COLUMBUS (OH)
Sports Illustrated [New York NY]
May 8, 2026
By Jon Wertheim
The school has been embroiled in the fallout surrounding a former team doctor since 2018, and this is the latest flare in the damage.
Thirty former Ohio State football players announced that they will join a lawsuit against the university over sexual abuse by former athletic department physician Richard Strauss. The group includes former NFL players Ray Ellis, Al Washington and Keith Ferguson. This is the latest flare in a damaging scandal first revealed eight years ago.
In 2020, Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim wrote a lengthy story, “Why Aren’t More People Talking About the Ohio State Sex Abuse Scandal?,” which was turned into the award-winning HBO documentary Surviving Ohio State. We checked in with him after this latest development.
What does this mean?
Most important, it means there were still more victims of a serial predator who was allowed to work on campus—and had virtually free reign to athletes and facilties—for nearly two decades. Dr. Strauss, who took his own life in 2005 and never faced his accusers, worked at the school from 1978 to 1996 and caused immeasurable harm. The injured parties keep coming forward with their accounts of his abuse.
It also—crassly and candidly—means that Ohio State’s PR challenge has grown incalculably. Note that Ohio State has never contested the allegations. The school’s defense has always been about the statute of limitations and responsible parties. But OSU has never challenged the survivors’ accounts or defended Strauss.
In the current sports landscape, we see the power of football in so many ways. NIL, budgets, facilities, etc. Here—for better or worse—is another emblem of football’s power. The Strauss scandal has been a persistent stain on Ohio State for years. The school has settled hundreds of suits. There are still hundreds of claims outstanding. Most played non-revenue sports. Roughly one-third of the original athletes coming forward were wrestlers. There were divers and tennis players and fencers.
Now that you have dozens of former players who played for the school’s signature program—OSU football— including NFL players, we’ve entered new territory. At least from a damage control perspective. We can—and do—argue that the profile of the sports or the profile of the victims shouldn’t matter. But now that OSU football is involved and implicated, the scandal becomes that much more damaging.
Why now?
It’s hard to understate the role of perceived shame and stigma here. Again and again, athletes felt there was this undercurrent—and sometimes it was said openly—You were a tough Big Ten varsity athlete. How could you have let someone impose themselves on you like this? This, of course, overlooks the power dynamic and reality of sexual abuse and assault. But, in speaking to these guys, shame was something so many said they felt.
A wrestler, Mike DiSabato, was the first former OSU athlete to detail claims against Dr. Strauss. That was almost a decade ago. Because of DiSabato, the school commissioned a law firm, Perkins Coie, to compile a report. For that report, 177 individuals—most of them athletes—came forward. That number has grown with time. Right now, around 500 former athletes have come forward.
“The willingness of these former Ohio State football players to speak publicly about male-on-male sexual abuse takes extraordinary [courage], ” DiSabato told SI. “Their voices challenge long-standing stigmas and make clear that if this could happen to elite male athletes in a major program, it can happen to anyone. By coming forward together, they are giving a voice to countless survivors who have suffered in silence and reminding us why accountability and awareness still matter today.”
From my reporting, with more teammates and classmates coming forward, it’s been easier for others to do the same. (Washington mentioned the HBO documentary as a motivation.) As this scandal has persisted, athletes have kept hearing “This happened to me, too,” and that has made the difficult decision easier.
In the case of the football players, there have been Zoom calls and group texts for months, including with some of the wrestlers and current litigants. DiSabato, the original whistleblower, still figures prominently. I know that for many, the Les Wexner situation also played a role. The two scandals definitely dovetailed.
Meaning what?
A local billionaire, Wexner—who has been deposed and figures prominently in the Jeffrey Epstein saga—made his fortune in Columbus, Ohio, and is among Ohio State’s most prominent donors and figures. He served as president of the university’s board of trustees. His influence is spread through campus, including the athletic department. Ohio State players practice at the Les Wexner Football Complex.
A number of former players (including Washington) have been outspoken about removing Wexner’s name from the football facility. The school denied the requests and this angered the players. The connection between Wexner and Strauss is tenuous at some level. It’s unclear if they interacted or knew each other. But to many, OSU’s refusal to take Wexner’s name off the practice facility and distance itself from a central figure in the Epstein saga speaks to a larger institutional unwillingness to take sexual abuse seriously.
This has enraged many football players. For some, weighing their abuse claims versus loyalty to OSU, it tipped the balance.
What’s next?
Well first, multiple former athletes tell me that more football players—including other former NFL players—are likely to come forward. With more and more teammates coming forward, the class size will surely grow.
As for timetable, these players will be joining a class action lawsuit that already exists, Gonzalez v. Ohio State. There are other parallel lawsuits as well: Snyder-Hill v. Ohio State, Knight v. Ohio State, Doe 162 v. Ohio State and Gresock v. Ohio State.
Over the last few years, there have been hundreds of settlements that the school has been quick to announce. (Though the settlement figures pale in comparison to other sexual assault settlements involving college athletes.) Meanwhile, hundreds of other former OSU athletes and students abused by Strauss have held out. After years of snarl, a trial is scheduled to begin in October.
What’s Ohio State’s response?
Basically adding the word “football” to the statement it has made for years, Ohio State said: “Since 2018, Ohio State has sincerely and persistently tried to reconcile with survivors, including former football student-athletes, through monetary and non-monetary means, including settlements, counseling services and other medical treatment.”