The Most Surprising Drug Users in Sports History
A look at a list of athletes who are quiet and unassuming who have been linked to drug usage.
Image via Complex Original
It's not "surprising" to us that a guy who looks like this or acts like this or consistently has run-ins with the law like this would choose to do drugs at some point in his free time. Doing drugs doesn't make you unique. In fact, over 100 million Americans have tried marijuana, some are just better at hiding it than others. Just as you can make judgments by watching people (don't kid yourself, you can do it) there's also a lot of inferences you can make by watching an athlete's demeanor on the court/field. Some guys are quiet, some guys are rowdy, some guys test authority by constantly screaming at officials. Their behaviors in plain sight cause many sports fans to make up their minds about what types of people they are (fair or not).
We also live in an era where athletes get the celebrity treatment. That means you can make further inferences about their lives. Sometimes their off-field conduct doesn't mesh with their on-field persona. Perfect example? Marvin Harrison. We're not sure if we saw him say five words in his 13-year career. Then, as he neared retirement, we suddenly heard a wave of stories about him in connection to shooting "incidents." Oscar Pistorius is another guy who fits that mold. What little sympathy we had in our hearts felt bad when he didn't medal. Now? Eh...we feel bad for those he beat.
This rundown is an attempt to discern the athletes whom we could've looked at and said "he's probably on drugs," from the guys we hadn't internally accused. If you're wondering where the PED users are, that's another list for another time. Here are the Most Surprising Drug Users in Sports History.
Note: Let's be honest, most athletes (as well as most people) have done recreational drugs at some point. In order to be qualified for this list you had to be a surprising culprit whose drug usage made headlines.
Andre Agassi
When Andre Agassi released his autobiography Open in 2009, there were two revelations that actually generated a hint of publicity. The first revelation was that his ridiculous Joe Dirt haircut was actually a wig (which also happened in Joe Dirt). The second was the he did crystal meth in 1997 (which would at least in part explain his marriage to Brooke Shields). This pissed off his contemporaries. Roger Federer claimed he was "shocked and disappointed," while Marat Safin said he should lose his titles and give back his prize money.
Even though he tested positive during the same year he skirted the wrath of the ATP by lying and saying that he'd accidentally drank a spiked soda that was being downed by his assistant. Remember, this was in an era before Rafael Palmeiro and Ryan Braun showed us how talented athletes can be when it comes to lying. The ATP bought his bullshit and he retained his career and legacy, only to reveal it himself a dozen years later. The book went on to reach No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List netting Agassi a hefty sum for this decade old revelation. This confirmed a suspicion that we always assumed: winners indeed do use drugs.
Don't ever let anybody tell you otherwise.
Sam Hurd
Some of these guys are on here for smoking a joint. Some are on here for snorting some coke. And then you got Sam Hurd who surprised us all by trying to setup a distribution network as if he were merely using his NFL career as a front for his drug dealing. Hurd was caught negotiating with undercover federal agents over the wholesale price he'd pay for both cocaine and marijuana. He came to an agreement to spend $25,000 per kilo of coke and $450 per pound of pot (we'll led our drug dealing readers tell us if that's a good deal or not in the comment section). He was immediately arrested and released from the Bears and pled 'not guilty' before posting bail. This worked for seven months until he violated his bond by failing two drug tests because (in his words) he was addicted to marijuana. At that point he had an epiphany, realized he was guilty, switched his plea and got sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Josh Hamilton
It's possible you're not surprised by Josh Hamilton's drug use and (if you're not a baseball fan) it's possible that that's all you know him for. That's fair. But when the Devil Rays took him with the first overall pick in 1999, they couldn't have envisioned that he'd go from this, to this, in just under two years. Professional sports organizations have protocols for passing on guys with "character issues" but it's difficult when those issues don't arise until after you've already drafted them.
Ron Washington
You're never too old to try new things whether it be skydiving, choosing hot wings over mild wings, or snorting cocaine on a road trip in the middle of a 162-game baseball season. At the age of 57, that's what (now) former Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington opted to do, jolting his nose instead of his team (who finished second in the AL West). He opted to inhale the stimulant at the worst possible time, just a week before his only mandatory drug test of the season.
Len Bias
Pro sports are full of tales of guys who suffered injuries and accidents that derailed their careers before they could even begin. Perhaps none is more well known than the story of Len Bias. Coming off of two straight All-American Teams, Bias was snatched up by the Celtics with the second overall pick in 1986. His future was as bright as a laser pointer foolishly directed into your retina, but it all came to a tragic end two freaking days later when Bias suffered a cocaine overdose and collapsed in his Maryland dorm. Two hours later, he was pronounced dead. In just a day and a half he had experienced the highest of highs, and the lowest of highs. Perhaps no one was more surprised than the city of Boston with Celtics president Red Auerbach calling the events the most shocking thing to happen to the metropolis since John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Don Rogers
Eight days after Len Bias died, the sports world lost another athlete to a heart attack caused by a coke overdose. This time it was Cleveland Browns safety (and former Defensive Rookie of the Year) Don Rogers. This second loss occurred the night before Rogers' wedding (a former teammate described it as "his last great party") and spurred a national dialogue on the relationship between athletes and drugs. It was something that caused many people to perk up and take notice except for his little brother who died of cocaine intoxication last year.
