Former Northwestern player says teammates hazed him by shaving 'Cinco de Mayo' onto his head

CHICAGO - Another former Northwestern University football player spoke out Wednesday about his experience with hazing and racism while on the team. 

Ramon Diaz who played for the university from 2005-2008, is represented by the Illinois Law Firm of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. and co-counsel The Stinar Law Firm. 

The former offensive lineman alleges Northwestern, its Board of Trustees, former head football coach Pat Fitzgerald, and former athletic director and current ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, were all in a position to address the toxic culture but did not. 

Teammates shaved the words "Cinco de Mayo" onto the back of Diaz's head while the team watched, according to the complaint. 

"The holiday itself has a significant meaning to me and my family and then the Latino community at large," Diaz told The Associated Press. "I was mocked and ridiculed."

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He also recounted hazing traditions like "the carwash," spoken of by other former players, in which players lined up naked, covered in soap, spinning around at the entrance of the showers so that all first-year players were forced to rub up against the line of men to get to their showers.

The perpetrators were not limited to student athletes; the coaching staff also made racist comments that emboldened players to target and bully athletes of color, according to Diaz, who is now a licensed clinical therapist and is pursuing a Ph.D. in neuropsychology.

"As a parent, as a clinician, as a former Division I athlete, I cannot imagine how the athletic department and the coaching staff did not know," Diaz said.

Diaz, who needed his football scholarship to afford college, recalled Bret Ingalls, the Wildcats' offensive line coach at the time, telling him: "I know you grew up on dirt floors, but here we try to keep things clean," and "Ramon, you can get a job easily in summer mowing the lawn or painting houses."

Things were even worse for a Black teammate and friend, he said. During a workout, another player told his friend to "do that monkey dance you do." His clothes and even his gait were ridiculed by teammates, who told him: "why are you doing that gangster walk again?" and "I know you might dress that way when you're back in the hood ... but you can't wear that stuff here."

Diaz said he tried to kill himself at one point because of the racism and bigotry he endured, started seeing a therapist for depression, and still needs treatment to process what happened. He said the psychological damage was significant enough to impair his functioning throughout his time at Northwestern.

"I just remember the laughter. No one stopped it. And the players felt enabled because of the atmosphere created by the coaches," he said.
Now 36 years old and a parent of three, Diaz said he "cannot imagine" what he would do if forced nudity or sexual abuse happened to one of his children, although he said he's not surprised that younger players have reported similar incidents.

"The abuse is increasing and the behaviors are becoming more more severe towards the athletes," and unless the university and the NCAA address the mechanisms enabling a damaging culture, "nothing will change," he said.

The effects endure, Diaz said: His love for football evaporated. 

"I have not watched a full football game since I graduated Northwestern University," he said. "Something was taken from me."

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch was hired to investigate the University’s processes and athletics department culture.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.