Bengals’ Wilson Suspended for Life

Stanley Wilson, the Cincinnati running back suspended for drug use on the eve of the Super Bowl, was permanently banned from the NFL today for his continuing substance abuse problem.

The action amounts to a lifetime ban for the 27-year-old Wilson, who had also missed the 1985 and 1987 seasons because of drug problems and is being treated at a Phoenix clinic.

League spokesman Joe Browne said, however, that it is possible he could apply for reinstatement if he presents evidence of his rehabilitation.

“In view of Wilson’s history, this permanent ban can’t come as a surprise to him,” Browne said.

Under the NFL’s drug policy, a player who fails a drug test once is not suspended but can be tested regularly for cause. If he fails again, he is suspended for 30 days; a third failure means a permanent ban with the option to reapply for reinstatement after a year.

Browne would not say, however, if Wilson’s suspension resulted from the drug policy or from conditions given him in April, 1988, when he was reinstated after agreeing to what the league called “certain conditions.” Bengals coach Sam Wyche said the day of Wilson’s Super Bowl suspension: “Part of the situation coming into the season was that it was a final chance.”

Wilson began last season as Cincinnati’s starting fullback but injured a knee and lost the job.