In a complaint, a third former Indiana University basketball player claimed that the team doctor had sexually assaulted him and that the university had failed to take any action to keep him safe from a predator.
Players Charlie Miller and Haris Mujezinovic are also involved in an updated class-action complaint against the Indiana University Trustees, along with John Flowers. According to the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Southern District of Indiana, Flowers claimed that during his time as a player for the Hoosiers from 1981 to 1982, Dr. Bradford Bomba Sr. performed at least two unwarranted prostate exams on him.
The complaint lists Tim Garl, a longstanding men’s basketball trainer, as a defendant in addition to Flowers as a plaintiff. It claims that when Garl introduced gamers to Bomba, he knew that Bomba was conducting intrusive, degrading, and harassing digital rectal examinations.
According to the lawsuit, Flowers’ teammates informed him following his initial physical that he had passed Dr. Bomba, Sr.’s test and would not need to have another digital rectal examination. Garl made jokes about the digital rectal exams Flowers and his freshman teammates had to undergo and laughed at them.
Flowers added his claims to a case that Mujezinovic and Miller initially filed in October. Flowers later played basketball at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and before retiring, he played professionally in Europe.
Under the renowned coach Bobby Knight, who passed away two years ago at the age of 83, Mujezinovic and Miller played for the Hoosiers in the 1990s.
In a statement, Flowers, who resides in Arizona, said, “I am honored to speak out on behalf of my former teammates and other IU basketball players to demand justice for the sexual abuse we suffered as Hoosiers.”
According to court documents, Kathleen Delaney, who works for Flowers, Mujezinovic, and Miller, claims that Bomba may have infringed the rights of at least 100 male athletes.
Our clients individually make strong and unsettling claims that Dr. Bomba, Sr.’s practice of exposing IU men’s basketball players to needless and abusive digital rectal exams continued for so long that university administration must have been aware of it, Delaney stated in an email on Tuesday.
IU does not comment on lawsuits, according to IU spokesperson Mark Bode. Additionally, he cited a September announcement that IU had engaged a private legal firm to carry out an impartial review.
As we look for the facts, we encourage the IU community to be patient and to trust that the university’s actions will align with our values, the statement read.
Garl, who has been employed by the institution since 1981, did not answer a phone call or an email requesting comment.
Under Title IX, a federal law requiring all schools and institutions that receive federal dollars to implement measures to protect students from sexual predators, Flowers, Mujezinovic, and Miller are suing Garl and the IU trustees.
The 88-year-old Bomba is not named as a defendant.
When questioned if he conducted rectal examinations on teenage athletes during a deposition last month, Bomba cited his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination dozens of times.
When asked if Knight had instructed him to do digital rectal exams on his athletes, he once again pleaded the Fifth Amendment, despite acknowledging that he and Knight were close friends.
According to the lawsuit, Bomba treated all of the university’s sports teams from 1962 to 1970. From 1979 until the late 1990s, he served as the team’s doctor for basketball.
It also states that because of the size of his hands and fingers, coaches and players dubbed Bomba, who had played football for Indiana University, “Frankenstein.”
The lawsuit claims that the Hoosier men’s basketball players freely discussed Dr. Bomba, Sr.’s frequent sexual assaults in the locker room while IU staff members, such as assistant coaches, athletic trainers, and other Hoosier men’s basketball staff, were there.
An emailed request for comment on the new lawsuit was not immediately answered by Bomba’s attorney.