Honolulu marathon CEO says he was abused by Michigan doctor

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The president and CEO of one of the nation’s largest marathons has joined a chorus of former students who have complained about a late University of Michigan doctor by saying the physician performed a “completely inappropriate” act on him during a medical examination in the 1970s.

Dr. James Barahal, who himself is a longtime physician, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Dr. Robert E. Anderson gave him a digital rectal exam when the then-medical student visited the student health center in 1975 complaining of a sore throat.

“I remember leaving, and I can still picture the health center and walking through the waiting room, getting out on the street and it was like, ‘What was that?’ I knew it was completely inappropriate,” Barahal said Monday.

The 67-year-old who lives in Kailua, Hawaii, has headed up the Honolulu Marathon for more than 30 years and has been inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame.

Barahal was training with Michigan’s cross-country team in 1975 when he was “fast-tracked” in to see Anderson, who was the director of the University Health Service as well as a physician to some of the Ann Arbor school’s athletic teams. Anderson died in 2008.

University of Michigan officials were warned more than four decades ago that Anderson had been molesting patients during exams. He was demoted but continued working there and went on to allegedly abuse again as a physician with the athletic department, according to documents from a police investigation the AP obtained through a public-records request.

The probe began in October 2018 based on a letter sent by a former wrestler to athletic director Warde Manuel in mid-July. It was not made public until last week.

Since then, a number of men alleging sexual abuse by Anderson, including Barahal, have retained law firms that are representing accusers who sued Michigan State University and Ohio State University in similar cases. The accusations of abuse at the University of Michigan and Ohio State bear striking similarities. The University of Minnesota is also investigating claims accusing a former assistant hockey coach of sexually abusing players.

A hotline was set up for those who have information about Anderson to come forward. Barahal, who called the hotline last week, said he did not speak to anybody about the violation immediately afterward or report it to the university or other authorities, but that he never forgot it.

“It was embarrassing and inappropriate. But that’s not something that guys would generally talk about,” he said.

The memories of that day rushed back, though, when he tuned in to his alma mater’s football games on television.

“When they show at the beginning of the game the team running out to touch the ‘M’ Club Go Blue banner, I’d occasionally see him — he was a pretty short guy and not very athletic — jumping up to try to touch the banner, which is a good luck thing for Michigan,” Barahal said. “And it kind of brought that (memory) back. So, I told the story for years to people about how I went in for a sore throat, and he had his finger up my butt. I mean, I told that story for years.”

And he’s telling it now, publicly, Barahal said, to try to help fellow victims.

“The sooner the university understands that not only was this physician capable of doing this, he did do it, then I think that everybody will be well on the road to whatever recovery, emotional or otherwise, that they seek,” he said.

“People really suffered (and) need to be believed. And the only way they’re going to be believed is if other people tell their story.”