Littlepun

My brother was a survivor of Dr. Strauss and an ongoing victim of Ohio State (stealing a line from the doc). I was a mediocre wrestler at Oregon State. My brother is 6 years younger than me and was highly recruited. I had not heard good things about Coach Hellickson from people I trusted and tried to talk him out of going to Ohio State. He had friends there, and he really loved Coach Jordan. He is not interviewed in the documentary, but his name does appear prominently during the portion of the doc where they are highlighting the names of the guys being interviewed on the original lawsuit filing, below Coleman's name. He was warned by some of his teammates and fellow plaintiffs not to watch it. But he was at kid nationals in Iowa and his roommate fell asleep watching HBO. My brother woke up to the documentary about 10 minutes in. Called me in the middle of the night completely falling apart. After all, he was going to be in the UNI-Dome the next day with scores of people he knew. He got through that OK, although there was one guy who kept harassing him about it, "It wasn't really that bad. Why didn't you just kick his ass, etc." One of my brother's people got rid of that guy. The suffering continues for these men. The current administration at Ohio State is trying to wash their hands of it: "it happened before we were here...statute of limitations...etc." But they continued to take actions to cover it up, because they knew it went deeper than the 177 original plaintiffs. Now for my mea culpa: My brother went from a star student committed to a championship lifestyle to struggling with school and substance abuse. For years, I resented him for "wasting" the talent and all his hard work. He continued to wrestle, NAIA AA, OTC Athlete, etc. but was a shadow of himself. I blamed him for it, and of course, we all make our choices. Like I tell my athletes, "There are reasons for things not excuses." I mostly cut him out of my life for a handful of years. Fortunately, a sports psychologist at the OTC recognized there was something else going on with him and he got help, even though it wasn't until years later that he unearthed the horrors he endured. He came to watch my son compete in Pocatello in 2012 and it was the first time he had anything to do with wrestling in years. He is now a great coach and mentor to kids. We are closer than we have ever been but I will never forgive myself for my lack of empathy and anger toward him. There are hundreds and hundreds of stories like his. Strauss destroyed what these men could have been. Ohio State could have stopped it. It is on record that the athletic administration, and Coach Hellickson, knew about it before my brother enrolled in Columbus. They could have stopped it. They could have warned him. But they didn't. I have a special distaste for Congressman Jordan. But, as my mental health professional wife once pointed out, it is quite possible that Jim was a victim as well. Yes, he went to U of Wisc. but he was an Ohio phenom and I am sure he spent plenty of time in Columbus.