Tommy Chaiken;The Nightmare of Steroids in Sports Illustrated.

This was the most sensationalistic steroid story SI ever published up to that time.A harrowing first person account of a college football named Tommy Chaiken.It's essentially a horror story of a man driven mad by demon steroids.
Sadly the young man did take a truck load of drugs,and make himself very sick in the process.
This story was written in the aftermath of the Ben Johnson Olympic steroid scandal.The press was hot on the trail for stories of steroid abuse.SI found a big one in the University of South Carolina Gamecocks Football team.

The Nightmare of Steroids.

The Nightmare of Steroids in SI

                  
This is the original magazine layout from the SI Archives.I can't find the story on the site as a plain transcripted article.I don't know why? It seems as though I can find full table of contents,and articles for most issues I've looked at.This article isn't listed in this issue's table of contents,or transcribed.
If you want to read it you will have to go to the site,and read it in the original.
The story was written by Rick Telander,who had a football focus.The article was illustrated with excellent water color paintings by Jeffrey Smith.
It's told in the first person by Tommy Chaiken a young man who played for the Gamecocks college football team from 1984-1987.

It opens with Chaiken sitting on his bed with a gun under his chin.He had degenerated so far into a state of severe anxiety that he was at the breaking point.Panicking,incapable of functioning.His father talked to him from the other side of the door,and calmed him down.That's a very dramatic way to start a story.
How did he get there? It took awhile.About three years of savage tackles,drugs,and wild behavior.
He was a successful high school football player who came to a big division one college team.He was put through the smashing machine of football training to toughen the players up for a much higher level of play.
They were pushed hard to show they were willing to fight.
"If you showed a violent nature,regardless of your athletic ability,it definitely swayed the coaches opinions in your favor."
Chaiken felt the pressure to measure up.He wanted to be lean,and fast.Instead he just got pushed around.

Tackled during practice

The players were practicing in the heat.Drills,and more drills.Trying to find any shade.Sometimes dropping from exhaustion.Chaiken passed out in a huddle once.
The head coach,Joe Morrison,Standing on the sidelines dressed in black.Smoking.
"I think his smoking was kind of a poor example for us,as far as drugs are concerned."
( Now I do have to chuckle at that.Kid,that was not the impetus for you to use steroids! ) 

