The young man enters the trainer’s room, and the middle-aged Dr. Richard Strauss greets him with a warm and calm smile, making the situation more comfortable and reassuring. After the introduction and the patient explaining why they are there, the physician turn off the lights and asks him to strip; the older man massages the youngster’s muscular build, then he goes down, asks to check the genitalia, the flashlight points to the groin, while the other hand goes right into the scrotum with the excuse of examining for hernias, later it travels to the penis rubbing it, skin to skin, the doctor’s breath can be felt over the member. The athlete leaves the room without being capable of understanding what transpired in what was supposed to be a health check-up, but instead was abuse, and it lingers over hundreds of male students from the traditional Ohio State University in the USA.
The account above comes from many of the student-athletes and regular students from Ohio State University, where serial abuser Dr. Richard Strauss worked from 1978 to 1998 and was exposed in 2018 when Adam DiSabato and other men who wrestled for Ohio State University in the late 80s and early 1990s brought their ordeal to the public and opening up about the abuse they were under the deceased Dr. Strauss after seeing the fall from grace by USA gymnastics team physician Dr. Larry Nassar who abused female athletes and was condemned for his crimes.
Ohio State University students and members are known for their nickname, “Buckeye,” and the HBO documentary “Surviving Ohio State” (2025) by Eva Orner shows how this troublesome ordeal shocks the “Buckeye Nation.”
Ohio State University has one of the richest university sports departments but was also the hunting grounds of Dr. Strauss, and his crimes linger on the adult lives of his victims even after decades as they cope with trauma, revictimization, shame, stigma, bullying, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, isolation, PTSD, neglect, and other maladies.
These complex subjects can be felt in the voices and expressions of the interviewees, which makes ‘Surviving Ohio State’ a singular document on abuse as there are many pieces of non-fictional and fictional media portraying sexual abuse against women, still when it happens to men it comes with a taboo, and even worse when those preyed upon are perceived as tough guys.
‘Surviving Ohio State’ is sensitive and respectful, allowing the viewer and even the interviewees themselves to understand and process the exploitation they’ve been put through. The actions of Dr. Strauss were an “open secret” at Ohio State University, and very few did anything to stop it. On the other hand, many worried more about Ohio State University’s image and its rich sports program, even if it meant discrediting the victims.
Although Dr. Strauss’s crimes were uncovered through Ohio State University’s wrestlers, his predatory gaze was not limited only to the mat, as he also served as a team physician for men’s lacrosse, swimming, diving, gymnastics, and fencing. Dr. Strauss also treated students from the hockey, volleyball, cheerleading, track, soccer, golf, baseball, tennis, water polo, and football teams. The health professional also perceived mature men as fair game, as opened by the disturbing testimonial by a male adult wrestling referee.
Dr. Strauss’ behaviour happened before talks on harassment or the advancement of sex education; the latter explains to youngsters how boundaries operate and how to identify malicious intent. The documentary highlights these period differences with accuracy. Although the students would discuss Dr. Strauss’s habits with their coaches, only Charlotte Remenyik, the female coach of the male fencing team, took a stance and, after ten years, was able to remove Strauss from her squad, a show that it took female eyes to feel empathy towards the athletes’ plight. However, Dr. Strauss was in charge of other teams and was later promoted to the Ohio State University hospital and started to have access to ordinary students. The piece briefly touches that he prescribed steroids for athletes, a subject also deserving of further focus.
According to the victims, Olympian and Ohio State University’s wrestling coach Russ Hellickson and his assistant coach Jim Jordan knew about the situation but turned a blind eye. Hellickson withdrew his support for the denouncing wrestlers after all came to light, while Jordan, who was the assistant coach from 1987 to 1995 and is now a US representative, denies knowing about Dr. Strauss’ pattern of abusive conduct.
The traumatised men rely on the camera, which they told Jordan that something was wrong, including the referee, who was harassed at the shower. He recalls Jordan telling him that that behaviour was expected from Dr. Strauss and not to make a fuss about it. ‘Surviving Ohio State’ presents a journalistic investigation that questions Congressman Jordan’s stance regarding his wrestlers’ lingering pain, although the a public servant.
A pain that lingers and the need to show empathy
A private investigation conducted by Ohio State University after the denounces showed that at least 177 young men were victimized by Dr. Strauss, and at least 48 of them were raped. In one instance, he drugged a student in his office and offered to drive him home, and the next morning, the patient woke up and noticed that he was raped by the professional that should be responsible for his wellbeing; this testimonial is one of the key factors in ‘Surviving Ohio State’ to understand who perverted and deceiving Dr. Strauss was. It is believed that the victim numbers go way past what the investigation found out.
As a wrestler who comes from a difficult upbringing while dealing with the aftermath caused by it, I understand how society can push wrestlers, fighters, martial artists, and other contact sports athletes to hide their feelings, the fear of exposing their pain and being targeted with homophobic attacks which aren’t aimed only at homosexuals because haters try to strip the masculinity of men who are courageous enough to open their vulnerabilities.
Detractors of wrestling have always used homophobia to dismiss it since it is a grappling form of combat where practitioners wear singlets, a behaviour seen in the recent picture ‘Unstoppable’ (2024) through the words from Anthony Robles’ stepfather. In my life, even with people knowing that I’m straight, I had to endure homophobic attacks due to my wrestling training, and for men who endure sexual abuse, it is even worse. And I leave here a reminder: it doesn’t matter the sexual orientation, harassment is harassment and abuse is abuse.
These conflicts are keenly captured by Academy and Emmy Award-winning director Eva Orner, who is used to dealing with men who have confronted toxic masculinity to bring to light wrongdoings while being bashed by the public. Orner won her Oscar for producing Alex Gibney’s ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ (2007), which touches on the harrowing details of the USA’s torture and interrogation methods implemented during the War in Afghanistan. It is with this look that Orner further humanises the Ohio State University’s male students.
Orner is capable of portraying how these athletes breathe in the intersectionality of poverty and being naïve, hailing from rural areas and having few to no previous sexual experiences, making them the “ideal” target for Dr. Strauss’ grooming. The scales between the victims and Dr. Strauss get even more unbalanced when it is added that some were non-white or foreigners.
These profiles help to understand their fear of losing their scholarship, being robbed of their future as athletes, and others questioning their sexual identity. Orner also goes against the tide by avoiding clichés and identitarianism and showing that hard men can also be victimised.
The documentary reveals that Dr. Strauss’ perverted ways were an open secret, thereby helping the viewer to understand how predators operate, as they are shielded by enablers who fear the downfall would cause image and economic damages to the institutions to which they belong. This equation is seen in the disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, the silver screen Caligula, and in male film talents who didn’t mind that their female colleagues and friends were abused while their careers were moving forward, winning awards at festivals and ceremonies. Ohio State University failed these men back then, and it is still failing them just like Hollywood fails Weinstein’s victims.
In the classic ‘On the Waterfront’ (1952), Marlon Brando plays the washed-up boxer Terry Malloy and gives one of his most famous lines: “I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody.” The lingering pain in ‘Surviving Ohio State’s middle-aged and senior citizens can be felt in their voices, and they show how trauma can hinder professional and relationship futures, and how it can affect work and sports performances. Their reality hits crueller than Malloy’s iconic and tragic line.
‘Surviving Ohio State’ is a necessary documentary, not only for survivors of abuse, but because stories like this have to be told and retold to curb other predators that are out there. The sincerity and selflessness of these men deserve to be translated into a prestige drama feature and memoirs.
