{"id":885312,"date":"2026-05-08T00:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/885312\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T00:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:54:20","slug":"former-ohio-state-football-players-joining-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-against-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/885312\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Ohio State football players joining sexual abuse lawsuit against school"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple former Ohio State football players agreed to join a federal lawsuit against the school over alleged sexual abuse by a team doctor, a lawyer in the case told The Associated Press<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The lawyer said 30 former players \u2014 including some who played in the NFL \u2014 came forward with their allegations roughly eight years after the first lawsuit was filed due to the fear of publicly taking on the university, along with the shame of revealing they were sexually abused by another man.<\/p>\n

The players are \u201ctearful and living with it,\u201d lawyer Rocky Ratliff said. <\/p>\n

\"AA person walks over the Ohio State University\u2019s emblem in the campus student union, May 18, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as this case progresses on, they see how Ohio State\u2019s treating athletes from the university and I think they want people to know it\u2019s OK, even if it is male to male [sexual abuse], to come forward,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Ohio State has faced lawsuits from student athletes since 2018 over its failure to thwart abuse from Dr. Richard Strauss, who worked at the university from 1978 to 1998. He died in 2005.<\/p>\n

Just three out of the 30 former players have made their identities public: Al Washington, Ray Ellis and Keith Ferguson, Ratliff said.<\/p>\n

Ratliff added that other former football players have settled in agreements with Ohio State, but withheld their names.<\/p>\n

Washington, who was a member of the Buckeyes\u2019 1980 Rose Bowl team alongside Ellis and Ferguson, said it was difficult to discuss the abuse he suffered at the hands of Strauss.<\/p>\n

He revealed that he was subjected to \u201cunlawful\u201d physical exams by Strauss when he was 18-19 years old, saying that the team tried to make light of the unfortunate situation at the time.<\/p>\n

\"AA general view of Ohio Stadium before the game against the UCLA Bruins and the Ohio State Buckeyes on November 15, 2025, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was really uncomfortable,\u201d Washington, now 67, told the Associated Press<\/p>\n

Washington was drafted by the Jets in 1981 and spent seven seasons in the NFL, playing for the Eagles and Browns after one year in New York.<\/p>\n

Ohio State said in a statement that it has \u201csincerely and persistently tried to reconcile with survivors, including former football student-athletes, through monetary and non-monetary means, including settlements, counseling services and other medical treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of April 15, the university said it has settled with 317 survivors for over $61 million, and is actively engaged in mediation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple former Ohio State football players agreed to join a federal lawsuit against the school over alleged sexual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":885313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[331,7,5553,1446,69,39386,9],"class_list":["post-885312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-lawsuits","tag-ohio-state","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116536232247732033","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}