Ironically, one of the first non-Chargers to use anabolic steroids was a Viking player, wide receiver Lance Rentzel in the mid-60s. Other prominent early users were Fred Dryer (Giants), Charlie Krueger (49ers) and Bill Curry (Packers). San Francisco QB Bobby Waters said he used steroids as early as 1962. It’s a little unfair to castigate Gillman for his role in bringing steroids into the NFL. He was an innovator in many respects and certainly worthy of a spot in the Hall of Fame. He was the first guy in the NFL to realize that weight lifting was a benefit to football skills. He hired the NFL’s first strength coach, Alvin Roy, and it was Roy who brought in Dianabol as part of the weight program in 1963. Roy was considered an expert in weight training and in the early 60s, steroids were starting to flood into gyms around the U.S. Roy was later the strength coach of a few other NFL teams (never the Steelers) and he reportedly continued to advocate the use of Dianabol until his death in 1979. The Charger players of 1963 were given Dianabol at training camp for about five weeks, but there’s no indication that there was long-term use by more than a handful of players, almost all of them linemen. One of those linemen successfully sued the Chargers in 1969 for poor medical treatment, which included team recommended steroid usage. Admitted steroid users among the Steelers of the 70s were Jim Clack, Mike Webster, Steve Courson and Steve Furness. By that time, every team had a strength coach and all of them would have been well-acquainted with performance enhancing drugs. Rocky Bleier was prescribed steroids as part of the treatment of his war wounds. While some players obviously succumbed to the laissez-faire attitude toward steroids and peer pressure, it still came down to a personal choice to use them. Many did not use them in the 70s, even when it was not banned, and undoubtedly many do not use them now. The article posted above does a disservice to several players by inferring their deaths were related to using steroids.