Thurman Thomas
Would we be shocked if everybody in the NFL was smoking pot? No (now that Tim Tebow is gone). But there's still an occasional player who scrolls across the Bottom Line that makes you stop and say "Really?" before carrying on with your life and forgetting about it ten minutes later. Thurman Thomas is one of those players.
Thomas has volunteered in political campaigns, owns his own businesses, and was on the cusp of entering the Hall of Fame. Then he made the mistake of going to Alabama to play a charity golf tournament. You know how they tell you to avoid peer pressure, and nobody ever does because we're all pushovers who want to be loved? That yearning never leaves, and that seemed to be Thomas's excuse with his wife saying "Basically, what he has said was some other guys were with him and because it was near his room, he got caught up in it. He's not claiming any responsibility for it."
Jennifer Capriati
In 1993, at the age of 17, Jennifer Capriati was caught shoplifting a $15 ring from a mall kiosk. Capriati claimed it was an accident and thus was issued a citation because if you can't trust a drug addict, who can you trust? It was just the beginning of some very troubling events that would occur in the budding star's life.
Just a couple of months later she found herself in a drug counseling program. At that point she contemplated suicide due to issues over her appearances, relationships and because she was burning out on tennis (which led to several retirements). After climbing back into the competitive ranks (and ascending to the No. 1 spot in 2001) Capriati eventually slid back into her drug problems and "accidentally" overdosed on prescription pills in 2013. After that she got in trouble for battery, stalking and went to anger management, which is more or less known as the Mark David Chapman approach to retirement.
Vin Baker
When we think of great talents turned-into big fatasses we think of the Shawn Kemps, the Andruw Jones', and the JaMarcus Russell's of the world. But then we remember there's a bloated backlist of players who ate their ways out of stardom, and Vin Baker fits that overweight mold as well as most of them. After making four straight All-Star teams from 1995-1998, Baker added 50 lbs. which was a result of alcoholism and binging in hotel rooms after shitty games (which were becoming more frequent). Finally, after coming to practice reaking of alcohol, the Celtics suspended and then cut him.
Jim Irsay
For some reason, when a guy worth $1.6 billion commits a crime for us commoners, we're shocked. Not that rich people don't commit crimes, they're just better at skirting punishment (thank you, legal teams). That's why we found Irsay's DUI, drug possession and then additional OWI to be a little surprising (even though they were apparently in-line with his ongoing issues). The NFL then figured out his punishment the way they always do, with one of those cootie catcher/paper fortune teller things, meaning he was assessed a six-game suspension as well as a $500,000 fine that he immediately made back in the first quarter of the first preseason game.
Michael Phelps
We weren't really surprised that Michael Phelps was smoking weed, we were more surprised by the combined puritanical outcry from a media and public who'd lost perspective. The man's not a robot, he's a swimmer (or, possibly a fish) and the reaction stemming from that front page led to a public apology and the loss of a sponsor in Kelloggs. After the ordeal was over, two lessons were learned. One, people who complain always win (which we already knew). And two, if you want to be an addict and pitch cereal, you're better off working for General Mills (which we also already knew).
Tim Raines
In 1982, at the age of 22, should-be Hall of Famer Tim Raines was outed as a coke user in the midst of a scandal that would've been bigger except it was the '80s and everybody was using coke. During that season he had spent an estimated $40,000 of his $200,000 salary on coke (i.e. 20 percent, before taxes). Speed was both his biggest weapon (he's currently fifth all time in career stolen bases) and his greatest vice, and the two collided on the field as Raines consistently kept drugs in his back pocket which forced him to slide head first to avoid breaking the vile and leaving coke residue on the field. He used frequently, before and after games, and even snorted between innings and because of this he was subjected to random drug tests well before it was agreed upon in a collective bargaining agreement. Many people forgave, or forgot, with only the most stuffy of fans changing their opinion of Raines and his other "disgraced" peers. One thing that didn't change was Raines' nickname, which was somehow already Rock.
Brett Favre
Before we knew him as an old pervert, we viewed Brett Favre as a guy who took the joy of the game experienced in backyards across America and brought it to pro stadiums on Sundays for a style that resulted in last second comebacks as well as last second fuck-ups. Both were exciting.
Through it all, he was on the field every Sunday for 17 straight seasons which is (for a quarterback) arguably as impressive as Cal Ripken's consecutive games streak. The '90s NFL existed without fears of concussions (or more accurately, lawsuits from concussions) and because of that signal callers were routinely teed-up on by steroid infused defenders. On top of all his other records, Favre holds the career mark for sacks taken which (almost certainly) contributed to his inevitable Vicodin addiction. This led to the reigning MVP (and face of the NFL) heading to rehab, which was surprising to anyone...who has never been hurt. Seriously, have you ever tried Vicodin? It's heaven in your mouth. Your favorite drink, or meal, or candy, it's pretty much all of those put together.
You may think we're bull shittin'. There's really only one way to find out.