McLain Says He Used Drugs in Final Four

Gary McLain, a guard on Villanova’s 1985 NCAA championship team, said he used cocaine during the Final Four that year and was high when the Wildcats visited the White House.

McLain detailed his drug dependency and subsequent rehabilitation in a first-person story in the March 16 edition of Sports Illustrated.

He said he was treated for drug abuse in Allenwood, Pa., last summer after he was fired from his Wall Street job.

McLain, 23, said he had used cocaine before several Wildcat games, including the 1985 NCAA semifinal against Memphis State in Lexington, Ky.

On his weekly radio show Tuesday night, Villanova Coach Rollie Massimino said that McLain’s revelations were the “most devastating thing that has happened to me in 30 years of coaching.”

In the article, McLain said that Massimino had confronted him twice about suspected drug use in 1984. The first time, McLain said, Massimino told him, “ ‘I hear you’re on cocaine, or selling it. If I find out, you’re gone.’ ”

McLain said he managed to escape detection because players were never given urinalyses.