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Fighting the Steroid Epidemic
At night, Lewis lay in bed wondering, What have I done?Lori's husband, Jack, was her biggest supporter, but he stayed in the background, shielding their eight-year-old daughter, McKenna, from publicity. Now even Jack was frustrated, calling Colleyville "Colleywood" for its backbiting ways. "People are judging you about things you did that were right," he told her. "You can't stop now!"
Nine athletes, most of them football players, eventually confessed to steroid use, proving their coach wrong. (There is no evidence that Cunningham or other coaches were aware of the drug use.) Still, Lewis had few supporters. Neighbors stopped speaking to her. Mothers of Bryan's schoolmates, whom she had known since their kids were four years old, cut her dead at the supermarket.
The final blow? She and Bryan weren't getting along. "Great, Mom, you've ruined my life!" he said. When the threats continued, they agreed he should transfer to a private school.
Thirty miles away in Plano, Texas, two people silently applauded Lewis. Don and Gwen Hooton took a special interest in the Morning News stories. The Hootons' 17-year-old son, Taylor, had committed suicide in 2003. A cheerful and gregarious boy, Taylor had taken steroids in an effort to improve his baseball game. He lapsed into depression after quitting, and his parents blamed steroids for his death.
Since then, Don Hooton has become a national spokesman in the anti-steroid effort, crisscrossing the country to warn parents, coaches and kids. "You've done the right thing," he told Lewis. Stick to your guns, he said, but don't expect to make friends. In Hooton's own community, near the home of Dallas Cowboys legend Troy Aikman, critics attacked him in letters to the editor and spread false rumors that his son had been doing other drugs like meth and Ecstasy.
No more worrying what people thought. I'm not in a popularity contest, Lewis realized. I'm here to fight this epidemic. In late April, she filed a lawsuit charging Coach Cunningham with slander. A few days later, she testified before a legislative subcommittee in favor of a bill requiring drug testing of high school athletes.
In May, Lewis appeared before the Colleyville school board. And then, an extraordinary thing happened: The board unanimously approved random drug testing of students who participate in extracurricular activities. "It will not only serve as a deterrent," said a school spokesperson, "but will also reinforce that we will not tolerate drug use of any kind."
So far, no other districts in the area have followed suit. But Lewis does not intend to let the matter drop.
As for Bryan, he turned out for football at his new school -- and quickly became the team's star wide receiver. He also plays cornerback on defense, and recently caught the eye of a recruiter from a college in Ohio. And he did it all without steroids.
"I'm better off now," he says. "And happier too."
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