A former Michigan student says the most famous coach of the soccer program, Bo Schembechler, knew of team doctor Robert Anderson’s sexual misconduct.
The prosecutor, identified as John Doe EB-17, worked as a game-by-game announcer for soccer games during his time at the University of Michigan in the early 1980s. In a lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday by the Tomorrow, John Doe EB-17 said he told Schembechler directly on two separate occasions that Anderson, who died in 2008, sexually abused him during an appointment to treat severe headaches.
Schembechler ordered Doe to tell then-sports director Don Canham, but Canham took no action, according to the lawsuit.
Doe said at a press conference Thursday morning that Schembechler immediately told him to tell Canham. Doe said he does not hold Schembechler responsible for remaining silent. “I can’t blame Bo for not being able to show up,” he said. “… This was Don Canham’s job.”
Canham died in 2005. He is credited with remodeling the athletic department with innovative marketing tactics during his term from 1968 to 1988.
Schembechler led the Wolverines to 13 Big Ten championships during his 21 seasons as head coach from 1969 to 1989. He also served as the university’s athletic director from 1988 to 1990. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993. and in 2014 the school commissioned what it calls a “larger than life-size” bronze Schembechler statue, now in front of the soccer team’s practice facilities. The former coach died in 2006.
Anderson began working at the university shortly before Schembechler arrived and continued to be a doctor for the soccer program, in addition to playing various other roles throughout his career in Michigan, until he retired in 2003. He allegedly continued to abuse sexually from his patients for another two decades. after John Doe EB-17 complaint.
Since this February, hundreds of former patients, many of them athletes, have accused Anderson of sexually assaulting them during physical exams and other routine medical appointments. In interviews and court documents, former Anderson patients say the doctor stuck his finger in his rectum for non-medical reasons, stroked or masturbated his genitals, and made a series of inappropriate sexual comments, among other examples of misconduct.
The John Doe EB-17 claim is one of 53 new lawsuits filed Thursday morning by attorneys Stephen Estey, Jamie White, and Michelle Simpson Tuegel. Among the claims filed Thursday, 25 of the plaintiffs are former Michigan soccer players. Others include high school athletes, college students, college employees, and college athletes from various other sports.
More than 100 people have filed lawsuits against the University of Michigan, alleging that the school had an opportunity to stop Anderson’s abuse and did not. Schembechler is one of at least 10 university employees who were allegedly told that Anderson was sexually abusing athletes on campus.
John Doe EB-17 said he developed a close relationship with Schembechler due to his role as an announcer for the soccer team. When John Doe EB-17 started having migraine headaches, Schembechler referred him to Anderson for treatment. Instead of treatment for his headache, the lawsuit says, Anderson digitally penetrated Doe’s rectum.
Glenn Schembechler, Bo’s son, said Thursday that his father did not hire Anderson, but “if Bo wanted to get rid of someone, he would have.” The young Schembechler said he is sure that no one told his father about Anderson’s sexual abuse. He said he knew of Anderson as a “weird guy” who was on the show, but didn’t see him often.
“I can tell you unequivocally that no one told Bo,” said Glenn Schembechler. “Bo would have done something … Bo would have fired him.”
Several former athletes have said they also tried to voice concerns about Anderson and were ignored. Former gymnast Ward Black said he tried to speak to his coach, Newt Loken, about Anderson in 1968, but the coach quickly changed the subject. Former tennis player Cathy Kalahar said she told a college psychology counselor in 1974. Former wrestler Tad Deluca said he told his coach, Bill Johannesen, in a letter in 1975 that he should “drop his drawers “every time I went to see Anderson. , even for the treatment of an elbow injury. Deluca’s concerns were also brought up to Canham.
Loken died in 2011. During an interview with the Associated Press earlier this year, Johannesen said he did not remember anyone who alleged that Anderson sexually abused them.
A former unnamed athlete said in a lawsuit he told coaches Jack Harvey and Ron Warhurst in 1976. A different athlete said he also tried to warn Warhurst at the same time, and according to his lawsuit, the coach responded by saying “deal with that, f — er. “
An attorney representing Harvey and Warhurst said both coaches denied having been informed of the abuse by Anderson.
The former runner who says he was told to “deal with it” is one of several plaintiffs who say Anderson masturbated him during medical appointments. A former medical student who filed a lawsuit Thursday said Anderson ejaculated while encouraging the student to “feel free to bond” before telling him that he needed to collect a semen sample from him.
An anonymous soccer player said in Thursday’s filing that Anderson attempted to give him an erection as part of a physical examination in the late 1980s. That player said in his lawsuit that he informed then-athletic trainer Russ Miller, but Miller did not took no action.
Miller did not respond to a request for comment. She told police in 2018 that she remembers students asking her, “You will not use [two] fingers is he? “Before going to see Anderson and joking crudely about other interactions with doctors. He said he didn’t think Anderson was doing rectal exams. He also described Anderson as an” amazing team doctor. “
A couple of anonymous soccer players said in a lawsuit that current head coach / associate sports director Paul Schmidt and another coach identified only as “Murph” also knew about Anderson’s abuse and regularly joked about athletes who had to see Anderson. and “drop your drawers.”
Schmidt told police in 2018 that he had never seen anything inappropriate in his two decades of working with Anderson and described the doctor as a “personal friend.” Schmidt remains employed by the university and has not responded to comment calls since he was named in the anonymous players lawsuit.
In 1979, Vice President of Student Life Thomas Easthope was told that Anderson was “playing with children in the exam room.” Easthope told police in 2018 that he fired Anderson from his role as director of the University of Michigan Health Service. Anderson resigned from that position in the early 1980s, but continued to work as a physician for the athletics department for another 23 years.
University President Mark Schlissel apologized to Anderson’s victims in February and said, “Our police found evidence that UM staff members were aware of rumors and allegations of misconduct during Anderson’s medical exams. “
The school has contracted with the WilmerHale law firm to conduct an investigation into all claims of Anderson’s abuse. A WilmerHale-administered hotline had received 383 unique reports in early July, according to a university spokesperson. The law firm is expected to release its findings to the public in October.
The university says it is developing a process to try to resolve all claims against Anderson out of court. Details of that process have yet to be shared with the public or with any attorney representing people who claim to have been abused by Anderson. Mediation for the over 100 lawsuit filed against the school is scheduled to begin in September.
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