European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 23, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 26 the stars and stripes sunday february 23. 1986 athletes drug use forces pro sports of Foster solutions by Hal Bock a p sports writer in Ihu Spring of 1980, Catcher Darrell Purler then with the Kansas City royals abruptly left the team s training Camp with no explanation. It took some time before the reason sur faced and when in did it was a shocker alcohol and drug rehabilitation. Until then sports appeared to be immune from drugs. Porter s admission was the first indication that All was not Serene in this tight Little society and it was the first in a series of disclosures and admissions that continue to Rock a billion Dollar Industry. Six years later the stain of drugs is still spreading in sports. Only the names arc bigger All pros and All stars even super bowl players. If you look at the purposes for involve ment in drugs it does t Surprise me that it s reached superstars said or. Thomas Tulko. A sports psychologist at san Jose slate University who did much of the Early research on drugs in sports. I think this will get a Little worse be fore in gets better. It will take some big Sun suffering a Clear deterioration for it to turn around he said. Two years after Porter pro football player Don Reese talked freely about the rampant use of drugs in the National football league. Two years after Reese four nil play ers Pete Johnson Ross Browner . Junior and Greg Stemrick were sus Pended by commissioner Pete Roc Lac for their involvement with cocaine. That same year four Kansas City base Ball players including sex batting Champi on Willie Wilson and by Young award Winner Vida Blue were suspended after pleading guilty to Federal drug charges. Also suspended at that time was Pitcher Steve Howe who after repeated relapses was released by the los Angeles dodgers and Minnesota twins and now is out of baseball. A week before the royals Case was being tried pro basketball player Micheal Ray Richardson suffered a relapse of his drug problem and asked the National basketball association for assistance. His most recent scrape with the drug scene occurred two months ago. When Richard son arrived at the rehabilitation Center the last time another Aba Star Walter Davis was already there. In october 1983, the Aba put in place what has developed into the most effective drug program in pro sports. It encourages abusers to voluntarily step Forward for help yet sets successively firmer punish ment for relapses. Our goal is rehabilitation commissioner David Stern said. It would be easy to say. One shot and they re out. We Lake a More compassionate View but we want to Send the message thai our patience has some last month former All Star John Drew was banned from the Aba because the league said he used up All of his chances involving drug rehabilitation. Richardson has one More Chance so to speak As do Quintin daily of the Chi Cago bulls and John Lucas of the Houston rockets. Hockey meanwhile has one of the cleanest drug records in sports and nil president John Ziegler says it s because his no nonsense message is Clear if players Are going to perform an Ille Gal act like taking drugs i Tell them to do it somewhere else. I Don t want a Crook in my two players each were suspended 40 games in separate incidents involving drug charges. In 1978, Don Murdoch of the new York rangers was penalized after being charged with cocaine Possession and in 1983, Ric Nattress was benched following his conviction for Possession of illegal drugs. Boxing was stung last week when Tim Witherspoon the Aba heavyweight Champion was placed on one year Proba Tion by the Georgia boxing commission after traces of marijuana appeared in his urine following his title bout with Tony Tubbs. Most of the drug headlines however have belonged to football and baseball players. Last summer baseball was embarrassed when a Parade of seven players including former most valuable players Dave Par Ker and Keith Hernandez testified at a Federal drug trial in Pittsburgh. Still pending is what baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth will do about the two dozen players he has interviewed since Jan. I. All had been linked to drugs and in addition to Parker and Hernandez names include stars like Tim Raines and Joaquin Andujar. Last month it was disclosed that six members of the new England patriots super bowl losers to the Chicago bean admitted to coach Raymond Berry that they had used illegal drugs. Two of those players were All pros Irving Fryar and Raymond Clayborn. The pals Case remains under review by commissioner Pete Roc Lac. Now one of the nil s top stars line Backer Lawrence Taylor of the new York giants reportedly has entered a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. Will fans see More big names Tutko for one thinks it s possible be cause As he says superstars Are not immune they Are babied and coddled. They re adults but they re really still kids Chil Dren prone to drug usage. Tough Guys