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Michigan Football, 2021 Season

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  • Schembechler's son says he was sexually assaulted by Dr. Robert Anderson more than 50 years ago, and that when he told his dad, the University of Michigan's legendary football coach refused to hear about it and intervened to save the physician's job.

    In an interview Wednesday with The Detroit News, Matthew Schembechler said he told his famous father in 1969 that Anderson had sexually molested him during a physical examination to play in a youth football league when he was 10 years old and weighed 60 pounds. The elder Schembechler went into a rage, told him he didn't want to hear about it and punched him in the chest so hard that he flew across the kitchen floor, his son said.

    Now 62, Schembechler said that his mother invited former UM Athletic Director Don Canham over to their house so he could tell Canham what had happened with Anderson.

    "(Canham) talked to Anderson and terminated him nearly immediately," said Schembechler, who lives in Ann Arbor. "Bo went to him and said, 'I need him, he is our team doctor, reinstate him,' and he did."

    "It was the first time of many that I felt betrayed by Bo."

    Schembechler is sharing his story at a press conference Thursday, where he plans to discuss how his father allegedly failed to protect him and others from Anderson, a longtime UM physician who is deceased but accused by more than 800 people of sexual assault.

    He spoke for nearly an hour with The Detroit News on Wednesday about the claims he plans to speak of publicly, including the night he told Schembechler about Anderson's alleged abuse.

    "I was confused why he was mad at me," said Matthew Schembechler, who is part of the legal proceedings against UM related to Anderson. "Bo would not talk about it. Bo did what was best for Bo."

    UM officials declined to comment Wednesday on Schembechler's allegations.

    Schembechler will be joined by two former UM football players who also say they told the late coach about Anderson's abuse.

    "Bo’s mantra: 'The team, The team.' The team came first," said Okemos-based lawyer Mick Grewal, who is representing Schembechler's son. "The brand came first. Michigan came first ahead of students, athletes — and his own son."

    Schembechler's statement pushes back the timeline of when UM officials allegedly became aware of Anderson's behavior during exams by 10 years.

    Until now, the late UM associate vice president for student services Thomas Easthope was thought to be among the first to become aware of allegations against Anderson in 1979, when an advocate approached Easthope and told him the doctor was behaving inappropriately in the exam room with male patients.Easthope told a police investigator in 2018 that he confronted Anderson at the time of the allegations and fired him. But rather than leaving UM, the doctor was promoted soon after.

    Anderson served UM as the head of University Health Services and team physician from 1966-2003. He simultaneously worked as a training physician for the UM Athletic Department beginning in 1968. He died in 2008.

    In February 2020, former UM student Robert Julian Stone publicly accused Anderson of sexually abusing him in 1971. His story brought out 850 other accusers, mostly men, with similar claims. They are currently in mediation with UM.

    Anderson's alleged misconduct included unnecessary hernia and rectal examinations on patients who went to him for unrelated ailments, manual stimulation of male patients and arrangements in which he provided medical services in exchange for sexual contact.

    A Detroit News investigation found more than 800 men have accused Anderson, who worked at UM from the 1960s until 2003, of sexually abusing them during treatment.

    Accusers have said they alerted more than two dozen UM officials but they failed to take action.

    Bo Schembechler, who died in 2006, was first accused of knowing about Anderson's conduct in a July 2020 federal lawsuit filed by a former UM student, who said he told the coach about Anderson's abuse n 1982 and 1983.The former student said Schembechler told him to alert Canham, but he did not blame Schembechler for not pursuing the matter further.

    A May report outlining an investigation of Anderson showed three football players alerted Schembechler to Anderson's behavior.

    One of the players said that Anderson fondled him and gave him a rectal exam. Soon after, they approached Schembechler and questioned the exam.

    "According to the student-athlete, Mr. Schembechler told him to 'toughen up,'” the report said.

    Matt Schembechler said he met Anderson in fall 1969 after his mother, Millie, met and married the football coach after his father died when he was 5 and Schembechler legally adopted him.

    He was playing several sports, including with the Junior Wolverines, a little league football league, when he and his two older brothers needed a physical. Their family physician charged $35 each, so to cut costs, Schembechler said his father got the physicals for free from Anderson.

    Schembechler remembers riding his bike to the appointment to see Anderson for the first physical he ever had. During the exam, the doctor asked him to remove his pants. The doctor allegedly cupped his genitals and penetrated his rectum.

    "I pulled away," Schembechler said. "It was a little scary, I was a tough little kid, but I knew something was wrong.

    "I am just a kid, and here is a real doctor with the University of Michigan doing a free physical. I am going to do what he tells me to do."

    Schembechler said he rode his bike home and told his mother what happened. She insisted that he tell his dad. When he told his dad that night in the kitchen, he said his father went into a rage.

    "He said, 'I don’t want to hear this, don’t tell me this, I am not going to hear this,'" Schembechler said. "I was hoping I had a new dad who would protect me, and that was not the case."

