Later this month, the HBO documentary Surviving Ohio State, based on the sexual abuse scandal involving Richard Strauss, a former team doctor of the Ohio State wrestling team, is set to premiere. But ahead of the release, two victims of Strauss who feature in the upcoming documentary shared a preview of some of what they were subjected to during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show on Monday.
Most fans of combat sports likely remember Mark Coleman for being one of the pioneers of MMA, competing in the UFC from 1996-1999 and then again in a second stint in the organization from 2009-2010. But prior to this, Coleman was a standout on the Ohio State wrestling team, winning a NCAA Division I National Championship for the Buckeyes in 1988.
Michael DiSabato became famous for an entirely different reason, being the first of what would ultimately be hundreds of Ohio State wrestlers to publicly address the sexual abuse Buckeyes wrestlers were subjected to during physical exams from Strauss from 1990 to 1994.
Strauss has been dead since 2005, but both Coleman and DiSabato are some of the many former Buckeyes wrestlers who are publicly telling their story in Surviving Ohio State, a project both have director credits on, in addition to being the subject of interviews throughout the documentary.
On Monday, Coleman and DiSabato further discussed their time at Ohio State on The Ariel Helwani Show, recalling how they met Strauss and initially believed that he was someone they should trust.
“Mark, when did you first meet Dr. Richard Strauss?” asked Ariel Helwani.
“’86, first day of physicals, of course,” replied Coleman. “It was a joke, people were saying stuff like, ‘Have fun in there.’ And yeah, it was eye-opening. I didn’t understand it, but I kind of knew that Dr. Strauss was very hands-on, we’ll say.
“It was a joke within our community, within the locker room,” added DiSabato. “Strauss, he performed unnecessary genital exams on all of us all the time. At the time, this is 1996, Ariel, we didn’t know what we know now, grooming and sexual abuse. We just thought it was some dude that was not right and enjoyed something that was not cool. But, he was the doctor, he was the guy that cleared us to wrestle. If you had injuries, you had to go to him.
“Very much like Larry Nassar, he was a friend. It’s a very complicated thing when you look back at it. He earned our trust. And again, when you have that Ohio State logo on the side of your chest and you are a medical doctor… we were taught to follow the rules and do what they say you are going to do.”
DiSabato, in particular, wasn’t happy about sharing the stories of how he was abused by Strauss. But ultimately, he said that telling his story is “important” so that situations like this are caught quicker and, ideally, never happen again.
“Let me take a deep breath,” said DiSabato. “First of all, I appreciate you taking the time today. It’s not something you enjoy talking about. But it’s important, Ariel. In order to make progress, my wife said this to me last night, you have to be truthful about what happened in the past. We were the first, Mark and I. To play a little history, we’re sitting around in December of 2017, and he is reading the newspaper, back when newspapers were still around. And he’s talking about Larry Nassar to me. His daughter was a gymnast, so he’s reading the details.
“It just hit me. I hadn’t followed the Nassar case; I knew about it, but I didn’t know the details. And when he went into the details of what Nassar was doing, it was very similar. Unnecessary genital exams. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. Like, that’s us, Mark.”
Surviving Ohio State will premiere on HBO on June 17, where we will likely hear even more from Coleman, DiSabato, and many others on what they were subjected to by Strauss.