The count of former male basketball players from Indiana alleging sexual misconduct by previous team doctors has now reached 15.
Attorney Michelle Simpson Tugel informed ESPN that five ex-Hoosiers are included in the lawsuit, with an additional ten men planning to take legal action against Indiana University.
In March, Butch Carter, a former Knicks guard, became the fifth individual to join the lawsuit. He recounted an incident involving Dr. Bradford Bomba, who allegedly “wore gloves, lubricated my fingers, and told Carter to bend over the table.”
Bomba served as a team physician for almost 30 years under the coaching of Bobby Knight and athletic trainer Tim Girl.
Knight passed away in 2023, and Bomba recently died last month.
According to allegations echoed by Carter, the initial players accused Bomba of performing rectal examinations on them that weren’t justified by medical protocols.
The players assert that Knight and other officials at the university were aware of the complaints regarding Bomba’s actions but failed to intervene.
Furthermore, players allege Knight and Girl continually instructed athletes to endure interactions with Bomba despite their grievances.
Legal representatives for Girl claim that the complaints are “decades too late” and that he isn’t connected to Bomba’s alleged wrongdoing.
Before his passing, Bomba asserted his Fifth Amendment right in response to 45 inquiries.
A recent investigation in Indiana concluded that Bomba’s rectal examinations were performed “in a clinically appropriate manner” and found no evidence indicating that he derived sexual gratification from these actions.
However, former players are contesting those findings, as their lawyers argue that two of their accounts contradict Bomba’s non-sexual claims.
One individual stated Bomba “fondled his genitals,” while another alleged he underwent a rectal examination at the hands of Bomba when he was still a high school minor.
This lawsuit may be complicated by Bomba’s recent death and the constraint of a two-year statute of limitations for civil claims in Indiana, yet the original Hoosiers are driven to share their experiences.
Harris Mujezinovich, one of the plaintiffs, wrote in an email to ESPN, “I have two sons who are the same age I was when it happened to me… Back then, I saw myself as an adult, but now I look at my kids and realize how young and vulnerable I truly was.”
He added, “Those in the basketball program who were supposed to care for us were fully aware of what was happening. They joked about it and let it continue.”