The subject of steroids came up early.Joking references.A knowing mention from an older player.But Chaiken didn't really know anything about it,or want to,at first.
But the message got through.The defensive line coach Jim Washburn said "Do what you have to do,take what you have to take."
After Chaiken started using Washbun noticed his 25 pound weight gain " You look great!".
Chaiken responded "Yeah,I've begun the chemical warfare."
 "People who say steroids don't work don't know what they're talking about.You've got to experience   it to know what I mean.Your muscles swell;they retain water and they just grow.You can work out much harder than before,and your muscles don't get as sore.You're more motivated in the weight room and you've got more energy because of the psychological effects of the drug."
Chaiken goes into the predictable story of drugs,cycles,injections,pills,and his increasing strength,and weight gain.He becomes one of the Big guys.He starts selling to others.He's drinking,trying cocaine,and LSD.He played a game with a xylocaine injection in his injured toe.Numbed during the game,in agony after.Players were becoming bloated,and having cramps trying to run.Keith Kephart,the strength coach,asked who was using Anadrol? Players raised their hands .He warned them about it.Said they could come to him for counseling.But he didn't stop them.
They were needle happy boys having pinning parties in their dorm rooms.You do me,I'll do you.
(sounds like the plot of a video 'pin party boys' )
By the spring of '84 Chaiken was being called Quasibloato.Benching almost 500lbs.Squatting more than 600lbs.The weightlifting meet for the team was called the 'Iron Cocks'.
The two themes for the rest of the story are violence,and illness.
The violence stories.He's edgy,and hyper aggressive.
He beats up a marine in a bar.
Players are getting drunk,and headbutting car windows.
He gets into a fight in an alley,and the man pulls a knife on him.Cuts him.
He and his buddies go out in the countryside to shoot signs,mailboxes,a cow.
Fights cops in Fort Lauderdale.Loses.Ends up in court.They let 'the fighting gamecock' go.
He bashes up his room with a baseball bat.
Pulls a gun on a random pizza boy.
Here is the classic steroid psycho.But I'm smelling a whiff  of something.He just pulls a shotgun on a pizza boy without any further consequences?
I know there were,and are,some wild goings on with college football teams.But it's still a little hard to believe there isn't some exaggeration in this litany of mayhem.I don't know how well they were capable of fact checking his stories.
The illness,and injuries were profound too.
He gradually collapsed into a heap of malfunctioning rubble.
His blood pressure was high.A common problem with AAS.Worse the doctor was hearing a heart murmur.
He developed colitis,and was bleeding rectally.
Often was sick with pneumonia,bronchitis,and exhaustion.
He left a game once with chest pain,and cold sweats.
At the end of that season he had to have knee surgery.
In his third varsity season when he came back he started using again,and it went from bad to horrible.
His blood pressure shot up,and he was having hot flashes.
Then he had a small tumor removed from his hand.The doctor said it was caused by steroids.( !? )
The college wouldn't pay for it because it wasn't football related.He got angry,and quit the team.
For awhile.Then he apologized to coach Morrison and came back.His sense of self worth was still tied up with playing.
His anxiety problem kept getting more intense.He was becoming crippled by panic attacks.
 "I can't really describe an attack,except to say it's like your mind is a car engine stuck in                     neutral,with the gas pedal to the floor,just screaming.There is terror mixed in,and  you think that you're going to explode.The anxiety attacks were the worst mental pain I'd ever experienced."
He said at this point he had only recently had one shot of Parabolin in the last five months.
But he was having repeated episodes of anxiety attacks,and hiding in his room just trying to get through them.Numb,paranoid,ears whooshing,seeing a gray colorless world.He was contemplating suicide.
He forced himself through a few games,and then quit in the third quarter of a game against Virginia.His mind was a muddle.
He was sent home to see a psychiatrist.He was put on stelazine  ( an antipsychotic )by one doctor,and an added antidepressant by another.He didn't feel better.He collapsed one day at college,and lost control of his bladder,and bowels.
He was finished.His father came,and brought him home at this time.

This story had a hell of an impact at the time.It changed many of the lives of those involved.Most people didn't have any idea how anabolic steroids could affect a user.It was a shocking revelation to the average sports fan.I certainly was shocked by it.
It's possible that there are elements of exaggeration in the story.But Chaiken's drug usage looks like it damn near killed him.
I would want to bring up a few points.
He was stacking multiple Anabolic Androgenic Steroids.The usual list of popular drugs at the time.Also taking large dosages.
He was drinking alcohol.
He may have had preexisting undiagnosed  psychiatric conditions.
The psychiatric drugs he started taking may ( probably did ) affect him.
He was playing football.We now know that many,if not most,football players are at risk for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.He reported feelings of dizziness,and headaches.He may had a concussion.It's possible that was a factor in his illness.
We'll never know the full details on his health.But he did live,and returned to health eventually.

The immediate impact of the story was an investigation,and Indictment of several coaches,and Chaiken's drug dealer.From the New York Times.

Indicted were the defensive line coach, James W. Washburn, 39 years old; the tight end coach, Thomas Kurucz, 42; the defensive coordinator, Thomas E. Gadd, 42, and Keith Kephart, 44, the strength and conditioning coach.

A fifth person indicted was John Landon Carter, of Bethesda, Md., who was charged with dispensing anabolic steriods to four former Gamecock players: Tommy Chaikin, David Poinsett, Heyward Myers and George Hyder.

From the Los Angeles Times.

"Today's indictments highlight the growing problem of the illegal use of anabolic steroids and the abuse of them by college athletes," U.S. Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said in a prepared statement."

 Here's the sentencing from the NYT

COLUMBIA, S.C., Aug. 10— Three former South Carolina assistant football coaches were sentenced today for their convictions stemming from the use and distribution of steroids within the athletic department. Their sentences ranged from three months to six months in a halfway house.

United States District Judge G. Ross Anderson also sentenced John L. Carter of Bethesda, Md., who was convicted of similar charges, to three months at a community security facility.

