Michigan State Checks Steroid Allegations

Michigan State officials are looking into allegations made in a story in the Detroit News that Spartan football players injected each other with muscle-building steroids.

The newspaper, which conducted a two-month study with more than 100 players, parents, police officers and physicians, also said that up to seven players may have fooled NCAA testers on the eve of the 1988 Rose Bowl game with USC by using someone else’s urine, carried in a plastic bag taped inside their armpits and attached to a tube that came out between their legs.

Michigan State beat USC, 20-17.

Frank Uryasz, NCAA director of testing, said it was unlikely the players could have pulled off a urine-test scam, adding this type of accusation is “one word against another.”

Some players said that offensive tackle Tony Mandarich frequently supplied steroids and helped some players who were afraid of needles, the newspaper said. Some referred to him as the “doctor,” or “mentor.”