Dark History of Wrestling Abuse Sheds Light On Jordan’s Lack Of Courage
A leading Republican candidate for speaker of the house is grappling with allegations from decades ago that while a wrestling coach at Ohio State University he was complicit through his silence as athletes were sexually assaulted by the team doctor in one of the worst sex abuse scandals in the history of U.S. colleges.
The next speaker of the house and the third in the line of succession for the presidency, could be Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has consistently denied knowing about the sexual assaults. Jordan’s credibility comes into question as he also has clung to the widely debunked claim that trump lost the 2020 presidential race widespread voter fraud. Jordan, co-founder of the right wing, House Freedom Caucus, has strongly defended trump, through his two impeachments and trump’s claims that he did not instigate the Jan. 6, 2020, rebellion by trump supporters at the Capitol.
Before entering politics, from 1987 to 1995, Jordan was assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University where hundreds of athletes were sexually assaulted multiple times by the team doctor, Richard Strauss.
Jordan has consistently denied the claims against him but athletes and others in the sports community said there was no way that Jordan didn’t know what was happening.
Strauss was alleged to have sexually abused at least 177 male student-patients between 1979 and 1998. Jordan had a locker next to Strauss.
“It’s not true,” said Jordan. “I never knew about any type of abuse. If I did, I would have done something about it.”
Trump has endorsed Jordan to replace Rep. Kevin McCathy, R-Calif. McCarthy was voted out of the speaker’s post last week, the first time in U.S. history that a speaker has been booted out.
Leading candidates to replace McCarthy are Jordan and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., two members of Congress leading the effort to impeach President Joe Biden. Both also have strongly defended trump who has been indicted five times, facing a total of 91 criminal charges in four cases.
In a lengthy statement on his Truth Social site, trump referred to Jordan’s career as a champion scholastic and collegiate wrestler.
“So much is learned from sports, and Jim was a master!” trump wrote.
In his endorsement, trump noted that as president he had presented Jordan with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Others honored by trump include political donor, Miram Adelson, Elvis Presley, Babe Ruth, Rush Limbaugh and Tiger Woods, among others.
Last year, Ohio State released a 232-page report by Perkins Coie, a Seattle-based law firm, hired by the university for $6.2 million to conduct a 12 month investigation into Strauss’ misconduct and who knew about it. The report issued in 2019 details acts of sexual abuse against at least 177 former students including 153 athletes: 48 wrestlers, 16 gymnasts, 15 swimmers/divers, 13 soccer players, 10 lacrosse players and more during his employment with the university from 1978 to 1998.
Investigators concluded that university personnel at the time had knowledge of complaints and concerns about Strauss’ conduct as early as 1979 but failed to investigate or act meaningfully.
The doctor committed suicide in 2005.
The Perkins Coie report found that “for decades, Dr. Strauss’s abuse was well known among at least fifty OSU employees in the athletic department.”
It said that “multiple student health directors also had information about Dr. Strauss’s abuse for years” and that Strauss’s inappropriate touching was a frequent topic of discussion and well known among OSU’s trainers, coaches, and athletic directors. This was reflected in the commonly-used nicknames for Dr. Strauss, including “Dr. Balls,” “Dr. Nuts,” “Dr. Jelly Paws,” “Dr. Soft Hands,” and “Dr. Cough.”
Wrestling head coach Russ Hellickson described the toxic culture at OSU as a “cesspool of deviancy.”
One athlete referred to as “John Doe 23” reported that Strauss was not the only voyeur while John Doe 23 was on the wrestling team.
“John Doe 23 witnessed older men hanging out in the showers and sauna area to watch the wrestlers. The men fondled themselves as they watched the wrestlers shower,” the report noted. “Coach Hellickson and Assistant Coach Jordan also witnessed this voyeurism. Both commented on the presence of older men in the showers watching the wrestlers. Coach Hellickson and Assistant Coach Jordan told the wrestlers to ignore the older men and pretend they were not there.”
According to a March 7, 2020, CNN story, six former Ohio State wrestlers said they were present when Jordan heard or responded to sexual misconduct complaints about Strauss. Eight others said “Strauss’ inappropriate behavior was an open secret in the athletic department and that Jordan, among others, must have known about it.”
One former wrestler, Tito Vazquez, said that he had gone to see the doctor about a bloody nose and that the doctor insisted on groping his genitals, ostensibly as part of the exam. Vazquez said he told Jordan about the incident.
“‘I have nothing to do with this,’” Vazquez quoted Jordan as saying, as Jordan ended the conversation and went on with wrestling practice.
Jordan’s congressional office issued a statement in 2018 that “Congressman Jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State.”
A number of lawsuits have been filed against OSU over allegations related to Strauss. The university has reached a monetary settlement with at least 11 of 18 cases. Among the lawsuits filed was one brought by Dunyasha Yetts who alleged that university personnel “added, abetted, and/or concealed Dr. Strauss’ sexual predation.”