Among the coaches, Tom Kurucz received the harshest sentence: six months in a halfway house and three years' probation. Jim Washburn and Keith Kephart were sentenced to three months in a halfway house and given three-year probationary terms.

Kephart, 44, was South Carolina's strength coach from 1982 to 1988, and Washburn, 39, was a Gamecock assistant from 1982 to 1988. Kurucz, 42, was at South Carolina from 1982 to 1986.

The grand jury investigation of steroid use in the school's athletic department was prompted by disclosures by Tommy Chaikin, a former Gamecock football player, in an article in Sports Illustrated last fall.

Head Coach Joe Morrison died of a heart attack shortly after the story came out.This is the story on the anniversary of his death including the original local paper story.
He had claimed not to have knowledge of the drug usage of the players.
His former assistant coaches talked about his legacy.They basically said he let the players get away with bad behavior as long as they could show up to play.An unfortunate,but not uncommon attitude among college football coaches.

Jim Washburn went on to coach in the NFL for many years.He was with the Tennessee Titans,the Philadelphia Eagles,and the Detroit Lions.
He got fired from the Eagles for not getting along with the other coaches ( I guess it doesn't it doesn't go over well to call a guy Juanita )See story on the NFL site.
See this story from NBC Sports.
He kept working as a coach at a very high level.But clearly he didn't make a good impression on everyone.He was given a second chance others weren't.

Keith Kephart said he knew about the steroid use in this Chicago Tribune article.
He never worked in coaching again,and moved back to South Carolina to be a personal trainer.
See this Jayhawk Slant story.
He had been the president of the National Strength and Conditioning Association.NSCA
He went from a liked,and successful college strength coach to a personal trainer with a record because of this.

Tom Kurucz ;I didn't find any record of a return to coaching.

Tom Gadd ; had coached before at the University of Utah.He said they had a made players,and their parents sign a consent form for the use of steroids.This seemed to come out during his trail in South Carolina.See LA Times story.
Another AP story  on Gadd,and Washburn stated they were helping the players get the steroids.
Here's a a story where Gadd defends himself and says he tried to get them to stop using.
Gadd went on to coach back at Utah,and other colleges.He was then hired as head coach at Bucknell University.He had a long successful career there.He died at the age of 56 in 2003 of a brain tumor.
See this story on his death.
It's good to see he took the opportunity to redeem himself.

On the consent form?
Amazing.I've never heard of there being any consent forms/legal waivers being used in college football for steroid usage.This was in the early 80's before there was extensive knowledge about steroids.Imagine getting American parents to sign something like that now.I wonder if anyone will be made to sign a waiver for CTE in football?

Chaiken did mention his friend George Hyder several times in the story.He,and George were lifting buddies,and usually up to the same shenanigans.( and by shenanigans I mean drug use,vandalism,and cow shooting )
Hyder,and the other players weren't prosecuted.
I tired to find out what happened to Hyder.I think I've found him.
He served in the Military.Then became a personal trainer,and Yoga instructor.
Here is a dedication in a friends book on yoga.
He died  at the age of 37 in 2001.See obituary.The birth year would be consistent with the time he would have been in college.
What I learned from George Hyder a remembrance from his friends in yoga would confirm his having been the George Hyder who played for the Gamecocks.

Tommy Chaiken

Now what became of Tommy Chaiken.
I think it's revealing to look at this excellent article by journalist Sally Jenkins.
This is from March 1989. A South Carolina Scandal.
He's down 50lbs and working as a landscaper back in his home state of Maryland.
He received plenty of blow back from the story besides the legal ramifications including hate mail,and threats.South Carolina Athletic Director King Dixon  said he "defamed" the school.
Dixon;

"That article was like a 2,000-pound bomb going off," Dixon said. "It was devastating to South Carolina. It's tainted us, it's had a tremendous adverse effect as far as what other people think of us. We're still trying to assess the damage. We've had intense negative publicity. There's been a full-fledged investigation of allegations that are still unfounded. And we've gotten a clean bill of health."

It really rocked the Gamecocks,and all of college football.

