Surviving Ohio State: A Battle We Must All Fight

HBO's documentary reviewed 

By Joey Krebs

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HBO's Surviving Ohio State - its landmark documentary - unveils a legacy of abuse and cover-up at The Ohio State University. Its June 18 release broke through the walls of silence and denial surrounding the sexual abuse scandal at the university.  The film aired a day of reckoning for one of America’s most prestigious educational institutions. It shows decades of egregious violations committed by the school. The documentary film has served our wrestling community with a sobering dish of truth.

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Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Eva Orner, the documentary tells the story of Dr. Richard Strauss. Between 1978 and 1998, Dr. Strass, sexually abused hundreds of young male students and athletes at The Ohio State University as the men's wrestling program's physician. The university failed to act for more than 20 years. The greater tragedy is that the academic institution continued to do so for decades more, allowing the legacy of systemic failure to continue long after the abuse had ended. Richard Strauss committed suicide in 2005. 

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Surviving Ohio State, the movie makes clear that the institution had attempted to bury its ugly past for decades.

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On Saturday, July 26 USA TAKEDOWN Radio out of Des Moines, Iowa directed its special broadcast to bring this urgent issue into national spotlight with a featured interview of some of the key voices behind its epic documentary. These include survivors Mike DiSabato, who was the original whistle-blower along with  his brother  and team captain, Adam DiSabato. Legendary NCAA, UFC champion Mark Coleman, veteran and Lawyer-survivor Rocky Ratliff, and Air Force veteran Stephen Snyder-Hill along with award winning, NBC 4 Investigative Journalist Colleen Marshall, have all united their voice taking a stand against the institutional betrayal of The Ohio State University.

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The documentary shines a light on the gendered stigma surrounding male survivors of sexual abuse, particularly those within the hyper-masculine context of the collegiate sport of men's wrestling. As reported by The Lantern and The Athletic, many survivors were further traumatized by the cruel victimization of their wrestling community, and called  "fags" or "homos" — a brutal secondary assault delivered by those too afraid or complicit to face the truth (Lantern, 2025; The Athletic, 2025).

 

Jim Jordan denies knowledge

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Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, a 2-time NCAA Wrestling Champion, was an assistant wrestling coach during the era of abuse. Jordan has repeatedly denied knowledge of the misconduct. Numerous survivors of Strauss have gone on record asserting the assistant coach was fully aware and did nothing. In a recent PBS news segment, “Jim Jordan Goes Under Oath,” new questions were raised about his testimony and the scope of his involvement (PBS, 2025; CNN, 2020).

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According to a 2019 NPR investigation, Dr. Strauss abused at least 177 male students, a figure that's now believed to be in the thousands. The report also found university officials were aware of complaints as early as 1979, yet failed to act on them in any meaningful way (NPR, 2019). The documentary’s  release, Axios Columbus detailed how HBO’s involvement elevated the story into a conversation about institutional failure and the culture of silence which often surrounds sexual abuse within male athletic programs (Axios, 2025). Meanwhile, the release of  the Los Angeles Times article editorialized how its systemic cover-up should serve as a cautionary tale for all universities and public officials who are entrusted with the care of its young people (LA Times, 2025).

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 Wrestler and attorney for many of its victims Rocky Ratliff, shared why the documentary film was important to its survivors. "This documentary accurately depicts the abuse my teammates and I faced while chasing our athletic dreams at OSU. Sadly, we continued to be dismissed by OSU and our coaches, who have elected not to accept responsibility or accountability. Although OSU's own investigation proves our accounts of abuse, the University claims it is sorry, yet continues to fight us in Court. Bottom line is this University failed to protect us as student-athletes and has taken no steps to rectify the situation and protect its current students from predators like Strauss."

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The story of Surviving Ohio State, more than a film, it’s a story of hegemonic dominance which facilitated intervention  and was followed by community engagement. Even after the courageous wrestlers spoke out,  they were still not safe as they were further insulted and alienated by a wrestling community who chose to call the victims  'fags' and 'homos' adding insult to their injury.

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In the end, the power of this documentary lies in its ability to personify decency — not only in the theater of its powerful narrative but disseminated through a film with purpose.

 

This article was previously published in the LA Recorder on July 1, 2025. It has been edited for length.

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Joey Krebs is a writer, photographer, and street artist living in Los Angeles.