Lyle Alzado

[bohunt]

TweetBorn: 1949
Died: 1992

Professional Football Player. He played for the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Raiders. A true defensive standout for the Broncos, he was the first Yankton (South Dakota) College player ever drafted by the NFL and was a two-time All-Conference pick. From those humble beginnings, his combination of quickness and strength provided him with the pass-rushing skills to start with the Broncos in 1971. His 4.75 40-yard dash time, coupled with his tremendous strength (he once had 27 wins as an amateur boxer) ranked him as one of pro football's top pass rushers. His status as a premier defensive lineman was also enhanced by his versatility - he played both end and tackle in the front four with All-pro status.

The 6-foot-3, 254-pound Alzado played 15 seasons at defensive end for the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Raiders. He was twice named All-Pro and compiled 97 sacks in 196 games.

A violent, combative player known for his short temper, Alzado was most comfortable with the renegade Raiders of the 1980s, helping them beat Washington in Super Bowl XVIII. But he also starred for Denver's "Orange Crush" defense of the 1970s, compiling 64½ sacks.

"The guy had a split personality," Raiders defensive end Greg Townsend said. "On the field, he had this tough image that he projected. Off the field he was the gentle giant. So caring, so warm, so giving."

But in 1992, seven years after playing in his last regular-season game, Alzado died from brain lymphoma, a rare form of cancer. He was 43. Although there is no medical link between steroids and brain lymphoma, Alzado was certain the drugs were responsible for his cancer. He became a symbol of the dangers of steroid abuse.

At the height of his steroid and human growth hormone abuse, Alzado estimated he spent $30,000 a year on the drugs, often buying them at gyms around the country. His second wife, Cindy, blamed the breakup of their marriage on his mood swings caused by steroids. She said she called police at least five times during their marriage because Lyle physically abused her, but Alzado was never arrested.

Alzado also admitted the steroids sometimes made him so crazy that at times he couldn't deal with social stress. "Once in Denver in 1979 a guy sideswiped my car," he said, "and I chased him up and down the hills through the neighborhoods."

After years of denying he used steroids, Alzado came clean in a cover story for Sports Illustrated in July 1991, three months after being diagnosed with brain cancer. "It was addicting, mentally addicting," Alzado wrote of his steroid use. "I just didn't feel strong unless I was taking something."

By the following spring, Lyle Alzado was dead.

He was born on April 3, 1949 in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of an Italian-Spanish father, Maurice, and a Jewish mother, Martha. The family moved to Cedarhurst, on Long Island, when Lyle was 10.

Alzado endured family tensions. He described his father as a "drinker and street fighter" who left home when Lyle was a sophomore in high school. Martha worked as a florist, earning less than $100 a week. To help support his mother and four siblings, Alzado worked while in high school.

On the football field, Alzado was an aggressive defensive lineman at Lawrence High School, but he was no star. When he graduated, there were no scholarship offers waiting.

After Kilgore Junior College in Texas told Alzado he wasn't good enough for the football team in 1967 - Alzado later said his befriending an African-American teammate was to blame - he was accepted at Yankton College, a tiny NAIA school in South Dakota. It was here that Alzado began using steroids.

In 1970, a Broncos assistant coach had car trouble in Montana and decided to pass the time by watching Montana Tech on film. The opponent was Yankton, and Alzado performed impressively.

Denver made Alzado its fourth pick in the 1971 draft. He became a starter at defensive end as a rookie and soon emerged as a feared member of the defense. "My first year with the Broncos, I was like a maniac," Alzado said. "I outran, outhit, outanythinged everybody. All along I was taking steroids and I saw that they made me play better and better."

After his rookie season, Alzado went back to Yankton to get his college degree. He received a B.A. in physical education with an emphasis on secondary education. In 1972, Alzado led Denver with 10½ sacks and tied for the most tackles with 91. He set a Broncos record with 13 sacks in 1974, when he began a string of seven straight games with at least one sack, a streak that continued through the first game of 1975.

In 1977, he was named the AFC's Defensive Player of the Year and Defensive Lineman of the Year after leading the Broncos with eight sacks. In Super Bowl XII, a 27-10 loss to Dallas, Alzado and teammate Rubin Carter each had two sacks, becoming the first players in franchise history with multiple sacks in a postseason game.

After making the Pro Bowl for the second consecutive year, Alzado - who had led the team in sacks in five of the last seven seasons - and the Broncos had a contract dispute. He flirted with the idea of becoming a pro boxer and in July 1979, he went eight rounds with heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in an exhibition. A month later, Alzado walked out of the Broncos' training camp. Management responded by trading him to Cleveland for draft picks.

Alzado's best season with the Browns was 1980, when he led the team with nine sacks. The following season he led the team with 8½. But that wasn't good enough to keep his career in Cleveland alive. Looking to dump salary, the Browns traded Alzado to the Raiders for an eighth-round draft choice in April 1982.

"A lot of guys on the Raiders asked me about steroids, and I'd help them get what they needed," Alzado said.