    He remembered his mother said, "Bo, this is wrong You need to do something about this."

    When he didn't, Schembechler said his mother then turned to Canham, who lived a few blocks away.

    "I told him what happened," Schembechler said. "He was very kind, and he was very empathetic. My mother drove the conversation. He said, 'Millie — I promise you I am going to take care of this.'"

    The AD talked to Anderson and terminated him almost immediately, Schembechler said. But Bo insisted that he reverse the firing, his son said.

    Canham died in 2005. Millie Schembechler died in 1992.

    Two other men who say they told Bo Schembechler about Anderson will tell their stories Thursday: Daniel Kwiatkowski, a UM football player in 1977-79 who says he was treated and abused by Anderson four times, and Gilvanni Johnson, a wide receiver from 1982-86 who alleges he was treated and abused by Anderson more than 15 times.

    Matthew Schembechler had a strained relationship with his famous dad. In 1999, he sued his father, the university and 12 other defendants, accusing them of trying to ruin his sports memorabilia business and damage his reputation.

    Grewal said that doesn't matter.

    "He's telling the truth," the attorney said.

    Jim Harbaugh, the current UM football coach who played under Bo Schembechler in the 1980s, has said he doesn't believe he knew of allegations against Anderson.

    “I can tell you this: Bo Schemechler, there was nothing that I saw the times that I was a kid here, my dad was on the staff, or when I played here, he never sat on anything, he never procrastinated on anything,” Harbaugh said last week. “He took care of it before the sun went down. That’s the Bo Schembechler that I know. There was nothing that ever was swept under the rug or ignored. He addressed everything in a timely fashion. That’s the Bo Schembechler that I know.”

    Grewal said Wednesday the late coach's son and the two former players "are coming forward now to set the record straight, especially with Jim Harbaugh’s statement."

    A UM football program spokesman referred all requests for comment to the university. UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald declined to comment Wednesday.

    Former UM and professional football player Jon Vaughn said he is not surprised that some are trying to hold Schembechler accountable.

    "I have been saying this since the beginning: When you listen to all the rhetoric that Bo didn’t know or he wasn’t aware … You don’t become an iconic coach and not know about everything that goes on," he said.

    Comment


    • How does a dead man defend himself?

      IIRC, Millie Schembechler had 3 sons, that Bo adopted. They later had another son that they called "Shemy" (Glenn III). I wonder if any of the other boys had similar situations with the doctor.

      I'll admit, the first impression of this doesn't sound good.

      I don't see how this could lead to Harbaugh being fired though. He may have said something stupid (what's new) but that won't get him fired.



      "What you're doing, speaks so loudly, that I can't hear what you are saying"

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      • I don't think what Harbaugh said was stupid. You can only testify to your own experience, and your own experience is inherently limited.

        I have never been more disappointed in the Michigan athletic department than I was when I read the report on Dr. Anderson's sickening misconduct. People that I knew I didn't always agree with but have always respected-- Bo most especially-- demonstrated enormous moral failing here. They enabled and excused violations that ruin lives. You can tear down a statue, and you can re-name a building. That's a start, but it's not nearly enough. I don't know that any corrective action taken by the university could be enough. I don't know what justice is still available to the victims here, but I hope they get it. I hope the university spends as long as is necessary helping these people heal, at whatever cost that entails.
        Last edited by JRB; June 9, 2021, 11:53 PM.

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        • So Bo = JoePa?
          Shut the fuck up Donny!

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          • He might be, Wiz.

            This might be the final nail for Michigan football.

            I loved Schembechler, but if its true he protected a pedophile, then its time to pay up. I wouldn't want that to happen to my kids, and it shouldn't happen to other people's kids.

            Actually, its not about football anymore. Its about a criminal and those who allegedly protected him.
            "What you're doing, speaks so loudly, that I can't hear what you are saying"

            Comment


            • Look, we all know that if reparations are being seriously considered for decedents of black slaves in America then surely those who were abused by Dr. Anderson should receive compensation of some sort and the U should make it happen. The environment for that sort of thing is perfect. I've got no problem with that nor, if the facts support that Bo protected Anderson, removing his statuary and name sake from M's campus - I have reservations about the propriety of that just like I do with taking down statuary of Thomas Jeffers et.al but, in this case, M will cave and frankly I don't blame them. That's not a hill to defend.

              Retrospection has it's benefits but mostly doing it is filled with pitfalls. I would rather get past that and look forward to insure practical mechanisms are in place to prevent people like Anderson from accessing university students to sexually molest them. I think these things are already in place although I have no direct knowledge of them. I would weight PR about pulling down statuary and name sakes at 10% and have PR that emphasizes what has been in place or is intended to be in place to prevent reoccurrences of this sort of thing.