won t take drugs. The ones who be been pro a it Akitt so Joe i babied arc More prone to look for an elixir a Way out. Tough Guys do it for them where will it end management says with mandatory random spot testing a concept steadfastly resisted by the player unions. The Mcaa with no Union opposition to face passed a Resolution last month Call ing for spot testing at All of its championship events and promised forfeits and suspensions of players coaches and other team personnel if results Are positive. The men s International pro Tennis Council also instituted spot testing last year and said players refusing to cooperate would be suspended. Baseball has inserted testing clauses in about Iso contracts signed by players Dur ing the Winter and groups of players from teams like Baltimore and Minnesota have agreed to testing. It s become a relatively non controversial matter and confirms our judgment that the overwhelming number of players Are clean said Barry Rona counsel for management s player relations commit tee. It remains controversial however for the major league players association which has filed a grievance Over the test ing clauses claiming the Issue belongs in collective not individual bargaining. Last october baseball management abandoned its jointly negotiated drug agreement and has not replaced it. In our View any program would have to have a meaningful detection mechanism so you can discover the problem Early and treat it Rona said. The Only Way we know to do that is drug testing. The existing pro Gram did not have that and that is Why it was if i could write a new drug program for baseball it would stress education said Gene Orza counsel for the players association. It would not be adversarial or heavy handed. It would not contain coercion. It would treat the players like adults and it would contain some incentive to stay the Union s educational Campaign began earlier this month with the release of a colouring Book an Effort that has been derided by some As a rather simplistic approach to a complicated problem. Like baseball football has been trying to get its drug program which Calls for mandatory testing in training Camp out of the collective bargaining agreement. Gene Upshaw executive director of the nil players association scheduled to Englan major problems. The program we have is adequate Upshaw said. It has the Only mandatory testing clause. If a player shows positive that s reasonable cause to continue testing. Confidentiality was the key. New England mortally damaged the program. It was a major step backward. Those six were clean for Over a year. They made it sound like they were on drugs yesterday. I get numbers not names. Players were coming Forward and getting help. What new England did by releasing names put it in the closet. Now they won t come Forward. That s the biggest tragedy. They be put us Back to Square Upshaw has supported harsh penalties for drug users who do not come Forward. We want the Downside so severe that they la stay away from the stuff he said. If you come Forward Well gel you help. If the authorities get you it Means disc when the Union polled players on the subject of drugs Upshaw said reaction was mixed except on spot drug checking where 74 percent opposed it. We have a right of privacy in this country and i intend to protect that he said. Newcombe Roche named to Tennis Hof Boca Raton Fla. A austra lians John Newcombe and Tony Roche who combined to win 12 grand slam Dou Bles titles and american Chuck Mckinley were among six inductees named Friday to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Also elected were Nicola Pietrangeli of Italy the late Dorothy round Little of great Britain and Ted Tinling. Selected for his outstanding contributions to the game. Newcombe is credited with possessing one of the Best games in modern Power Tennis. He captured the men s title at Wimbledon in 1967, 1970 and 1971 the . Singles in 1967 and 1973 and the australian open singles in 1973 and 1975. A founder of the association of Tennis professionals the players Union Newcombe teamed with Roche to capture the Wimbledon title five times the australian doubles four times the French doubles in 1967 and 1969 and the us. Doubles in 1967. In 1966, Roche won the French and ital Ian singles titles and was runner up to Rod Laver in the first open Wimbledon in 1968. Pietrangeli was at his Best on the slow Clay surfaces winning the italian singles championship in 19s7 and 1961, and the French Crown in 19s9 and 1960. He also holds the record for the most victories in Davis cup play 78 in singles and 42 in doubles. Mckinley ranked among the top five play ers in the world from 1962-64, won the Wimbledon title in 1963. In his doubles partnership with Dennis Ralston Mckinley won four straight . Doubles titles. Little who died in 1982, won in 1934 and 1937 at Wimbledon. She played on Britain s 1931 and 1936. Tinling has been involved in the sport for six decades beginning at 13 when he served As a referee for the legendary French player Suzanne Lenglen. I
