BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A second former Indiana University basketball player has come forward with sexual abuse allegations against the team physician at the time.
The survivor was an IU basketball player in the 1990s under coach Bobby Knight. While he was at IU, he alleges he was sexually abused by Brad Bomba Sr. during his medical examinations.
Bomba was a contracted IU athletics doctor for several decades. His work with the team ended in the late 1990s.
“After seeing another player recently come forward, I felt obliged to confirm and substantiate his claims. 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,” the player said in a news release on Tuesday, Oct. 15. “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.”
Officials said the player's "college basketball dream" quickly turned into a "nightmare" when his first experience as a Hoosier was a "penetrative and abusive" exam from Bomba. The player also alleges that the team personnel was "keenly aware" of Bomba's abuse and frequently made "derogatory, joking remarks" to the survivor, as well as the other players.
Michelle Simpson Tuegel, of the Simpson Tuegel Law Firm, will investigate and represent the survivor in a potential civil claim against the university.
“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. “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.”
The first player who came forward with sexual abuse allegations said Bomba gave him inappropriate and unnecessary prostate and rectal exams during his annual physicals.
IU launched an investigation into the allegations and asked other student-athletes who may have been abused to come forward.
