NFL Drug Game Gets More Serious

PHILADELPHIA - In the prehistoric days of steroid testing - back in 1988 - a group of Philadelphia Eagles gathered at the home of a teammate to prepare to beat a scheduled drug test.

As the National Football League's former drug adviser tells it, a technician, flown into town by the players, inserted a catheter into each man and drained out his steroid-tainted urine. He then pumped the players' bladders full of clean urine, which he had brought on the plane. The players immediately drove to Veterans Stadium, where they all took - and passed - their tests.

Forest Tennant, who was the NFL's drug adviser from 1986 to 1990, said he was called by a player who had participated in the cheating and later felt guilty. Tennant said he informed the Eagles' management.

Harry Gamble, the team's president, has declined to comment. Otho Davis, the team's trainer, said he did not recall such an incident, but another player and a former team employee said they knew about it.

Such gruesome deception can't happen now, in these days of random drug testing, sophisticated detection techniques and strict controls by the NFL.

No.

Worse things happen.

According to drug experts and some players and trainers, the drive to bulk up - without getting caught - continues. They say that players have simply moved from easily detectable steroids to drugs that may be more dangerous - illegally procured drugs designed for growth-stunted children, undersized cattle and congested racehorses.

The new drugs build muscles, but they may produce side-effects ranging from enlarged hearts to grotesque facial disfigurement. They speed the aging process and increase the chances of stroke, heart attack and testicular cancer. They are not being - or cannot be - tested for by NFL police.

Think of football's war on drugs as an unending contest between the testers and the users. As the testers grow more sophisticated, the users find new growth potions and more creative ways to hide their use.

"It's a continually evolving process," said David Black, the forensic toxicologist from Nashville who designed the NFL's original steroid-testing program. "The players respond by using some new product or technique, and then we respond. Then the ball is back in their court. This is the game within the game.

"And in this game," Black added, "the bad guys are often one step ahead."

"There is a false sense of security that the problem is way down," said Tennant, who resigned from the NFL amid allegations of administrative sloppiness. "In fact, there may be just as many drugs being taken now for performance enhancement as ever before. It's just that they're different."

Tennant is most worried about human growth hormone (HGH), a synthetic compound whose medical use is restricted to children facing dwarfism.

"I think there's a huge demand for HGH," he said. "It's very extensive in the NFL."

Atlanta tackle Mike Kenn, a 14-year NFL veteran, is similarly concerned.

"The drug users are out there playing with a loaded gun," Kenn said. "For each individual, it just depends how many chambers he has and how many bullets are in the gun."

In the past few seasons, the NFL has focused on battling steroids, the muscle-bulking elixirs that infested the league for more than a decade. By improving the testing and toughening the penalties, league officials have been able to cut steroid use: The number of positive tests declined from about 150 in 1988 to just one this season.

But that crackdown has presented the league with even more vexing problems. Through a network of bodybuilding newsletters, players have been led to untested alternatives. Some have learned to hide drug use with masking agents that can be bought in gyms or through the mail. Others have employed private labs to keep tabs on their drug-enhanced testosterone levels.

"I'd like to say that the problem is becoming less," said John A. Lombardo, the NFL's current drug adviser. "And I can say that in certain avenues, such as high-dose testosterone and synthetics that would definitely give a positive test. But anything further than that - there's really no way of proving it one way or another."

Lombardo declined to speculate on how many NFL players are taking performance-enhancing drugs. Other drug advisers and trainers typically put the number of cheaters at around 15 to 20 percent - which translates to about 300 players.

In this game, the newest drugs of choice include:

-- Human growth hormone, a genetically engineered protein that accelerates bone and tissue growth.

Officially, its use is banned by the NFL. But because it is identical to hormones already found in the body, there is no way to detect it.

"HGH is what scares me now because there are no tests for it," said Jim Williams, the Eagles' strength coach. "It's very difficult to tell who's on and who's off."

Because HGH is medically approved only for children who have inadequate amounts, its long-term side-effects on adults are largely undetermined. Initial research, however, shows that it can dangerously enlarge the heart and kidneys and cause acromegaly, a disfiguring form of giantism.

The American College of Sports Medicine was concerned enough about growing abuse of HGH by athletes to issue a warning this year. Prolonged use in excessive quantities, the college said, might produce diabetes, high blood pressure and harmful effects on muscles, hearts and bones.

In a 12-week study of normal-size young adults, medical researcher Dennis Biers of St. Louis found that HGH did lead to growth of lean body mass.

"It was just a minor gain - 1 to 3 percent," he said. "But I suppose, for an athlete, that could mean all the difference in the world."