Jenkins brings up an important point in revealing the fact that Chaiken was paid for the story.
4,500 for the original SI story.
And..

"Sports Illustrated paid his legal fees, which Managing Editor Mark Mulvoy said were about $20,000. Anders said the magazine could be accused of a conflict of interest in advising Chaikin legally, but Mulvoy said the player was informed of all the dangers in publishing his story, including criminal charges."

Chaiken also admitted he had been hoping for a book deal.( which he never got )
He said he told the truth besides a few figures he may have mistaken.He also admitted he regretted naming friends,and making them feel like he was pointing fingers.But he maintained his intent was to expose the drug problem.Not personal gain.
Chaiken;

"I think I helped more people than I hurt," he said. "When you expose something like that, certain people are going to be uprooted."

 Jim Washburn said in the team's defense;

"We had a bunch of great kids, I thought. No different from the average college kids."

I found this update from 2005 by Pete Iocobelli of Associated Press.
2005 story on Tommy Chaiken.
 He's in good health,and married with kids.
And there's still resentment toward him.
Todd Ellis the team quarterback said;

"No question there was betrayal, hurt and surprise,” said Ellis, an attorney. “If he had problems, he should’ve come to the team and talked instead of bringing in third parties. I’m not sure what the gain was for Tommy Chaikin. ... Nobody understood.”

 Ellis made a good point about the consciousness of steroids then,and later.

Ellis said, ... public’s knowledge about steroids wasn’t close to what’s out there now. “It’s like the difference between a smoker in the 1960s and the knowledge there is now,”

This article was one small reason the knowledge changed.
It was shocking,and pulled back the cover on a world of drug pumped crazy college boys.
I do think it's a story told in a tone of sensationalism.Wild,and harshly dramatic.
That doesn't mean it's not largely accurate to what happened.Football hammers people.
I do feel sorry for the poor guy.He blew his life up.He's lucky he landed on his feet.


(Dec,17) I want to note that someone commented the shooting of the cow was accidental.

Steve Courson and the consequences of his Anabolic Steroid use.

I'll try to provide some further information,and links on Steve Courson and his life after the big Sports Illustrated article.He came forward and admitted his long use of Androgenic-Anabolic Steroids  while playing college and Pro football.
This was a period of more light being shined on the subject,and he became a focus of attention.
Courson played for the Steelers from 1978–1983 and retired in 1985 after two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.In 1991 he wrote a book called "False Glory: The Steve Courson Story."
I haven't read it.But I might some day.
He took a hard turn against steroid usage, and expressed regret over "Selling myself out to the system by using drugs to compete.''
Courson also developed a severe heart problem,cardiomyopathy.He didn't say he was certain the drug use was the only cause.But it's certainly possible that it contributed.He was on the heart transplant list for a time.But remarkably he exercised,and lost enough weight to be removed from it.He regained as much of his health as possible under the circumstances and became a personal trainer.

I have to give the man credit for having the incredible will to push himself to recovery.

This article from SI in early 1992 describes the difficult  time after his health deterioration.
In the Aftermath of Steroids.
It does present the hard facts of the impact of steroids on Courson's health.
This is the just of the story;

"Courson gobbled steroids and kept almost 300 pounds on his . 6'1" frame so that he could ;continue, as he says, "to perform in a sport that I would have played for nothing." He knew the drug-taking was wrong and unhealthy, but everyone else was doing it, he claims, so why not? "Without naming names,"writes Courson, "I can state unequivocally that during my time in Pittsburgh 75 percent of the Steeler offensive line took anabolic-androgenic steroids at one time or another.... The fact is, our AAS usage was the same—give or take—as most NFL teams at that time."

"Gobbled Steroids?" Writers love to use words like gobbled food,or guzzled soft drinks when it refers to something disapproved of.The writer must have pictured people swallowing handfuls of pills.
 But yes,he clearly over loaded his body to the breaking point.
This brings up the question of  people's choices,and free will.If Courson had it to do over again would he have taken steroids? Considering his love of football,and his competitiveness, I'd say he would have.Hindsight is 20/20 vision as they say.But we don't know the full consequences of our actions until after fact.At the time he played everyone around him was using AAS.It would have taken an unusual aversion to drugs to reject what was seen at the time as a helpful medicinal aid.The more negative aspects of AAS use were not as widely acknowledged.Nor the long term harms as generally known.Many doctors weren't even very familiar with athletic levels of use.
No one can shout at themselves back in time to say "don't do that!".
But he had to live with his regrets.At least the man was honest,and took responsibility.

