More than a dozen former NFL players join sex abuse lawsuits against Ohio State University

Thirty former Ohio State University football players, including more than a dozen who went on to play in the NFL, have signed engagement letters to join a class-action lawsuit brought by other ex-OSU students who say they were sexually abused decades ago by campus doctor Richard Strauss. The group includes prominent former Buckeye football players like Al Washington, Ray Ellis, and Keith Ferguson, all of whom played pro football. Attorney Rocky Ratliff, a former OSU wrestler and one of the Strauss survivors, confirmed he is representing the football players. Washington, 67, told NBC News that he decided not to let what happened to him defeat him while playing for OSU, but he has been living with the trauma for a long time and wants the university to take accountability. He hesitated to come forward initially because he did not want to jeopardize the career of his son, also named Al Washington, who was a coach at OSU. In response, Ohio State University spokesperson Benjamin Johnson stated that the university has sincerely and persistently tried to reconcile with survivors through monetary and non-monetary means. As of April 15, the school had settled with 317 survivors for more than $61 million, but it still faces five active lawsuits from 236 men alleging Strauss abused them. Strauss, who died by suicide in 2005, preyed on hundreds of men from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. An independent investigation sponsored by the university concluded that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male athletes and students and that coaches and administrators knew about it for two decades but failed to stop him. One of those former coaches accused of doing nothing to stop Strauss was Rep. Jim Jordan, the powerful Republican congressman from Ohio, who has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the abuse.

(Source：NBC News)