More former Indiana basketball players allege sexual misconduct by ex-team doctor
More former men's basketball players for Indiana University have come forward alleging sexual misconduct by a former team physician, while stating school officials, including the late head coach Bobby Knight, were aware of the situation.
Last fall, former Hoosier players Haris Mujezinovic and Charlie Miller filed a lawsuit against Bradford Bomba Sr., who died last month. The suit claimed the two were sexually abused by Bomba during their time playing for Indiana.
That lawsuit, which was filed in October, now has five ex-athletes named in it, while 10 additional men are planning to pursue litigation against Indiana, per ESPN.
"I have two sons who are the same age that I was when that happened to me," Mujezinovic, who played for the Hoosiers in the late 1990s, said in an email to ESPN. "At the time, I viewed myself as an adult, but now I realize, looking at my own kids, how young and powerless me and my teammates actually were.
"The adults within the basketball program who were entrusted with our care knew what was happening to us. They joked about it and let it continue."
Bomba routinely gave male athletes rectal exams during their physicals despite no medical recommendations to do so, according to the lawsuit. Bomba worked as the men's basketball physician for almost 30 years.
Longtime trainer Tim Garl was listed as a defendant in January after another former player, John Flowers, joined the lawsuit. Flowers said Garl was aware of Bomba's "invasive, harassing, and demeaning digital rectal examinations."
"After his first physical, Flowers's teammates told him he had 'passed' Dr. Bomba, Sr.'s 'test,' and that he would not have to undergo a digital rectal examination again," the lawsuit states. "Garl laughed at Flowers and his freshman teammates and made jokes at their expense regarding the digital rectal examinations they endured."
Players allegedly complained about the exams, some of which said they wished to have a different physician look at them in the future. However, Knight and Garl continued to have players see Bomba.
Another player, Butch Carter, who played for Indiana in the late 1970s, wrote in a letter that he told Knight he never wanted to see Bomba again. The letter is in the lawsuit, though Carter is not a part of the lawsuit.
An outside investigation was done to look further into the allegations, and it found that rectal exams are a normal part of a physical. Indiana also released a statement in September 2024 saying they would be conducting an independent review.
Indiana hired the law firm Jones Day to conduct the investigation, which involved speaking with "100 individuals," going through "10,000 emails," and reviewing "more than 100,000 pages of physical documents spanning six decades," according to the report released on April 25.
With Bomba's death last month, and the outside investigation clearing him of sexual misconduct, the legal path for these players will be a difficult one.
But Michelle Simpson Tuegel, who is representing the 10 men prepared to file their lawsuit, states two of her clients have stories contradicting those findings, saying Bomba's actions were not sexual, per ESPN. One of the men, who played in the late 1990s for the Hoosiers, claimed Bomba "fondled his genitalia" during a physical.
Indiana University told Fox News Digital it does not comment on litigation. Additionally, the university pointed to the Jones Day investigation results as reference.
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