He can be seen in this clip from his appearance before the US Senate speaking about his use.

When you take into account what we now know about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy,Steroids may not even be the worst risk in football.
It's a hell of a sport where men bulk themselves up to bash their brains out.
That's a pretty dark way of looking at it.I just hope it's worth it to those who play in the NFL.

In the end Courson's heart didn't give out.He died at the age of 50 in an unusual accident when a tree he was cutting down fell on him.

Steve Courson and 'The Steroid Explosion'.1985 story in Sports Illustrated on steroids in the NFL.

I've been reviewing some of the major steroid stories in Sports Illustrated.It's America's most prominent sports magazine,and a source of high level journalism.The standard is ( usually ) up to the level of top news reporting,and investigative journalism on any subject.They've had some great writers over the years.
I took the magazine from the early eighties to about early 2000's.I was mainly following the tennis stories.But I read a lot of the articles.It was a pleasure to read so many fascinating stories about all kinds of things I wouldn't have thought to look into otherwise.It presented many great human stories through the lens of sports.
Of course I was always interested in anything about bodybuilding,and weight training in general.
Including the revealing stories about football players training,and affinity for the world of weights.
Football players often engaged in power lifting,and general bodybuilding.Many were friends of the gym scene.
I was a football fan when I was a child.My father was a fan of the Dallas Cowboys.Which is a little funny because he was from New York City.He lived the rest of his life in Texas were my Mom was from.
I really enjoyed the drama,and color of football.They seemed like mighty giants fighting it out on the field.And this was the time of the classic Cowboys team coached by Tom Landry.Roger Staubach,Tony Dorsett and others.I think I even had a poster of the team on my wall.
That time in football was great.It was certainly more innocent for the fans.Most people had never heard of steroids.And it was far before the knowledge of CTE.

This was also the time of the great Pittsburgh Steelers teams.They had the reputation of being some of the toughest bastards that ever thundered over the gridiron.
This was the era of Terry Bradshaw,Mel Blount,"Mean" Joe Green,Jack Ham,Franco Harris,Jack Lambert,John Stallworth,Lynn Swan,and Mike Webster.
Mike Webster was one of the main subjects of the film Concussion.
It was was based on the book League of Denial.It was also the subject of an excellent documentary made by PBS Frontline.You might be able to find it free on YouTube.
Webster was the first NFL football player medical examiner Dr Bennett Omalu performed an autopsy on.Which lead him to discover the evidence of catastrophic brain injury in football players named Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy,or CTE.

Steve Courson was one of the players during this era.He was a teammate of Webster.

Steve Courson and Mike Webster

In the May 13, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated Steve Courson was a subject in the three part expose of Anabolic Steroids.
The story is listed on the cover as "The Steroid Explosion."

All the issues of Sports Illustrated are online in the SI Vault.But it's not always easy to find stories.The search system isn't good.
You can see the whole issue with original photos,or easier to read print.( you can just keep going forward in the full issue to view all original images )
The first part is Steroids:A Problem of Huge Dimensions.
Here is the print version.
The story is by William Oscar Johnson, a respected writer.
The main photo is a two page picture of Steve Courson looking like a great burly beast.Doing bicep cable curls,and sweating profusely.He appears to be a fine example of the big lumbering lineman.He's big,and smooth.Not cut with the fine delineation of a bodybuilder.
I would hate to be the opposing player who was on the other side of this genuine hulk.He could run into you like a freight train.Good night buddy.
There's a picture on the next page of a shirtless man holding a tray of various steroids.It's like Jeeves bringing you your morning Winny.Of course there are some current bodybuilders who would look at that picture now and drool.Because those are all real pharmaceutical drugs.Not black market Mexican horse 'roids.Whinny indeed.
So the story goes into the use in college football,the NFL,the USFL ( it was a now defunct football league.Trump owned a team.Yes.Really),and gyms across America.
I'm not sure the writer had the history of steroids correct.He said they were invented  at the University of Alabama! Huh? I didn't know UAB was in Germany!
We have the usual rundown of effects,and side effects.Including the psychological symptoms.Such as a young man named Scott who was suffering from an obsessive case of what we would now call muscle dysmorphia,or 'bigorexia'.

