HBO's documentary on the Dr. Richard Strauss sex abuse scandal, 'Surviving Ohio State,' will release on June 17. Screen grab: HBO

It’s hard to understand the impact and magnitude of Ohio State if you aren’t from Ohio. Ohio State is a behemoth, with the highest-earning athletic department in the country, a state full of rabid fans, and a new documentary that highlights in detail the sexual abuse, cover-up, and lawsuits that have engulfed the school since 2018. 

Surviving Ohio State, a documentary by Eva Orner, and based on a 2020 Sports Illustrated cover story by Jon Weirtheim, premiered June 17th on HBO. It shows in an enraging documentary the full scope of Dr. Richard Strauss’ sexual abuse while working as a doctor at Ohio State. It also showcases the coaches and administrators at Ohio State who consistently failed to stop it. 

Surviving Ohio State at its core is a documentary that amplifies the message of Dr. Strauss’ victims, while also showing the viewer, with no obfuscation, who is responsible for it. It continuously escalates, opening with Ohio State wrestlers describing their horrific experiences with Dr. Strauss, and moving into additional sports teams he abused as a team doctor and eventually non-athlete victims as a school doctor. In the end, what’s left is an overwhelming sense of horror and the reveal that there are over 2,000 victims of this singular doctor.

The overlapping narratives of wrestlers, other athletes, and students who all describe the same pattern of abuse are chilling. It’s clear that Strauss knew what he was doing, and knew who to do it to. He targeted and groomed young men, isolated them, and abused them. 

The documentary focuses on this power dynamic between Dr. Strauss and the athletes he abused, discussing the horrifying public sentiment of, “Why didn’t the wrestlers just beat the old doctor up.” The answer to that is complicated, and the documentary is at its best there as it builds a clear-cut case for how his position of power, responsibility, and stature worked in tandem to create an environment in which abuse thrived. 

Along with, of course, the silence of almost everyone who learned about what Strauss was doing. 

Mark Coleman, a National Champion Wrestler at Ohio State and a UFC fighter said succinctly, “Dr. Strauss made me angry, but I was under the impression that anger helped me do better.” Coleman, and his teammates, are shown to have deserved much better. They repeatedly recap their experiences with their coaches, including retired Head Coach Russ Hellickson and now-Congressman, former Assistant Coach Jim Jordan. 

The wrestlers describe their numerous complaints against Hellickson and Jordan before the coaches are juxtaposed with their own recent responses to media questions about the abuse. Hellickson, after being contacted by some of his former wrestlers, agrees to a meeting as his former athletes painstakingly recap the abuse they suffered while on his team. He immediately promises to write a letter of support to them, which never happens.

Jordan is shown in a slew of media interviews denying any knowledge of abuse by Strauss, despite multiple first-hand accounts of his acknowledgment. Frederick Feeney, a wrestling official who told Jordan of Strauss’ behavior said, “Jim Jordan looked at me straight in the face and said it’s Strauss you know what he does.” Shortly after, Jordan is in another media interview vehemently denying any involvement. 

Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY

Following a long trail of victims coming public, and lies from Ohio State Administrators, the Larry Nassar case and the Joe Paterno case outcomes are compared with Ohio State’s handling of the Strauss case. Attorney Ilaan Maazel, who represents Ohio State victims in ongoing civil litigation, traces the lawsuits from Ohio State’s initial motions to dismiss the case, to their shockingly low settlement offer compared to Michigan State and Penn State, and ultimately Ohio State’s failed push to the Supreme Court to dismiss victim lawsuits based on expired statute of limitations claims. 

It’s continuously hard not to feel a palpable anger towards Ohio State, as teary-eyed wrestlers grapple with the reality of finally talking about their abuse at an Ohio State Board of Directors meeting as the Board sits stone-faced and the at-the-time President reads a monotonically sounding and emotionless statement. It’s clear the wrestlers aren’t being listened to and it’s heartbreaking, Will Knight, another Ohio State wrestler says, “O-H” to the Board of Directors as a long silence ensues and symbolically no one replies to him, “I-O.” 

As so many powerful people fail to do anything for years on end you’re left just flummoxed. The amount of pain and trauma is surreal and is present in almost every interview. There are precious few people concerned about students or athletes at Ohio State. One, former Ohio State fencing coach Charlotte Remenyik, quickly escalates her concerns to her boss. She is continuously rebuked and ignored for years. Another, Dr. Ted Grace, first calls a meeting immediately after hearing a report from Steve Snyder-Hill, a non-athlete victim of Strauss. It’s immediately revealed in deposition footage that he lied to Snyder-Hill during the meeting.  

For anyone with a connection to Ohio State, the documentary feels like gut punch after gut punch. The University that so many of us root for, graduate from, donate to, volunteer for, and wear on our sleeves engaged in a long-term cover-up of the abuse of these victims and continues to fight against them. 

Surviving Ohio State should be required viewing for the Ohio State Administration, Board of Trustees, and anyone else involved with the school. The complete lack of shame and accountability by the school is immense. Another memorable scene recounts the reveal of Ohio State’s investigative report, showing that there are far more victims than previously known. It later shows that the University is still intent on fighting them. 

There’s a lot to think about and reckon with after watching Surviving Ohio State. There are also many outstanding questions that Jim Jordan, and others, desperately need to answer about their total lack of inaction. 

Ohio State can continue its legal challenges and fight its distinguished alumni but the university can’t change the crushing blow that this lands.

Steve Snyder-Hill, a victim of Strauss at the student medical center, says memorably near the end of the documentary, “I’m a survivor of sexual assault, but I’m a victim of OSU.”