              That's hard to do in the current cut-throat environment where people take pride in reviling and destroying history for political purposes. Better not to wallow in it but to look at it, learn from it and then look forward.

              There is such a thing as redemption. Jim Harbaugh is redeemed at the expense of a fading Ryan Day and OSU. M wins back to back games v. OSU first time since 1999-2000​ - John Cooper was fired in 2000!!!

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              • Originally posted by THE_WIZARD_ View Post
                So Bo = JoePa?
                Based on what I've seen of this press conference so far, it sure seems like it.

                I have long since grown tired of Bo's placement at the forefront of the program's identity some 30 years after he coached his last game and was ready to move on. But I didn't want it like this. At any rate, there will be no more contrived "Bo-isms" being play ad-nauseam in the stadium during games. It might be a good time for the university to decide it wants a top shelf football program that looks forward and not back.

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                • I've been taking a "wait and see" approach to this story since it broke out of a hope that Bo was not complicit in any of it. But that ship has sailed. Gilvanni Johnson's remarks were particularly powerful today. There better not be any cult of Bo folks who rally in his support like the idiots we saw in Happy Valley.

                  Matt Schembechler brought up interesting point when asked why they thought Bo would keep Dr. Anderson as the team doc. He said the only thing he can come up with was that Bo and Dr. Anderson both knew that Bo had the goods on him meaning he could control him. Therefore, he could leverage Anderson when it came time to medically clear players before games. No, that guy's playing, etc...

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                  • I like Jeff's idea as well. Michigan is going to have to accept whatever punishment comes along with this, because apparently those in a position of power failed to protect the people they were responsible for. However, lets not forget to look forward. Lets make sure this doesn't happen again. Pedophiles are not going away, but lets focus on safeguards to make sure they don't get in positions of responsibility, where they have access to vulnerable kids.
                    "What you're doing, speaks so loudly, that I can't hear what you are saying"

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Mike View Post
                      I've been taking a "wait and see" approach to this story since it broke out of a hope that Bo was not complicit in any of it. But that ship has sailed. Gilvanni Johnson's remarks were particularly powerful today. There better not be any cult of Bo folks who rally in his support like the idiots we saw in Happy Valley.

                      Matt Schembechler brought up interesting point when asked why they thought Bo would keep Dr. Anderson as the team doc. He said the only thing he can come up with was that Bo and Dr. Anderson both knew that Bo had the goods on him meaning he could control him. Therefore, he could leverage Anderson when it came time to medically clear players before games. No, that guy's playing, etc...
                      I was kind of wondering why he would protect the guy...it was Bo's first year at UM when his son told him about Anderson. Not like they had a long working relationship at that point.

                      Comment


                      • Good point. He was probably speaking about over the years. There is no good reason to protect the guy but in Bo's case in 1969 maybe he didn't want to rock the boat in his first year. We'll never really know. But none of this is good and his legacy is forever stained.

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                        • Matt Schembechler pleads people not to drag Jim Harbaugh into Bo conversation. "Don't take shots at Jim. He doesn't deserve it." Speaks highly of the Harbaugh family and says coming forward was not related to his comments from last week.



                          Gilvanni Johnson played in 83, 84, 85. He said coaches used threats of visiting Anderson as a motivational tactic. This the most disgusting thing I've have ever heard about a sport team, play well or get sexually abused? This could mean Mo and Carr also knew?

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                          • Ye gads ... just shut the freaking program down for a couple seasons. If that crap is true its on a par with Paterno/Sandusky.

                            Shame on them.
                            "What you're doing, speaks so loudly, that I can't hear what you are saying"

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                            • I saw that part of the presser too. He was talking about if guys were viewed as not giving 100% in practice, Bo would threaten to send them to go see Dr. Anderson.

                              Comment


                              • If Bo was guilty then, yeah, remove his name and burn the record books. I don't support cancelling historical figures based off them violating the modern moral codes, all of which revolve around various "isms" invented in the 20th Century. But covering up the crimes of a pedophile and making sure that he is in a position to molest more kids is abhorrent and would be considered so in just about any era.

                                This guy potentially saw hundreds of players and abused them. God knows how many players entered the program mentally healthy and left in a condition ripe for them to become alcoholics, child molesters, or violent criminals because of the crippling sexual trauma that they suffered at the hands of a monster. Yes, we know more about it now and victims are more encouraged to come forward, but in 1969, a doctor sexually molesting young men would have been curb stomped by a mob if people knew. But Bo enabled it for decades. And to what end? Are you really going to tell me that this guy worked such magic that he was irreplaceable? Bullshit.

                                Anyhow, due process is needed, but right now it doesn't look good for Bo. His own son is saying that he told him about Dr. Andersen and Bo did nothing about. If somebody did that to my son, I might be on trial for murder soon after that. The guy didn't even have protective instincts for his progeny. That's sociopathic.
                                Last edited by Hannibal; June 10, 2021, 08:34 PM.

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