NOVI, Mich. — While Bo Schembechler’s son and two former Michigan football players say the legendary coach was made aware of sexual abuse involving Dr. Robert Anderson, they all take aim at a university they believe didn’t do enough to stop the predatory doctor.
Speaking Thursday at a news conference in suburban Detroit, Matt Schembechler said he told his father about the abuse during a routine physical exam in 1969 and was met with an angry response and punch to the chest.
And while it was a topic of conversation in the family, Schembechler says, he doesn’t believe it was socially acceptable to go public with the allegations as a teenager in the 1970s.
“Why now? The opportunity was there,” Schembechler said, sitting next to his attorney. “We’re ready to accept this and handle it responsibly.
“What do I want out of it? That nobody even considers doing this to another kid in college.”
Schembechler was flanked by a pair of ex-Michigan players, Daniel Kwiatkowski and Gilvanni Johnson, and their legal counsel, both of whom say they were subjected to inappropriate sexual behavior while seeking medical physicals and/ or medical care from Dr. Anderson. Of course, they aren’t alone — hundreds of former student-athletes and regular students at the University of Michigan have come forward, both publicly and anonymously, and said they were subjected to abuse from Dr. Anderson, who worked at the university from the late-1960s to early-2000s.
More: Jim Harbaugh’s defense of Bo prompted Michigan teammate to disclose sexual abuse
“It wasn’t just Bo Schembechler that allowed that predator to persist for all them years,” Kwiatkowski said. “It was the whole university. He was fired, rehired and hid.”
All three said their goal Thursday was to prevent another widespread abuse scandal from happening ever again. Each described intimate details by which Anderson fondled their genitals and penetrated their rectum during routine screenings. They were made to feel shamed and embarrassed, and all three said they told Bo Schembechler at different points of his legendary coaching career at Michigan.
Both players say Schembechler did nothing to change it. And his son, Matt, said it led to a fractured relationship.
“From this point forward, make sure that none of these kids — kids that come in for camps, kids that come in to play for Michigan — are assaulted again,” said Johnson, who played at Michigan from 1982 to 1986. “And also, for me, and I want to put it out there — all of these kids, these adults, around this country — to be able to come forward.”
Which begs the question: What happens to Bo Schembechler’s legacy at Michigan? For more than 20 years, Schembechler led the Wolverines’ football program to great heights — 13 Big Ten championships, five bowl victories, two national Coach of the Year awards — and has long been synonymous with Michigan. The university named its football building after Schembechler, and constructed a life-sized bronze statue of the coach in 2013 that still stands outside the front of the building today.
In a statement from the University on Michigan, on behalf of president Mark Schlissel and its Board of Regents, the school on Thursday thanked Schembechler, Kwiatkowski and Johnson for “their bravery in coming forward” and apologized and condemned the actions of Anderson. A recent report from Washington, D.C.-based law firm WilmerHale, commissioned and paid for by the school, concluded that several high-profile Michigan administrators — including Schembechler — were made aware of Anderson’s actions but did little, if anything, to stop them.
“They threw a blanket apology, but (I want) an apology for us — the victims,” Johnson said.
As for the statue and building name, Schembechler told MLive after the news conference that he could not be more apathetic with what the university decides.
“It’s up to them,” Schembechler said. “If it were my decision, it’s got to come down. Call it ‘The Millie,’” referring to Bo Schembecher’s late wife.
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