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Columbus Dispatch: Congressman Jim Jordan plays key role in ‘Surviving Ohio State’ doc on Richard Strauss scandal
- Jim Jordan, a former Ohio State assistant wrestling coach who is now a U.S. congressman, has long denied any knowledge of the decades of sexual abuse perpetrated by Richard Strauss during his tenure as an Ohio State physician.
- But “Surviving Ohio State,” a new documentary produced by George Clooney that aired on HBO June 17, alleges Jordan and many other coaches and administrators within Ohio State were very much aware.
- Multiple wrestlers and a referee told filmmakers that Jordan was aware of Strauss’ abuse.
- [Dan] Ritchie recalled a conversation where Jordan said he wouldn’t allow Strauss to abuse him like others had.
- Ritchie claimed Jordan, an assistant coach at the time, told wrestlers, “If he ever did that to me, I’d snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.”
- Feeney told filmmakers that he told both Jordan and former Buckeyes wrestling coach Russ Hellickson about the encounter. But Feeney said Jordan shrugged off the incident and said: “It’s Strauss, you know what he does.”
WOSU: Ohio State University, Jim Jordan, focus of documentary on Strauss sexual abuse survivors
- The documentary accuses Ohio State officials, like then-assistant wrestling coach and current Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, of covering up Strauss’ actions.
- Multiple athletes contend Jordan knew about Strauss’ actions as well. The athletes said they told Jordan and Hellickson multiple times and that Strauss’ conduct was an “open secret.”
- One former athlete contended Jordan was told about this and once said “If (Strauss) ever did that to me, I’d snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.”
Columbus Dispatch: HBO documentary ‘Surviving Ohio State’ cuts school to the core for ignoring assault claims
- The documentary, which runs nearly two hours, includes interviews with former Ohio State hockey player Al Novakowski; OSU alum/non-athlete Stephen Snyder-Hill, whose attempts at reporting Strauss were largely ignored; and former wrestling referee Frederick Feeney, whose recollections of Strauss are chilling, as is his indictment of Jim Jordan, who helped coach the Buckeyes’ wrestlers before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Jim Jordan squarely in crosshairs of HBO documentary.
- “Surviving Ohio State” takes dead aim at Jordan and former OSU coach Russ Hellickson, as multiple former wrestlers pull no punches in saying how disappointed they are that both coaches deny having known of the abuse perpetrated by Strauss.
WSYX: Survivors react to OSU sexual abuse documentary while attorneys hear update on lawsuits
- The film also made the accusation that Russ Hellickson, then the head wrestling coach, and his assistant coach, now-congressman Jim Jordan, knew about the abuse and looked the other way.
- “Yeah, they knew,” said Mike Schyck, a former wrestler who was featured in the film.
- “Oh, absolutely, yeah,” agreed Dan Ritchie, another survivor who was interviewed extensively in the documentary.
- “You’ve had to have lived with your head in the sand not to know what was going on,” Ritchie said.
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