In 1975, Tad Deluca was a young wrestler at the University of Michigan. One night, he went down the hall with a friend to visit with a football player. The topic of the athletic department team doctor Dr. Robert Anderson came up.

The player told a story about a fellow player going to see Anderson for a sore shoulder — "He said, 'He got the glove,' '' Deluca said Thursday morning.

That was it for Deluca, who had a shoulder that kept dislocating and knew every time he went to the doctor he would get an unnecessary rectal exam and testicular exam.

"That was it. I was done," he said.

So Deluca blew the whistle — writing a letter to his coach at the time, Bill Johannesen, and then-athletic director Don Canham. The nine-page letter outlined the abuse.

"Something is wrong with Dr. Anderson," the letter reads. "Regardless what you go in there for, Dr. Anderson makes you drop your drawers."

The coach and athletic director then threw Deluca off the team, he said during a news conference Thursday in Southfield with his lawyer, Parker Stinar, and two other former wrestlers who are accusing Anderson of sexual assault. Both Anderson and Canham are deceased. Johannesen has denied Deluca's account to other media.

U-M issued a statement Thursday thanking the men for coming forward.

"The three brave men who came forward today to share their stories delivered a powerful message," the statement said. "We want to encourage everyone harmed by Robert E. Anderson or who has evidence of his misconduct to come forward. At the University of Michigan, we want to hear your voices.

"As U-M President Mark Schlissel has said, we are deeply sorry for the harm caused by Anderson.

"The university engaged a firm with deep expertise to conduct an independent, thorough, and unflinching review of the facts — wherever they may lead. Through the work of this independent firm, there will be a full, public accounting of the harms caused by Anderson as well as the institutional failings that allowed him to keep practicing."

"And we want those who come forward to get the counseling they may need. To facilitate that, the university is offering counseling services to anyone affected by Anderson."

In 2018, Deluca, sparked by what he called the courage of the survivors of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal at Michigan State University, wrote to current U-M athletic director Warde Manuel, reiterating the claims.

The letter languished on a desk of a U-M Title IX office administrator before a police investigation was begun.

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Anderson was known as "Dr. Drop Your Drawers," several accusers told police, according to a police report of that investigation.

That there were allegations against Anderson shouldn't have come as a surprise to U-M. After all, the university pushed him out a job once for similar issues.

Tom Easthope, the U-M administrator and Anderson's then-boss, told a detective in November 2018 that he had confronted Anderson long ago about “fooling around in the exam rooms with the boy patients” and told the doctor, “You gotta go." Easthope said the doctor didn't deny the allegation, according to the police report, obtained by the Free Press under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. At the time, Anderson headed up student health services.

U-M has launched an investigation run by an outside law firm. According to university officials, more than 70 people have called a special hotline set up for information on Anderson.

Stinar declined to comment on whether his clients had met or talked with investigators. No lawsuit has been filed by them, but meetings are scheduled with university officials, Stinar said.

He said the clients have a simple goal: They want U-M to "accept accountability for knowing for decades" and not doing anything.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj