Save the Evidence No Matter What: Tad DeLuca on Letters that Proved His Case

In this week’s blog, Tad DeLuca continues his story. Please read his Healing Bells blogs of August 19 and August 26 first to catch the context of this entry. Here, Tad realizes in retrospect how important it was to save all of the paperwork he had. Even though his coach refused to do the right thing in 1975, the letters Tad exchanged with that coach in 1975 served as unequivocal evidence–in 2018 and beyond–that university personnel knew early on that the doctor was abusing students. 

Tad with letter from 1975 in Ni une más production. Credit: Mark Clague

In 2018, I was still unaware that what the University of Michigan team doctor–Dr. Robert E. Anderson–did to me meets the legal definition of rape and fondling. I knew something wrong and bad happened, but that was about it. When I sat in the University of Michigan Title IV Director’s office in August of 2018, I had no idea that I had something that was very important.

In the late 1980s, my dad had sent me a box of some of my old junk. Underneath an old baseball glove and spikes was an almost one-inch thick folder. My dad had saved all of the letters from the summer of 1975, and suddenly I was confronted with them again. I had done my best to “forget” that stuff, but of course I never could even begin to forget what had happened. I didn’t want to see those papers. I closed the box up and put it in the far back corner of the shed and threw some other boxes in front of it. That box sat in the shed for about 30 years. 

Note: If this is your first time joining my story, you may want to pause here and visit Tad's earlier reflections. Start with “My University of Michigan wrestling story: how a good thing went horribly wrong” and continue with “My University of Michigan wrestling story, Part Two: Redemption.” Together they hold the thread that leads into what he shares today.

When I was meeting with the University of Michigan Title IV director in August of 2018, I casually mentioned that I had all the letters from 1975 that I was referring to in the letter I had written to the Michigan Athletic Director, Warde Manual. The director asked me to send them to her. A couple of days later and without really looking at the papers, I made copies of much of the stuff in that folder and mailed them to her. I hadn’t seen these papers since 1975. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan proceeded to sit on those papers and my complaint for almost two years. 

In 2020, I saw that former U-M wrestler and Olympian Andy Hrovat had spoken out about the U-M predator, Dr. Robert E. Anderson. I called Andy's lawyer that afternoon. I got an assistant who took my name and seemed to perk up a bit when I told her that I had a copy of a letter where I had mentioned telling the coach about the doctor. Later that night, I was on a conference call with several lawyers and told them my story. They asked for copies, so I faxed them copies of a lot of what I had.

All of this paperwork was incredibly important. These fossils dug up from the back of my shed proved that on at least one occasion, there was a written record of someone reporting a predator to the University of Michigan. Better yet, there was a record of U-M acknowledging my 1975 letter and then doing NOTHING about it. Theoretically, they did do something about my complaint: they took away my full out-of-state scholarship. Apparently, these letters helped prove that U-M knew about the doctor over half a century ago. (See the U-M Timeline.)

For me personally, the paperwork was very beneficial. Coach Johanneson lied when he told the newspapers in 2020 that I never reported the doctor to him. He also lied when he stated that I was a “walk on” and never had a full ride. Also, he claimed that I was kicked off of the team for missing practice. My favorite lie was when he said that he was an “away from home father” to his wrestlers. It was very upsetting and embarrassing that these lies from almost 50 years ago were suddenly out there and would seem so plausible to readers and listeners. Luckily, little by little, my lawyer got the necessary copies of my paperwork to the media that proved that the coach was lying. Coach William A. Johanneson was the liar. The University of Michigan’s $12 million WilmerHale report further proved that coach Bill Johanneson was lying. In 1975, the coach had made several references to my full scholarship in several letters he had written to me. I had the letters where he yanked the full ride and then refused to reinstate it. I never missed a wrestling practice and the coach accused me of just about everything possible, but he never once mentioned missing a practice in his 1975 letters. Even during my horrible 1974–1975 season, I never missed a practice. I simply couldn’t miss wrestling practice. Wrestling was all I was. I had nowhere else to go and nothing else to be so I went to practice. I am sitting here right now typing this with a smile on my face because I proved to the world that this idiot is a liar.

Hail to the Victims rally on campus of University of Michigan. Credit: Tad DeLuca

I was incredibly lucky that my dad had saved that folder of paperwork. Every year our former neighbor had a huge 4th of July bonfire. If I had ever happened upon the box in the back of the shed containing that folder a day or two before the fourth, I probably would have pulled it out of the shed and tossed it into the bonfire to purge my soul of my time at the University of Michigan. After all, it had worked so well with the huge stack of divorce paperwork from my ex-wife. When I first met my attorney, I vividly remember giving him all of the original paperwork in my U-M folder. It felt so good to be relieved of it. I had to get the University of Michigan out of my soul.

In my case, it would not have been a good thing to purge my soul of my years at Michigan. Everything my dad intentionally kept and I had stored in the back of the shed paved the way for my full vindication, redemption, and proving that the University of Michigan knew about the doctor and had intentionally chosen to do nothing for almost a half century. This proof also helped over 1,078 other survivors make their claim against the University of Michigan. 

Photo from the NBC News post.

My paperwork contradicted the Michigan lies. I had my 1975 letter where I told the coach about the doctor and what I physically and emotionally went through that wrestling season after I found out what the doctor was doing wasn’t medical treatment for injuries. I had letters from the coach and athletic directors that referenced much of what I said in my letter to the coach, but their replies to me totally ignored my complaints about the doctor. I had a couple of copies of the full ride renewal paperwork I signed every year. The best part was that I had the letter from the coach that totally eviscerated a naïve 20-year-old kid. I had the diagnoses and blood test results from the family doctor who found the hepatitis that the U-M team doctor never even bothered to test for. I had enough stuff to bury Michigan.

In my case, I found that despite what happened to me at Michigan 50 years ago, justice can still prevail. I had copies of several of my letters to the coach. I had the original copies of the four letters from the coach–kicking me off the team, taking away my full ride, and ripping into me as a person. I also had the letter from the Michigan Athletic Director that approved of my removal from the wrestling team and the removal of my scholarship. That evidence led to justice.

I hope like hell this never happens to you. If it does, keep believing in yourself. What I learned is:

• Write it in a letter, keep a copy, and mail another copy to a trusted friend or family member.

• Write it in a journal with the date.

• Even if people in power pretend not to believe you (like my coach), tell other people who will remember (like E. Jean Carroll did about the current president’s abuse).

• Hang onto any evidence, disgusting as it may be. (That’s how Monica Lewinsky proved her case.)

• Save those emails and texts.

I never knew how important being a pack rat might be. In the end, it rooted out the real rats.