YEAR IN REVIEW : 1986 : Deaths of Bias, Rogers Overshadow Sport Achievements

1986 was a year of age, ego and the anguish of drugs.

Bill Shoemaker, Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd and Bobby Allison pushed back the limitations of age, while the New York Mets and Chicago Bears expanded the limits of arrogance. They all came out winners.

Two young-and-coming athletes, Len Bias and Don Rogers, died from cocaine, and sports was a loser.

At the same time, each of the country’s three major professional sports -- football, basketball and baseball -- were scandalized by drugs.

It was a year of both delight and despair. And, even in the deaths of Bias and Rogers, people sought hope.

“Tragically, in death, Don Rogers may have made more of a contribution to society than he could have on the playing field,” said owner Art Modell of the Cleveland Browns, for whom Rogers played. “Let’s hope his passing serves as a warning to those who want to try, or have used, drugs.”

Rogers, a free safety, died of a massive cocaine overdose on June 27, the day before he was to have been married. He was 23. Bias, an All-American forward at Maryland, died of cocaine intoxication on June 19, two days after the Boston Celtics made him their top pick in the NBA draft. He was 22.

“There’s so much hurt in it,” Maryland vice chancellor Drury Bagwell said. “It’s as if you were in the process of burying your brother and people start asking about his use of drugs and his sex life and what about your great uncle Horace who stole that horse.”

Shoemaker was 54 when he became the oldest man to win a Kentucky Derby, on May 3 riding a colt named Ferdinand for 73-year-old trainer Charlie Whittingham. One month later, trainer Woody Stephens won his fifth straight Belmont Stakes, at 72.

It may have been April 13, but Nicklaus called it “the December of my career” when he won the Masters at 46. The victory was Nicklaus’ 18th in a major golf tournament and a record-setting sixth in the Masters.

“I’m not the player I was 10 or 15 years ago,” Nicklaus said, “but I can still play a little bit at times.”

Floyd was 43 on June 16 when he became the oldest golfer to win the U.S. Open, and Allison, at 48, became the oldest man to win a NASCAR top division race when he captured the Winston 500 on May 4.

The National League champion Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox in a seven-game World Series after being one strike away from elimination in the 10th inning of Game 6. The Mets, who battled and bullied their way to 108 regular-season victories, came back after losing the first two games of the Series at home. Ray Knight was the Most Valuable Player.

“We deserve it,” Manager Davey Johnson said. “We had the best record in baseball. We should be champions. ... I’m just glad the bad guys won.”

During the season, Roger Clemens of the Red Sox set a major league record by striking out 20 Seattle Mariners on April 29, and Mike Scott pitched a no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 25 to clinch the NL West for the Houston Astros.

The Bears, with their innovative “46” defense, won the Super Bowl on Jan. 26, beating New England 46-10. In so doing, they didn’t even bother to hide their insolence.

“We’re the best of all time, no question,” safety Dave Duerson said. Defensive end Richard Dent, Super Bowl MVP, said: “I think we have the makings of a dynasty.”

The day after the Super Bowl, the Patriots’ best season fell in shambles when Coach Raymond Berry admitted that at least five of his players had serious drug problems. “We have a situation here that we think is intolerable,” he said.

The league, as whole, won big in 1986 when six jurors who sat for nearly three months in a New York courtroom decided that the USFL deserved just $3 in its $1.62 billion lawsuit. It all but ended the life of the fledgling league, a constant irritation to the NFL since 1982.

The biggest controversy as the 1986-87 season began was the NFL’s use of instant replays. The heated disputes of the early season, however, dwindled by season’s end, although the renewal of the replay will be discussed in March.

Basketball and baseball also felt the scourge of drugs.

Two NBA players, John Drew of the Utah Jazz and Micheal Ray Richardson of the New York Nets, were banned from the league for life. In January, Drew became the first player to be banned under the NBA’s guidelines for habitual offenders. Richardson’s lifetime suspension came a month later. Either may appeal for reinstatement in two years.

Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, meanwhile, announced in February that he had meted out the most extensive drug penalties in major league history. The penalties affected 21 players, including stars such as Dave Parker, Keith Hernandez and Joaquin Andujar, who now must undergo drug testing the rest of their careers.

And after two separate heavyweight title fights, traces of marijuana were found in the bloodstream of former champion Tim Witherspoon as drugs also touched boxing.

The sport, however, also had its bright moments. On Nov. 22, Mike Tyson at 20 became the youngest heavyweight champion by knocking out Trevor Berbick in the first round of their World Boxing Council fight at Las Vegas.

Larry Holmes lost a bid to regain the heavyweight title from Michael Spinks on April 19 when Spinks won a split decision. Afterward, Holmes retired with only two losses in 50 fights, both to Spinks.

Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, meanwhile, announced they will fight next April 6 in Las Vegas in what is being billed by promoter Bob Arum as “the greatest boxing event of our time.” Leonard will have been inactive for nearly 62 months when the fight takes place.

In tennis, John McEnroe took seven months off, then returned to the tour to win three tournaments, although he was a first-round loser in the U.S. Open. The stars of the year, however, were Ivan Lendl and Wimbledon winners Boris Becker and Martina Navratilova. Becker won his second Wimbledon men’s singles title, while Navratilova tied the record of Helen Wills Moody by winning her fifth women’s singles title in a row. Lendl won the French Open, the U.S. Open and the season-ending Masters.

On the college front, several universities were in trouble with the NCAA, most notably Southern Methodist. SMU stood accused of paying football players huge sums of money under the table while it already was on NCAA probation. The team program could be the first to face the “death penalty,” which allows the NCAA to ban a sport at a school after a second offense.

Top-ranked Miami and No. 2 Penn State were headed for a Jan. 2 Fiesta Bowl showdown that would determine the year’s college football champion. Oklahoma’s dreams of repeating died in a Sept. 27 loss to the Hurricanes, led by Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Vinny Testaverde.

Women dominated the news in track and field, particularly distance runner Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway, sprinter-long jumper Heike Drechsler of East Germany, heptathlete Jackie Joyner of the United States and hurdler Yordanka Donkova of Bulgaria. Their male counterparts also made some notable contributions.

Hurdler Renaldo Nehemiah made a successful return after three years as a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, and Soviet Sergei Bubka emerged from a three-way battle with Billy Olson and Joe Dial to become the world’s top pole vaulter, raising the record to 19 feet, 8 1/2 inches.

Also in 1986:

-- Argentina, led by Diego Maradona, the world’s best soccer player, won its second World Cup in eight years, beating West Germany 3-2 in the final at Mexico City.

-- The Louisville Cardinals won the NCAA basketball title, beating Duke 72-69 and giving Coach Denny Crum his second title of the decade. He also won in 1980.

-- The Boston Celtics won their 16th NBA championship, winning in six games after losing a brawl-filled fifth game in Houston. Houston’s Ralph Sampson was ejected for fighting in Game 5 and scored just eight points in the finale.

-- Bobby Rahal won the Indy 500 after it was twice postponed by rain and finally run on May 31, six days later than originally scheduled. Rahal went on to win the Indy-car season title and become the first Indy driver to surprass $1 million in earnings in the year.

-- In the rare role of underdog, the Montreal Canadiens, led by rookie Patrick Roy, won the Stanley Cup from Calgary. The Flames had been favored after upsetting two-time defending champion Edmonton in the Smythe Division final.

-- Ted Turner’s Goodwill Games brought together Soviet and U.S. athletes in an Olympic-style meet in Moscow in July. The games drew small crowds and poor TV audiences. The Soviets won 118 gold, the United States 42.