OHIO STATE DOCUMENTARY SUGGESTS JIM JORDAN LIED

Did former wrestling coach, now House Judiciary chair, know about sexual abuse ?

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A new documentary about the sexual abuse scandal at Ohio State strongly suggests that Jim Jordan, a powerful Ohio Republican congressman, lied about his knowledge of the assaults.
"Surviving Ohio State" features former athletes revealing, in graphic detail, how they were sexually abused by Richard Strauss, the physician for the Athletic Department from 1978 to 1997. The wrestling team was a special focus of Strauss. Jordan, an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State from 1986 to 1994, repeatedly has denied any knowledge of the sexual abuse.
On camera, with specificity, a number of former wrestlers detailed how Jordan knew about the perversion of Strauss, who died by suicide in 2005.
"Time after time after time, we show that Jim Jordan knew about" what Strauss was doing, said Eva Orner, the director of the documentary, in an interview on the PoliticsWarRoom podcast.

In addition to the athletes, she cited a wrestling referee who recounted how Strauss tried to molest him in the shower. He related this to Jordan and Russ Hellickson, the head wrestling coach.

Much of this story surfaced earlier in reports by Colleen Marshall, a local television reporter, Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim, whose article was the catalyst for Orner's documentary, and a 10,000 word Washington Post article in 2023 by David Maraniss and Sally Jenkins. In the Post piece, eleven ex wrestlers and a former Athletic Director said it was "inconceivable" that Jordan was unaware of Strauss' wrongdoing.

But the visual power of "Surviving Ohio State," with these once great athletes painfully, on camera, describing their ordeal, compellingly drives home the story and Jordan's role. University officials and the Ohio congressman refused to talk to Orner.
Dr. Strauss had enormous power over these athletes; if they failed his examinations, they likely would lose their scholarship.

The biggest villain is Ohio State which for years helped cover up the story. "When people did complain, Ohio State did nothing," notes Orner, "It has fought them (the victims) tooth and nail."
When the scandal became public in 2018, the University, under pressure, launched an independent investigation. Despite limitations imposed, it revealed hundreds of victims, dozens of whom were raped. It said coaches and officials were aware of Strauss' behavior but didn't name names.
Orner spent three and half years on her documentary and interviewed about 100 victims. The evidence now points to 2,000 victims with 271 raped, she told the podcast, hosted by James Carville and Albert Hunt.
Ohio State eventually offered a settlement but it was only a fraction of what the victims received for similar sexual abuse crimes at Michigan State and Penn State. With one of the largest and most lucrative athletic departments in the country, Ohio State has sought to squelch any further investigations.

Some of the victims, men now in their 40s and 50s, turned to drinking and drugs, even considered suicide; for years they were unable to tell even family what they endured. "Lives were destroyed," says Orner.
Former wrestlers who once idolized Jordan, a two time NCAA collegiate wrestling champion, are bitter that he and head coach Russ Hellickson refused to support them when the story became public. They called Jordan "a coward."

The documentary relates how a former wrestler, Adam DiSabato, testified about Jordan calling him pleading, begging, even crying to persuade him to refute his brother Mike DiSabato's charges against Jordan. He refused.

There are about 250 victims who haven't settled and are involved in ongoing legal action. It may take a year or two but at some point Jordan may be deposed.

"Surviving Ohio State" may facilitate that. Orner notes 80% to 90% of the social media reaction to the film is about Jordan.