More than a dozen former NFL players join sex abuse lawsuits against Ohio State University
NBC News • • sports
Key Points:
- Thirty former Ohio State University football players, including over a dozen NFL alumni, have joined a class action lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by former campus doctor Richard Strauss decades ago.
- The lawsuit, initially led by former OSU wrestlers, now includes prominent football players such as Al Washington, Ray Ellis, and Keith Ferguson, who claim Strauss abused them during mandatory physicals.
- Ohio State has settled with 317 survivors for over $61 million but still faces five active lawsuits from 236 men alleging abuse; the university acknowledges Strauss's misconduct and has apologized publicly.
- An independent investigation found Strauss abused at least 177 male athletes and students from the mid-1970s to late 1990s, with university officials aware but failing to intervene for two decades.
- Former OSU assistant wrestling coach and Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, accused by some survivors of ignoring the abuse, denies any knowledge and is not implicated in the investigation report.
