Dr. Robert Anderson, a physician at University of Michigan who worked with the athletic department for much of his run from 1966-2003, has been accused of sexually abusing hundreds of Wolverine athletes, including a number of football players during his career. Multiple men are now saying that legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler was made aware of those accusations, and failed to do anything to stop Anderson.
Matthew Schembechler, the son of Bo’s first wife, is among those levying public accusations. He says that he was 10 years old when Anderson molested him during a physical. When he told Bo about the incident, he says that he was met with a violent, close-fisted punch.
Gilvanni Johnson and David Kwiatkowski, two former Michigan players in the late 1970s-early 1980s, said they each informed Schembechler of their own experiences with Anderson during a five year period. Nothing was done. Law firm WilmerHale found that Anderson’s misconduct was reported “several times between 1978 and 1981,” but that it was not appropriately handled by a “senior University administrator.” Schembechler was not mentioned in that part of the report, though elsewhere it is mentioned that he told one player in 1976 to “toughen up” after a complaint was made about Anderson.
Now, Schembechler’s family is coming to the defense of the late coach, who passed away in 2006. Cathy Schembechler, his second wife, as well as another son—Glenn “Shemy” Schembechler and his wife Megan—have released a statement.
BREAKING: Schembechler family: ‘Bo was not aware’ of Robert Anderson’s sexual assaults at Michigan https://t.co/tomB9Bz9RP via @freep
— David Jesse (@reporterdavidj) June 15, 2021
Their words follow a petition by a group of former Michigan football players who hope to protect the legacy of Bo Schembechler, which has come under great scrutiny amid the allegations that he turned a blind eye, or worse, to the actions of Dr. Robert Anderson, who died in 2008.
From the Detroit Free Press:
“That Bo Schembechler was, and remains, deserving of our admiration and our love. It is telling to us that Bo never spoke to any of us about inappropriate behavior by Dr. Anderson. To the contrary, in our steadfast opinion, Bo was not aware of such conduct and assumed that any procedures were medically appropriate. As he demonstrated at many points in his career and to us as a family, Bo had a clear and compelling sense of right and wrong: he would not have tolerated misconduct, especially toward any of his players, family members, coaches or to anyone associated with the University of Michigan’s football program. If Bo had known of inappropriate conduct, we are certain that he would have stopped it immediately, reported it, and had Dr. Anderson removed from the University.”
Multiple victims say that Schembechler failed to do just that.
We’ll have more on this ugly situation within the Michigan football program as it unfolds.
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