Because of tight controls, HGH is difficult to obtain and expensive - about $1,200 to $1,500 a month legally and at least twice that much on the black market. In fact, Robert Blizzard, who is regarded as the nation's foremost expert on growth research, believes that much of what is promoted as HGH in the underground is actually bovine growth hormone - designed to beef up cattle.

The veterinary version of growth hormone works on people, Blizzard said, although not as effectively as the human version.

Despite Tennant's claims of widespread use, Philadelphia guard Ron Solt said he believes that use of HGH by football players is "very rare." Given the medical evidence, Solt said, "you'd be stupid to mess with it."

But Lombardo - Tennant's replacement - said admission of HGH use this year by Lyle Alzado, a former Pro Bowl defensive lineman, makes the drug a concern.

"The fact that you have Alzado and reports of others using it shows that there's use," he said.

-- Clenbuterol, which is designed to treat respiratory problems in horses. In some European nations, the drug is sold as an anti-asthmatic agent for humans. It is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in this country - by people or animals.

Horses receiving high dosages of Clenbuterol have been shown to gain a muscle-building effect similar to that from steroids. The drug gained popularity in recent years among powerlifters and has now moved from the gym to the NFL, according to drug experts.

Paul Doig, director of veterinary medical affairs for Clenbuterol's Canadian distributor, Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd., said a person would need to take up to 60 times the prescribed dosage to gain an anabolic effect. Such massive use, he said, could also lead to increased heart rate, muscle tremors, cluster headaches and dizziness.

There are reliable tests for Clenbuterol, but the NFL has not yet banned the substance. Lombardo wonders whether the drug is just a faddish placebo.

"Publicity suggests that it has anabolic qualities," he said. "But if I said the leading anabolic agent was M&Ms, there would be a run on people going out to take M&Ms tomorrow. They'll try anything."

-- Esters of testosterone. Testosterone is the hormone that causes the increases in size and strength associated with steroid use. The esters of testosterone are short-acting, water-based steroid compounds designed to treat impotence or malnutrition. Unlike oil-based steroids, they leave the body quickly.

"The esters certainly make you more manly - bigger, faster," Tennant said. "They work as a performance-enhancing drug. But they also make you age faster and can raise your blood pressure, cholesterol level, and chances of stroke, heart attack and testicular cancer."

A player using these drugs has to monitor his testosterone ratio to keep it below the level that would alarm NFL testers. To that end, said Charles E. Yesalis, a steroids expert at Penn State University, athletes have started sending urine samples to private testing labs.

"As players talk to each other, information on this simple way to beat the system spreads," he said. "It's very simple for a player to have his sample tested. And given the amount of money at stake, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand why it's happening."

Lombardo concedes that a player taking the short-acting water steroids could probably beat his test.

"It's one area," he said, "where we have to develop better technology."

-- Dihydrotestosterone, a drug that is either taken orally or applied with a patch to the scrotum. No one knows how widespread its use is at this point.

"What we do know," said Black, the forensic toxicologist, "is that, for now, it can avoid detection. If it becomes a widespread practice, we'll have to develop some means to test for it."

But how do players keep learning to fool the testers? No medical textbooks are instructing people on what drugs or dosages to take. Yet, as Kenn said, "the word gets out there real fast. There's a definite grapevine on this stuff."

A major branch of that grapevine is publications that, while claiming not to endorse performance-enhancing drugs, certainly instruct people on how to use them. An example is the "Anabolic Reference Update," a newsletter by Mile High Publishing Inc. of Golden, Colo. It bills itself as printing "bodybuilding facts - not fantasies" and takes a lenient stance on the use of steroids and other drugs.

In a recent issue, editor Bill Phillips wrote of the "incredible results" British bodybuilders had gotten from Clenbuterol, which he termed "the latest craze" and "the drug of choice for athletes preparing for the '92 Olympic Games." The newsletter goes on to outline an effective cycle for taking the illegal drug.

In a phone interview, Phillips bristled at the idea that he was encouraging drug use.

"That's like saying that giving instruction on birth control encourages teenage sex," he said. "Believe me, these people - football players, Olympic athletes - are already taking the drugs. I'm just trying to assure the safest outcome for something that's going to occur."

Steroids were introduced to the NFL in 1963, through Alvin Roy, then the San Diego Chargers' strength coach, according to Hall of Fame tackle Ron Mix and other former players. Over the next two decades, NFL teams ignored, condoned or, in some cases, encouraged steroid use.

As information grew about the drug's dangers, the NFL announced in 1987 that it would test players for steroids. Initially, there were no penalties for positive results.