His wife, Kathy, said, "I'm so tired of him asking me, 'Do I look big? Do I look small?' It's annoying."

Sadly steroids made Scott annoying.Maybe Scott was annoying already,and they just helped.
The story does cover the experts,and drug dealers at the time.The serious legal issues that have now buried steroids in the law were starting to blow up.

On to the second part of the series Getting Physical-And Chemical. ( print )
This is the first person account of Steve Courson and his personal experience with using steroids.He is very honest,and open about his reasons for feeling he needed to use.
It's one of the most forthcoming pieces on the issue of steroid use in major league sports you will find.Particularly at that time.

"Football is my business. I take this attitude toward drugs: They give me an edge in my business. I don't regret anything I've done so far as pharmaceutical use is concerned. It's very easy for people on the outside to criticize."

The third part of the series is A Business Built On Bulk. ( print )
It's about a drug dealer named Charles Radler.

"Radler was running the most lucrative steroid-dealing operation in the U.S. His records showed he was grossing $20,000 a week and that in the last nine months of 1983 he had salted away more than $673,000 in four different bank accounts."

He was arrested and sent to prison.
But before they caught up with him he was doing a thriving business.He had been working at a pizza place when he got into lifting.He started using steroids himself.Then got the bright idea to go into selling more than pizza.He looked up names in a powerlifting magazine,and sent out fliers in the mail.Responses came in.He went on to live the movie drug kingpin life.Money,cars,guns,and a ruined life.
He received a surprisingly short sentence.( I'm sure he'd do more time now )
I didn't find further news on him.

Some readers may find the stories generally sensationalistic in tone.Steroid stories almost always play heavy on the negatives,and concerns.But I've seen far worse.It's fair,and accurate about the scene at the time.
I do think it's an interesting insight into the developing story of steroids in sports.

I'm going to do a further post on Steve Courson,and follow his story.
There were serious repercussions in his life due to steroid usage.
Heart problems,and legal scrutiny.

Steve Courson on the field.

Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

In 1988 sprinter Ben Johnson was caught using an Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid during the Seoul Summer Olympic games.
It was a massive story at the time.He didn't just win the race.He left them in the shadows.He blitzed them.
Most of these runners were probably doping.But he got caught.

He was stripped of his gold medal.
The fact is he physically won that race.That's what happened.
But he tested positive for a banned substance.History erased on paper.

This was a watershed moment in sports history.
Before;most people probably hadn't heard of steroids,after everyone had.
They were shocked,and became suspicious,and cynical.
People don't like to be made fools of and they felt like they had.They didn't know what was going on behind the scenes in high level sports.
The evidence of the East German doping program had been noticed by those following international sport.But before the fall of East Germany all the records,and revelations were yet to see the full light of day.
This was the time when people realized how much of a difference doping an athlete could make.At least that was the perception.That Ben Johnson was a kind of Stanozolol powered Superman.
Who knows how these athletes would have performed if they were all perfectly natural?
Ben Johnson might have still won.We'll never know.

Here's the Sports Illustrated covering the story at the time.
The loser

Here's the famous cover Busted.

I think it's worth looking at the history of the increased awareness of AAS use in sports.It has certainly effected the view of bodybuilding,weightlifting,and physiques in general.
People have become intensely suspicious of anyone with muscular size.
To be a muscular human now seems to attract accusations of being a 'cheater'.
I think too many people overreact ,and howl "Roids! You can't fool me!"
Clearly people have been fooled in the past over all kinds of subjects.They'll get fooled again by many more.
Better more informed opinions than jumping to conclusions if you ask me.

I'll post a few more stories of interest on this period.