In a strike-shortened season, Alzado tied for the team lead with seven sacks, earning him honors as NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Against the Jets, he ripped the helmet off offensive tackle Chris Ward and flung it, prompting the NFL to create a rule outlawing helmet throwing.

In 1983, he had seven sacks in the regular season before getting 2½ in the Raiders' 38-10 rout of Pittsburgh in the divisional playoffs. The Raiders advanced to the Super Bowl, where Alzado promised to behead Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann. That didn't happen (Alzado had no sacks), but he got a Super Bowl ring with the Raiders' 38-9 victory.

"I was so wild about winning," Alzado said. "It's all I cared about - winning, winning. I never talked about anything else."

After getting six sacks in 1984, Alzado was limited to only 11 games the next season, recording just three sacks. He retired after the campaign, attributing his use of steroids to the Achilles' tendon injury that forced his exit from the game he loved.

Pursuing an acting career, he appeared in 15 movies, all of them forgettable, such as Ernest Goes to Camp, Tapeheads and Club Fed.

In 1990, at 41, Alzado attempted a comeback with the Raiders. He suffered a knee injury in training camp, played in one exhibition game and was waived.

In March 1991, at the marriage to his fourth wife, Kathy, he couldn't walk a straight line. A month later, he was diagnosed with brain cancer.

In his account to Sports Illustrated, Alzado said he began taking anabolic steroids in college in 1969 and never stopped. "It wasn't worth it," Alzado wrote. "If you're on steroids or human growth hormone, stop. I should have."

After receiving a radical chemotherapy treatment and contracting pneumonia, Alzado died on May 14, 1992 at his home in Portland, Ore. The official cause of death was complications from brain cancer.

[FUZO]

TweetThey say that the gear he used contributed to his death.Plus back the they were all using the wrong gear back then as in todays stuff.

[gator_mclusky]

TweetHe's my favorite player ever. I did many research papers on him and his sickness. What actually killed him was the use of HGH from biologically active pituitary glands from cadavers. The HGH was extracted from cadavers and caused a disease caused Crutchfeld-Jacob disease that attacked the brain.

Sad, he was the guy that made me a Raiders fan at 10 yrs old because of his brutal and tough style of play!

gator

[O2BESOHUGE]

TweetHEY GATOR, WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT HE TOOK AND WHAT FOLKS TAKE TODAY?

[daved150]

Tweet

HEY GATOR, WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT HE TOOK AND WHAT FOLKS TAKE TODAY?

he took hgh from cadavers bro...dead people...dead people shyt injected into you cant be all that good of a thing. today we (i wish we) use synthetic hgh

[FUZO]

TweetCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease   /

–noun Pathology. a rare, usually fatal brain disorder caused by an unidentified pathogen and characterized by progressive dementia, blindness, and involuntary movements.

A rare, usually fatal disease of the brain, characterized by progressive dementia and gradual loss of muscle control, that occurs most often in middle age and is caused by a slow virus. Also called Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease.





LYLE WAS A GREAT PLAYER BUT ITS HARD FOR ME TO SAY THATS WHAT HE DIED FROM THE HGH,YES MAYBE THE DISEASE BUT THE HGH I JUST DONT KNOW

[daved150]

Tweethis doc actually said it WAS NOT related to aas or gh usage...i dont know. he was a great player. fun to watch...i dont know why he had to play the aas is evil card

[Testify]

TweetI didn't know about the HGH he used being harvested from cadavers. I can see where that might be dangerous. And I didn't know about the specific disease he contracted either - that is scary.

I cannot say (because I have not done the research) whether the harvested HGH Alzado used caused his disease or the cancer (are the two not linked, or just a sh!tty coincidence?) that ultimately led to his death. But there is no doubt that an existing cancer will grow and spread exponentially faster than normal when GH and/or AAS are introduced.

This was just a sad story . . . I remember hearing about this as a kid (well, in HS anyway), and just feeling like "wow" - I wasn't sure what to think. I was a Browns fan, so I liked Alzado, especially his intensity and perceived ability instill fear. His death came far too early, and the circumstances were unfortunate.

[3Vandoo]

Tweetwasnt he bisexual, some reports he had aids

[gator_mclusky]

Tweet

wasnt he bisexual, some reports he had aids

NO!

[bohunt]

TweetI read somewhere that he only weighed around 120lbs when he died.

[gator_mclusky]

Tweet

HEY GATOR, WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT HE TOOK AND WHAT FOLKS TAKE TODAY?

Yea, the stuff he took was taken directly from the Pituitary Gland of dead people. They did it in Europe and thats where he got his HGH. The stuff today peeps use is synthetic, therefore not biologically active and able to pass on a disease.

I did many studies in College and many speeches on his death and researched Medical journals that confirmed this. It's been yrs so I dont recall what journals but I wouldnt make it up.

Crutchfeld-Jacob disease is such a horrible disease that if one has brain surgery to remove the tumor the surgical intruments used have to be thrown away. They can not be sterilized.

I did another study on a female that had brain surgery at Tulane University Medical Center with instruments that were sterilized and she still came down with the disease......

[deepsouth]

TweetMan thats freaky