Ohio State's series of unfortunate events
Key university figures claimed they were unaware of Dr. Richard Strauss' systemic sexual abuse against Buckeye student-athletes. But that ignores their knowledge of the depravity inside Larkins Hall.
Ohio State’s years-long battle against survivors of Dr. Richard Strauss is coming to an end later this year, one way or another.
The university has spent nearly $30 million litigating the matter to ensure that survivors don’t see one more cent than its corporate attorneys think they’re owed.
Barring a settlement, the trial is scheduled to kick off in October—the heart of college football season and one month before a pivotal midterm election.
Last week, lawyers representing plaintiffs in three of the four lawsuits against Ohio State filed a joint brief, including 41 exhibits, featuring full depositions of key university administrators throughout Dr. Strauss’ reign of terror.
You can read the 3,200-page filing here:
Fourteen exhibits were filed under seal—including the deposition of then-President E. Gordon Gee and, almost certainly, the deposition of Central Ohio thong magnate Leslie Wexner.
The unsealed exhibits feature former athletic director Andy Geiger and then-assistant athletic director Archie Griffin, to name two examples, denying explicit knowledge of Dr. Strauss sexually abusing student athletes.
But that can’t be true, given what they were willing to admit they knew about Dr. Strauss’ criminal proclivities inside Larkins Hall.
Ohio State demolished Larkins Hall in July 2005—one month before Dr. Strauss hanged himself in his Venice Beach apartment, steps from the Pacific Ocean.
It housed the gymnastics, fencing and wrestling teams. Coincidentally, it was Hungarian fencing legend and coach Charlotte Remenyik, one of the few university figures who went to their superiors about Dr. Strauss.
The administration took no action other than moving Dr. Strauss away from treating male fencing athletes.
That might have been enough if it were only one coach lobbying concerns about Dr. Strauss making her athletes “uncomfortable.” But by Ohio State’s own admission, we know Dr. Strauss abused at least 177 male athletes over his 20-year reign of terror.
And it never would have gotten to that point if administrators had taken Larkins Hall seriously, which included Dr. Strauss showering with athletes numerous times throughout the day, but also widespread sexual misconduct from what can only be described as a roving gang of diabolical, voyeuristic perverts and exhibitionists.
Here’s one story from Hellickson, as part of a 51-minute interview with Michael DiSabato, the original whistleblower on Dr. Strauss, in 2018:
Out of the 3,200-page filing, Hellickson actually comes across as somebody who repeatedly brought the widespread sexual misconduct to his superiors—even if his particular story ends with him, in typical Ohio State fashion, declaring that the apprehended pervert wasn’t his problem, ultimately.
It’d prove to be a consistent ethos when he betrayed his former charges despite pledging to support them by any means necessary in their search for justice.
Nevertheless, compared to Griffin and Geiger, he looks like the only man who understood the five-alarm fire happening at Larkins Hall.
From Griffin’s deposition:
This doesn’t paint Griffin in a light becoming of his squeaky-clean, legendary status bequeathed upon him as the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner in the history of college football.
A charitable interpretation might be that Hellickson never specified the kind of “lewd acts” happening in Larkins Hall in conversations with Griffin.
But Griffin caught a convenient and widespread case of amnesia when asked by lawyers about specific lewd acts like public masturbation or sexual misconduct—or any mention of that behavior in regularly schedueled staff meetings.