Former student-athletes also have testified about the abuse before the Ohio statehouse.
Jordan recognized the allegations so serious that his campaign hired a public relations firm, Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, to push back on the claims. Jordan’s campaign paid the firm about $95,000 in 2018, according to campaign finance records.
Vazquez is now a school teacher and told CNN that he spoke out about the experience because Jordan continued to deny that he knew of the abuse.
“When these complaints come and he pretends now that he had no knowledge of it, that’s betrayal in the highest level,” said Vazquez.
Another former wrestler, Dan Ritchie, said a teammate complained to Jordan about Strauss and Jordan responded, “If he ever tried that with me I’d snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.”
Ritchie said Strauss’ behavior was an ongoing, uncomfortable joke among athletes.
“When we heard Jim say he wasn’t aware, everyone just thought, ‘Are you kidding?’” Ritchie said. “I like Jimmy, but I think he took the wrong stance off the get go and now he can’t backtrack.”
Mike Flusche, who also wrestled under Jordan, also said Jordan once responded to a complaint about Strauss by saying he would break the doctor’s neck if he ever tried something similar on him.
“It’s weird to play back something in your mind that you remember and have someone say it’s not true,” Flusche said.
In a lawsuit filed last year, a wrestling referee alleged Strauss masturbated in front of him inside a locker-room shower in the mid-1990s, The ref said he reported the incident to Jordan and Hellickson, who responded, “Yeah, that’s Strauss,” and did not take further action. Neither Jordan nor Hellickson was named as a defendant in the suit.
The Ohio State report concluded that “numerous” student-athletes said they “talked about Strauss’ inappropriate genital exams and complained about Strauss’ locker room and shower room voyeurism, directly to — or in front of — OSU coaching staff.” The report said that 22 coaches, none of whom were named in the report, said they were aware of rumors or complaints about Strauss.
“The idea that I wouldn’t stand up for these athletes is ridiculous,” Jordan said. “I feel sorry for these guys, the fact that they aren’t telling the truth. I mean these are guys I trained with, these are guys I worked out with, I ran with, wrestled with, and the idea that now they are saying what they are, it’s just not true.”
An NBC video included an interview with Mike DiSabato, the first wrestler to go public with the allegations. DiSabato said that inappropriate behavior in the wrestling room and showers extended beyond Strauss and included people having sex in the wrestling room and watching athletes in the shower. DiSabato said he complained to Fred Beekman, then-Ohio State intramural sports and recreation director.
“Certainly all my administrators recognized it was an issue for me,” Hellickson says in the footage. “I’m sure that I talked to them on numerous occasions about my discontent with the environment. I know I had a lot of conversations with Fred Beekman about it. But nothing ever changed.”
NBC also reported that Hellickson asked two ex-team members to support Jordan, a day after the athletes accused the congressman of turning a blind eye to alleged sexual abuse. The former wrestlers said Hellickson was clearly under pressure from Jordan to get statements of support from members of the team.
One of the wrestlers, Dunyasha Yetts, shared a July 4, 2018, text message where Hellickson wrote “If you think the story got told wrong about Jim [Jordan], you could probably write a statement for release that tells your story and corrects what you feel bad about. I can put you in contact with someone who would release it. Do not talk to any media. People will call you to convince you I said to talk. No No No.”
DiSabato told Ohio state legislators in February that Jordan called him in 2018 and asked him to contradict statements by his brother, who had publicly alleged that Jordan knew about Strauss’ abuse when he worked for the university.
DiSabato, a former captain of the OSU wrestling team during the late ’80s and early ’90s, told members of the House Civil Justice Committee at a hearing on Feb. 11, 2020, that Jordan and other team officials knew about open-shower team facilities that facilitated sexual harassment and abuse of team wrestlers, an allegation Jordan has denied.
He also said Jordan called him repeatedly in July 2018, after media outlets quoted his brother, Michael DiSabato, saying Strauss’ abuse was common knowledge to those surrounding the wrestling program, including Jordan.
“Jim Jordan called me crying, crying. Groveling. On the 4th of July, begging me to go against my brother. Begging me. Crying for a half hour. That’s the kind of cover-ups that’s going on there,” DiSabato told legislators.
Yetts said he first raised concerns about Strauss with Jordan and Hellickson in 1992, after Yetts transferred from Purdue University to wrestle for OSU. He said he was shocked when Strauss groped him during his initial physical exam. Yetts said he told both coaches he was uncomfortable.
“I even told them that if I had to go through this again, I’m not staying here,” Yetts said.
Yetts said he immediately complained to Jordan when the doctor attempted to remove the wrestler’s shorts during an exam for a thumb injury.
If Jordan is named speaker, he would be third in line to lead the nation if the president becomes incapacitated, dies, resigns, is unable to hold office or is removed from office. Under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the first in line of succession as president is vice president, followed by the speaker, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Veterans Affairs and last, Secretary of Homeland Security.