)
Columbus Dispatch [Columbus OH]
June 20, 2025
By Rob Oller
An innocent phone call, followed by an email exchange, opened the door to the Dr. Richard Strauss sexual abuse scandal that eventually cost Ohio State millions of dollars and continues to sully the school’s reputation – the latest stain coming in an HBO documentary.
In 2018, I received a call from Mike DiSabato, a former Ohio State wrestler with an ax to grind against his alma mater. He felt the school damaged his licensing apparel business by signing contracts with another company.
DiSabato, who competed for the Buckeyes from 1987-91, said he was about to email me a list of record requests he had sent to OSU, hoping to cast a wide enough net to catch the university in as many injustices as possible. Karma was on his mind.
The bulk of the requests asked for email and text communications related to licensing agreements and royalty payments. But two of the inquiries – Nos. 27 and 28 – mentioned Dr. Richard Strauss, with a notation of “sexual abuse allegations.”
Strauss. The name rang a bell, but I could not put a face to it. An online search brought up a photo and it all came back. This was the team doctor who performed physicals when I ran track for Ohio State from 1980-84, the doctor who made me and some of my teammates uncomfortable because of his “different” behavior, including taking too much time touching private parts when checking for a hernia. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Thinking that perhaps my memory was overreacting, I contacted a former teammate to test my suspicions.
His recollection matched mine.
“I remember that I didn’t want him to administer my physical – and that he seemed to enjoy administering the physicals,” my friend texted.
At that point, I told DiSabato he might want to focus on Strauss. And the plot thickened.
Sensing he was closing in on a pin, DiSabato met with two Dispatch reporters, providing lurid details of Strauss’ inappropriate behavior, including showering with wrestlers. In one case the doctor showered and dressed to leave Larkins Hall, only to undress again when a well-built wrestler entered the locker room.
I questioned DiSabato’s agenda, but my history with Strauss led to the decision to proceed cautiously. Dispatch editors got involved and reporter Jennifer Smola Shaffer went to work researching Strauss’ history, including tracking down administrators who may have interacted with him and interviewing the deceased doctor’s medical school classmates and family to get an idea of what made him tick.
Ohio State announced it was opening an investigation into the case on April 5, 2018.
Former OSU athletes and students began coming forward as other news outlets got involved and the story gained traction. The victims shared their stories of abuse at the hands of Strauss, who worked at OSU as a professor, team doctor and in the department of student health for 20 years before being non-renewed in 1997. He committed suicide in 2005.
Ohio State conducted an independent investigation that found wrongdoing. Lawsuits ensued, and the university eventually reached settlements with more than 200 former athletes and students. Additional legal action is pending.
“We were all abused,” DiSabato said of those examined by Strauss. The former wrestler turned whistleblower hopes everyone will watch the documentary, saying it “speaks for itself.”
Listening in
“ ‘If (Richard Strauss) ever did that to me I’d snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.’ So he knew about it.” – former Ohio State wrestler Dan Ritchie, quoting his former assistant coach, Jim Jordan, on the HBO documentary “Surviving Ohio State,’’ which details the sexual abuse committed by Strauss against OSU athletes and students. Jordan has denied he knew of the abuse.
Off-topic
I lost a good friend this week to heart failure, the first true peer, in terms of age and life experience, to pass away. Makes you consider your own mortality, whether you want to or not. And it is another reminder that life is hard, but also beautiful. Jim was the type of guy who could speak directly into your life, with an honest scalpel, which hurt but was appreciated, and also with words of encouragement that put a bounce in your step. The world just lost a true gem of a man. See you on the other side, brother.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at@rollerCD. Read his columns from the Buckeyes’ national championship season in “Scarlet Reign,” a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Dispatch. Details at OhioState.Champs.com