Former Michigan wrestlers urge more victims to ‘speak up’
Associated Press
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) — The whistleblower whose letter to University of Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel alleging sexual assault sparked an investigation into a former school doctor says he was inspired by the women who testified against convicted Michigan State physician Larry Nassar.
An attorney for Tad DeLuca said Thursday that his client complained to his wrestling coach in 1975 that Dr. Robert E. Anderson molested him during medical exams. In response, then-coach Bill Johannesen humiliated DeLuca, kicked him off the team and effectively removed his financial assistance, the attorney said.
“I spoke up again by letter in 2018 after hearing an NPR story about the MSU gymnasts, women who I am in awe of,” DeLuca said at a news conference in suburban Detroit. “Once again, the University of Michigan ignored me.
“I’m here today to speak up again, to let the University of Michigan know that I will not be ignored.”
DeLuca’s 2018 letter of complaint about Anderson, now deceased, led to a university police investigation that became public last week. Two other former Michigan wrestlers who allege they were abused by Anderson also spoke to reporters Thursday: Tom Evashevski and Andy Hrovat, the first athlete to publicly say Anderson molested him.
Evashevski was in school with DeLuca at Michigan in the mid-1970s. Hrovat was a star wrestler in the late 1990s for the Wolverines and went on to compete for the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics.
“These were and are physically and mentally tough men,” said attorney Parker Stinar, who represents the trio. “But they were all victims of sexual abuse and victims of an institution that ignored warning after warning after warning about a predator preying on young individuals.”
DeLuca put his complaints about Anderson in writing in 1975 in a letter to Johannesen. Subsequently, Johannesen read DeLuca’s letter to his teammates in an effort to humiliate him, kicked him off the team and took away his scholarship, according to Stinar.
Johannesen denied in interviews this week with The Associated Press that any of his student-athletes ever told him Anderson touched them inappropriately.
“You can’t call him a coach,” said DeLuca, a retired teacher in northern Michigan. “’Coach’ is a term of endearment.”
FILE – This April 7, 2017 file photo, shows Burton Tower on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. Several former patients have alleged that Robert E. Anderson, a late University of Michigan physician, sexually abused them during exams going back decades, prompting the Ann Arbor school to ask others with information to come forward, officials said Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. (Hunter Dyke/Ann Arbor News via AP, File)
FILE- In an undated photo provided by the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Dr. Robert E. Anderson is shown. The president of the University of Michigan has apologized to “anyone who was harmed” by Anderson, a late doctor after several former students said he molested them during medical exams at the school. One man said Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, that Dr. Anderson molested him during a medical exam in 1968 or 1969. Police started investigating the onetime director of the University Health Service and physician for the football team in July 2018 after a former student athlete alleged abuse by Anderson in the 1970s. Anderson died in 2008. (Robert Kalmbach/Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan via AP)
In this 1976 photo released by the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, former Michigan wrestling coach Bill Johannesen, who led the Wolverines’ wrestling program from 1974-78, is shown in Ann Arbor, Mich. Johannesen denied he was told by any of his student-athletes that Dr. Robert E. Anderson, a University of Michigan doctor, touched them inappropriately. According to documents from a police investigation, University of Michigan officials were warned more than four decades ago that Anderson was fondling patients during medical exams, but he continued working there despite a demotion and went on to allegedly abuse again as a physician with the school’s athletic department. (U-M Athletic Department records, Bentley Historical Library/University of Michigan via AP)
Andy Hrovat addresses the media during a news conference, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Southfield, Mich. Hrovat is one of the University of Michigan wrestlers who says he was abused by a sports doctor. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
FILE- In an undated photo provided by the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Andy Hrovat is shown. The Olympic wrestler says a University of Michigan doctor touched him inappropriately during medical exams at the school and made the behavior seem normal. Hrovat tells The Associated Press that the physician’s reputation for such conduct was well known among his teammates in the 1990s. He is the first athlete to make public accusations against the late Dr. Robert E. Anderson, echoing high-profile sexual abuse allegations against doctors at other universities. (Bentley Historical Library/University of Michigan via AP)
Tad Deluca, center, listens as attorney Parker Stinar addresses the media during a news conference, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Southfield, Mich. Deluca, a University of Michigan wrestler from the 1970s, says he was kicked off the team and lost his financial aid after complaining to a coach that he had been abused by a sports doctor. Deluca identified himself as the whistleblower whose 2018 complaint about the late Dr. Robert E. Anderson led to a police investigation. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Tad Deluca, center, listens as attorney Parker Stinar addresses the media during a news conference, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Southfield, Mich. Deluca, a University of Michigan wrestler from the 1970s says he was kicked off the team and lost his financial aid after complaining to a coach that he had been abused by a sports doctor. Deluca identified himself as the whistleblower whose 2018 complaint about the late Dr. Robert E. Anderson led to a police investigation. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Tad Deluca, a University of Michigan wrestler from the 1970s, speaks during a news a news conference Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, and identified himself as the whistleblower whose 2018 complaint about the late Dr. Robert E. Anderson led to a police investigation. He says he was kicked off the team and lost his financial aid after complaining to a coach that he had been abused by a sports doctor. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Thomas Evashevski addresses the media during a news conference, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Southfield, Mich. Evashevski is one of the University of Michigan wrestlers who says he was abused by a sports doctor. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Andy Hrovat, right, talks with Thomas Evashevski after a news conference, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Southfield, Mich. Hrovat, Evashevski and Tad Deluca, left, are three of the University of Michigan wrestlers who say they were abused by a sports doctor. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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Stinar predicts “hundreds of more victims” will emerge, saying his firm already represents more than a dozen. The Denver-based attorney said his firm has a meeting scheduled with the school’s general counsel.
“For nearly four decades, the University of Michigan allowed Dr. Anderson to prey on vulnerable young individuals away from home for the first time,” Stinar said. “I ask the University of Michigan this: Why didn’t you act in 1975 or earlier to prevent the sexual abuse of possibly hundreds of other victims?”
Hours after the news conference, the University of Michigan released a statement.
“The three brave men who came forward today to share their stories delivered a powerful message,” the statement read. “We want to encourage everyone harmed by Robert E. Anderson or who has evidence of his misconduct to come forward. At the University of Michigan, we want to hear your voices.”
School officials have acknowledged some school employees were aware of accusations against Anderson prior to DeLuca’s 2018 complaint. Last week, the university’s president apologized to “anyone who was harmed” by Anderson and offered counseling services.
The school launched an investigation into the doctor’s behavior following abuse allegations from five people and also established a hotline for those who came into contact with Anderson.
DeLuca hopes more people follow his lead.
“Everybody who was abused by this doctor, the doctor everyone knew was doing this, was abusing athletes and students, should speak up and let everyone know they will not be ignored,” DeLuca said. “It just, it has to stop. Period.”
Separately, the Ann Arbor school district said it’s investigating whether Anderson had a role with local schools. A police report suggested he performed sports physicals years ago.
“This is the first time we have heard this information,” Superintendent Jeanice Swift said.
The Flint district said it confirmed that someone with Anderson’s name was an employee at some point, but “we do not have information about his employment history.”
“We encourage anyone with information regarding this matter to contact local law enforcement,” the district said.
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Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.
