The GOP has scheduled a vote on its new House speaker today, and unfortunately the unethical creep Gym Jordan is one of the leading candidates. The Ohio Republican has been referred to the House Ethics committee for ignoring subpoenas from the January 6 committee, but he is also facing an investigation on a number of campaign finance violations. But the creepiest and most troubling of the accusations made against Jordan are about his involvement in the sex abuse scandal at Ohio State's wrestling program-- which I have briefly referenced here, here and here, without really spelling out the details.
During Jim Jordan's tenure as Ohio State Assistant Wrestling Coach from 1986-1994, over 177 of his athletes complained that they had been sexually assaulted by a team doctor. Jordan claims that he didn't know about any of it. "I never saw, never heard of, was never told, of any kind of sex abuse." But his own former wrestlers, young men entrusted into his care by their families, say that Jordan is lying, and he actively worked to persuade them not to come forward to report the abuse to authorities. Had that been done early on by Jordan, dozens of young men would've been spared becoming future victims.
Dr. Richard Strauss was the team doctor who molested and abused the wrestlers. He killed himself in 2005 after the allegations became public. But the allegations involved a culture of sex abuse around the wrestling program that went far beyond what Strauss did.
Six of Jordan's wrestlers told Politico in 2018 that sexually aggressive men who either worked at the University or attended it were constantly preying on the young wrestlers. They would masturbate while watching them in the shower and engage in sex acts in front of them where they trained. One wrester said he knows Jordan was aware of these things because he would yell at them to get out of the shower area while they were doing it. One former coach who worked with Jordan told Politico, "It was a cesspool of deviancy."
Former champion Dunyasha Yetts said he told Jordan about the abuse from Dr. Strauss and asked Jordan if he would accompany him to the doctor's office after he was injured because he was worried what he might do. Yetts said, "For him to say he didn't know? I asked him to come in there with me!"
Former wrestler Shawn Daily told NBC news he was groped by Strauss on multiple occasions and said Jordan was present when people complained about him, "I participated with Jimmy and other wrestlers in locker room talk about Strauss, it was very common knowledge in the locker room that if you went to Dr. Strauss for anything you would have to pull your pants down. To say he had no knowledge of it, that's kind of hurtful."
Daily also corroborated what Dunyasha alleged, saying that he heard him complain to Jordan, "Why do I have to pull my pants down for a thumb injury?" Jordan did nothing.
Even Jordan's supporters said he knew. Former UFC Champion Mark Coleman: "There's no way, unless he's got dementia or something, that he's got no recollection of what was going on. I have nothing but respect for this man, I love this man, but he knew."
Tito Vazquez told CNN that after Strauss fondled his genitals when he went to see him about a bloody nose, he immediately reported it to Jordan. He said Jordan responded, "I have nothing to do with this," and continued on with his practice. Vazquez said, "When he pretends now that he had no knowledge of it, that's betrayal in the highest level."
Former wrestler Dan Ritchie said he was present when Jordan was informed of abuse from Strauss, and his only response was, "If he did that to with me I'd snap his neck like a twig of dried balsa wood." Ritchie said, "When we heard Jim say he wasn't aware, everyone just thought, 'Are you kidding?'"
A former Captain of the wrestling team, Anthony DiSabato testified before the Ohio legislature in 2020 that Jim Jordan knew about the sexual abuse and told him to lie about it. DiSabato was urging the House to extend the statute of limitations since it has expired before the victims came forward. The Republican House refused.
George Clooney's Smokehouse Pictures and Sports Illustrated Studios announced in 2021 that they would begin work on a documentary about Jordan's cover-up of the abuse as told by his former wrestlers. Work began during the summer of 2022, and the film will debut on HBO when it is released. The documentary's director, Eva Orner, said the film will "give the courageous men who were abused a powerful and clear voice."
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