COLUMBUS, Ohio — On paper, Richard Strauss was a well-regarded Ohio State University physician who examined young athletes for decades as a team doctor and sports-medicine researcher.
Some former athletes recall him differently: Locker-room voyeur. Serial groper. “Dr. Jelly Paws.”
In interviews with The Associated Press in recent weeks, seven former athletes and a former nursing student shared detailed allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to the 1970s against the doctor, who killed himself in 2005 at age 67 and is only now under investigation.
The eight men, including three who didn’t want their names made public, say they want to see anyone who ignored concerns about Strauss held accountable and hope to make sure something similar doesn’t happen to others.
They described how Strauss fondled them during medical exams and ogled naked young men, sometimes showering among athletes multiple times a day for no apparent reason or perching himself on a stool to stare. Some said Strauss groped them barehanded during physicals, had them drop their pants even while examining them for a cough or heartburn, and badgered students to go home with him.
Two of the athletes who spoke to the AP say Strauss wasn’t stopped even after they complained — one to a coach and another to a school physician.
Former wrestling team captain Dave Mulvin said he raised concerns in the late 1970s, when Strauss fondled him during an exam that Mulvin abruptly ended, telling the doctor his behavior was “weird.” Mulvin said he went to the student health center to finish the exam and complained about Strauss to another doctor, who shrugged it off.
