Former Lakers player says Bob Knight knew of Indiana team physician abuse allegations

Former Lakers player Butch Carter submitted sworn testimony in federal court Thursday as part of an existing class action lawsuit alleging that he was sexually abused by former University of Indiana team physician Bradford Bomba Sr. nearly 50 years ago.

Carter, 66, states that he reported Bomba’s conduct to former coach Bob Knight and to school officials, but that no action was taken. Carter is the fifth former Indiana player to come forward with allegations that Bomba subjected them to “medically unnecessary, invasive and sexually abusive rectal examinations.”

Attorneys for two of the players — Haris Mujezinovic and Charlie Miller — filed the Title IX lawsuit, and a judge compelled Bomba, 88, to sit for a deposition Dec. 4. Bomba, however, refused to answer as many as 45 questions about his alleged conduct and his conversations with Knight, citing his 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

The lawsuit was amended this month to include Carter and names Indiana University trustees and longtime head athletic trainer Tim Garl as defendants. Knight, who led Indiana to three national championships in 29 seasons despite his infamously volatile coaching style, died in 2023 at age 83. Neither he nor Bomba are named as defendants.

Bomba was the team doctor for most of Knight’s tenure, which ended when the coach was fired in 2000. The lawsuit alleges that athletes were required to see Bomba for their physicals and that the docter routinely performed prostate exams on them, which the suit says are unnecessary for college-age men.

Bomba reported to Garl, who is still employed at Indiana.

“Garl had actual knowledge of and facilitated and participated in Dr. Bomba, Sr.’s wrongful conduct by continuing to assign IU’s student athletes to Dr. Bomba, Sr. for physical examinations with knowledge that, when he did so, Dr. Bomba, Sr. would sexually assault those students,” the lawsuit alleges.

Carter testified that Bomba performed a rectal examination on him in 1979 as part of a physical he was required to take after receiving an invitation to play for USA Basketball. Until then, another doctor had performed Carter’s physicals.

“At no time before the Dr. Bomba Sr. experience did any other doctor perform a rectal examination on me, including in high school,” Carter said.

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Carter said he reported the incident to Knight and team trainer Bob Young and repeatedly complained to Knight about Bomba whenever the physician was around the team.

The lawsuit states that Bomba’s reputation for abuse was openly discussed by players within earshot of coaches and athletic trainers. It also alleges that university officials failed to stop Bomba, in effect allowing “a policy of deliberate indifference.”

The four plaintiffs besides Carter all played at Indiana in the 1990s. Carter, a 6-foot-5 guard, played for the Hoosiers from 1976 to 1980 before becoming a second-round draft pick of the Lakers.

Carter played one season in Los Angeles before being traded to the Indiana Pacers and also played for the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers during his six-year career. He served as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks for several years before becoming head coach of the last-place Toronto Raptors in January 1998.

The Raptors turned around under Carter, and he led them to a 45-37 record and a playoff berth in 1999-2000. However, he was fired after the season during a front-office power struggle.

While coaching, Carter co-authored the book “Born to Believe” with his brother Cris — an NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver with the Minnesota Vikings — in which he called Knight a bully and a “self-serving coward,” and said Knight used a racial slur during an angry tirade against a Black player.

Still, Carter said he hoped Knight would shield players from Bomba.

Carter testified that at the beginning of his senior year he told Knight he did not want to visit Bomba again, and that Knight responded: “You’re going to take a physical.” Carter insisted on seeing another doctor, and Knight “left it alone.”