In 1987 and 1988, between 6 and 7 percent of the players tested positive for steroids. The figures might have been much higher had the league not notified them of their test times well in advance. That allowed them to pass by carefully timing their drug use or finding other ways to fool the system. And the monitoring program was so slipshod that star linebacker Lawrence Taylor of the New York Giants later claimed he had used a teammate's clean urine to avoid detection.

According to Tennant, one attempt to beat the test occurred in 1988 in Philadelphia. It involved members of the Eagles - accounts range from four players to about 10 - who paid a medical professional to fly to Philadelphia the morning of the scheduled test.

The man was chauffeured from the airport to one player's house, by Tennant's account, and there, one by one, he catheterized the players, drained their bladders, and pumped in clean urine.

Tennant said one of the players - whom he would not name - called him afterward to admit to the cheating. Tennant said he notified the Eagles' management, which was supposed to counsel the players.

Declining to comment, Gamble referred questions to Davis, the Eagles' trainer. When asked, Davis said, "I do not recall that. I don't think it's ever been substantiated."

Davis said he never had heard from Tennant on the matter nor did a directive come down from club management.

"As far as I know," he said, "it never happened."

But an Eagle employee who since has left the club said he had heard about it. And Gerry Feehery, a center on the 1988 squad, claims he knew four of the players involved.

"Of course it happened," said Feehery, who says he briefly used steroids in college but never as a pro.

Asked about the Eagles' response, Feehery said, "Nothing was ever brought up about it. Basically, the club's policy on steroids was to look the other way."

Since then, the NFL has become more diligent. Last season, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue ordered random year-round testing for steroids. And since 1989 - when 13 players were caught - those who have tested positive have been handed four-game suspensions. In 1990, four players were suspended. This season, just two players - Terry Long of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dexter Manley of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - failed the test.

Each week, a computer at NFL headquarters in New York randomly kicks out the names of about seven players per team who are to be tested. According to Jay Moyer, NFL executive vice president and league counsel, most clubs post notices in their locker rooms announcing which players have been selected. Later that same day, an NFL official witnesses their urinating into bottles.

The advance notice is just several hours, but that may still be enough to subvert the system. Legally sold products promise to hide the presence of drugs just two hours after use.

One such masking agent is Defend, sold by Power Distributors of California. The company president, Vincent Bovino, says that Defend has failed to cover up steroid use just twice in more than 1,000 tests. Bovino said he was told by a member of the Chargers that using the product had helped him avoid a suspension. And, Bovino said, he had talked with private trainers of other NFL players who allegedly use it. He declined to give names.

The Chargers would not comment on Bovino's claims.

Moyer said he had not heard of Defend. The NFL bans masking substances and diuretics, which dilute the urine, but it is nearly impossible for the league to keep up with new products on the market.

"The underlying point is that players know what works and what doesn't," said Yesalis, the steroids expert at Penn State. "It's not complicated to beat the system. So you can't really say that the league is making gains."

Other critics still question how serious the NFL is about dealing with the underlying causes of drug use.

"If players are finding a replacement in other drugs, then what good is the league's anti-steroid campaign doing?" asked Russ Bolinger, an offensive lineman with the Lions and the Rams who retired in 1985 after a 10-year NFL career.

A onetime steroid user, Bolinger believes the league needs to counsel players off steroids and the like - not to try to scare them off.

After his retirement, Bolinger tried to persuade the league to sponsor a group-counseling program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous.

"See, the guys who are taking would like to quit, but they're scared for their jobs," he said. "They need to be able to talk about it without getting in trouble."

Bolinger went to an NFL owners' meeting in 1989. He was invited to speak to the league's coaches.

"But they didn't want to be a watchdog for steroids," he said. "The coaches have enough problems. And the league officials were very suspicious of my motives."

His overall reaction?

"Given that the testing is a joke, the league's anti-steroid campaign is just a public-relations gesture," he said.

Moyer does not argue with the notion that the league is more interested in busting drug users than reforming them.

Addictive? Perhaps not. But, over the years, the admissions of NFL steroid users - from Alzado to Steve Courson, who has heart problems he attributes to steroid use - always include talk of the pressures that spur young athletes to start taking drugs.

"It's so hard to keep a job in this league that people look for an edge," said Kenn, who is president of the NFL Players Association. "Steroids and other new drugs provide that. Outwardly, you look so great and feel so great that you don't recognize the damage taking place under the skin.

"As football players, we're taught to ignore pain and injury. That learned behavior about ignoring perilous things carries over to drugs.

"Now I'm concerned about HGH and Clenbuterol. It saddens me that there are guys out there cutting their lives short. The game just isn't worth it."