Two former Indiana University basketball players have filed a lawsuit against the school alleging mistreatment by former team physician Brad Bomba Sr., while another former player has come forward with sexual abuse allegations against the team's former doctor.
As reported by The Bloomington Herald-Times and the Indiana Daily Student, the players bringing the lawsuit — Charlie Miller and Haris Mujezinovic — allege Bomba "routinely and repeatedly" subjected them to "medically unnecessary, invasive, and sexually abusive rectal examinations" and that the university was aware of the misconduct.
“After seeing another player recently come forward, I felt obliged to confirm and substantiate his claims," the "John Doe," who like Miller and Mujezinovic played for Bob Knight in the 1990s, said in statement. "Though not easy to talk about, I was subjected to horrifically invasive and completely unnecessary exams by team physician Brad Bomba Sr., propagated as a perverse rite of passage within the program’s toxic culture of hazing, dehumanization, and silence."'
"All that mattered to the University was winning games and protecting reputations. I was subjected to sexual abuse and emotional torment at IU, the impacts of which I still carry with me to this day.”
As reported by Michael Niziolek of The Herald-Times, Bomba was a longtime member of Knight's staff and acted as team physician for the IU's 1967 Rose Bowl-bound football team and the 1984 US Olympic basketball team, coached by Knight. He was also a team physician at Bloomington High School and was later inducted into both the Marion and Monroe County halls of fame.
Indiana University first became aware of the abuse allegations when it received a letter from legal counsel on the behalf of a former player. The school announced in September it had retained Jones Day, an international law firm with experience in "sensitive" investigations, to conduct an investigation into Bomba's conduct, Niziolek reported. That letter was sent from Mujezinovic, who filed a federal class action law suit against the university alongside Miller on Tuesday.
While the timing of the announcements was coincidental, the attorney representing the third player — "John Doe'" — made similar claims Tuesday.
“From the information we’ve gathered so far from speaking to our client and others, the university had notice for decades of Doctor Bomba’s horrific abuse of their student athletes, deciding to turn a blind eye instead of protecting these young people,” Tuegel said in a statement, as reported by The Herald-Times. “If Indiana University intends to uphold its promises of transparency and protecting students, university leadership must take immediate steps to remove any personnel who had knowledge of and failed to prevent sexual abuse.”
Likely over 100 student athletes were subjected to inappropriate invasive examinations from Bomba during his time as team physician, the lawsuit says, as reported by the Indiana Daily Student.
Tuegel, who is a founding member of the Texas-based law firm, has represented sexual-abuse survivors in a numerous cases including the Larry Nassar litigation against Michigan State, USA Gymnastics and U.S. Olympic Committee.
