High School Students Using Steroids In Utah

Part I

Do you think there is a problem with kids using steroids in your child's school?

It’s a problem almost no one wants to talk about. Steroid use, especially among Utah teenagers.
Dan Sheldon joins us with this Talkin’ Sports exclusive.
In researching a story like this you run into a lot of people offering anecdotal evidence and others who admit to past steroid use but don’t want to talk about it on the record.
We finally did find a young man who played for a local high school football powerhouse.
He was willing to give us a rare and direct look at the problem.
Skyline High School has captured 14 state titles in football since 1967 more than any other high school in the state during that time.
Jordan Evans is one student who says he used steroids. His mother, Amy Penrod says, “They have great players and I’d say he probably was middle of the road.”
“I thought, this is great, he loves football, he’s going to take care of his body. He wouldn’t dare put anything into his body that would hurt it,” says Amy, “Cause like I said he wouldn’t even drink soda if the coaches told him to.”
Jordan Evans used steroids, he describes his first experience with the performance enhancers, “One day we were just hanging out. I think we were about to go to the gym or just left.”
That’s when he got the offer.
Jordan says, “He’s like, ‘I can get you steroids. You guys want to do them?’”
“I thought about it and I was like, 'well I’ll try everything once,'” says Jordan. “Tried it, liked it, and it worked. I liked it and so I just kept doing it.”
That was the summer before Jordan’s junior year, when he says he gained 10 pounds and went from a backup to an instant starter at linebacker.

Jordan’s coach at Skyline High School Roger Dupaix recall’s Jordan’s changes, “He was just stronger, and nastier, and really had an attitude of wanting to play football and doing well in football.”
“It made school a lot better,” said Jordan.
We asked how did it make school better?
“Just like I got a lot more popular, you know,” says Jordan. “When you start of course you know you have that status.”
Jordan’s mom Amy said, “He had to go to the gym every single day. He had to. He’d be furious if he missed it.”
“It’s totally mental,” says Jordan. “You just want to go to the gym. You just love it. It makes you want to go to the gym.”
Jordan’s mom began to suspect more than just an obsession with the gym.
“I think when the rage became uncontrollable really,” she says. “Where we were afraid to have him home with the girls was when I really suspected it.”
“And then senior year,” said Jordan, “summer of senior year came around.”
Coach Dupaix says, “Some of the signs were there. All the coaches noticed it and mentioned it and we talked to Jordan about it.”
Jordan recalls the coaches’ inquires, “That’s when people started to get suspicious like during practices and stuff is when we’d get questions.”
But Jordan wasn’t giving up any answers.
The situation didn’t change until his mom found the proof on his bedroom floor.
“When I actually found the bag that he kept it in, and there were needles and an almost empty bottle of steroids, I was just so shocked,” says Amy Penrod.
“When I finally confronted him about that, I’m like, ‘Jordan do you know what I would do to somebody if they were doing this to you? And you’re doing it to yourself.’ I’m supposed to protect you. And how can I protect you from you? It was just really heartbreaking,” She said.
Jordan left the football team soon after and graduated from high school later that spring.
He says he’s been off steroids for a year now. But he says it’s still going on with others.

“I can guarantee there’s still people doing it,” says Jordan.
Jordan’s mom agrees, “I know for fact that there were other kids because I’ve had parents say, ‘oh so and so, all these kids were doing them just like Jordan.’ They were doing them together.”
So exactly how many Utah teenagers may be doing steroids? The answer, according to some recent surveys, may stun you.

Part II

We introduced you to Jordan Evans in Part I, a former football player at Skyline High School who admits to steroid use while on the team in 2004 and 2005.
He says he stopped using steroids a year ago.
But just how many teenagers are using them? The numbers may surprise you.
Amy Penrod is Jordan Evans’ mother. Jordan used steroids to get a starting position on the Skyline High football team. She was shocked to find the evidence of his steroid usage.
“When I actually found the bag that he kept it in and there were needles and an almost empty bottle of steroids,” says Amy. “I was just so shocked. That my baby is hurting himself.”
Jordan says there are side effects, “You get acne for sure.”
But that’s no all, Jordan says, “It looked a little weird because my jaw was big but I’ve grown into it and It stunted my growth for sure.”
While he won’t implicate his former teammates by name, Jordan Evans says he’s not the only one likely dealing with the side effects of steroid use from the 2004 Skyline High School football team. How many others?
“10 kids maybe,” He says.
Jordan’s coach at Skyline is Roger Dupaix. He says, “They want an edge but we preach about it every week it seems like. Don’t do it. Don’t mess around with that stuff. It’s just going to bite you later on.”
Roger Dupaix is the head football coach at Skyline and the winningest active high school football coach in the state.

“That year that you were talking about we probably had two kids that we suspected. All of a sudden their muscles are bigger and they’re a little bit faster and they act a little bit different, a little more aggressively. The signs are there,” says Coach Dupaix.
We asked Jordan, “Did the coaches care?”
“Yeah,” says Jordan. “Especially our coaches. We got asked about it all the time. And they weren’t happy but I don’t know if all coaches care.”
“They won’t tell you,” says the Coach. “They just don’t want to mess up their chances of playing.”
“What is going to accomplish going to the kids?” asks Jordan’s mom Amy.
She says, “[Coach Dupaix] suspected something and he didn’t come to me. He didn’t call me. The coaching staff? The administration? No, no.”
Coach Dupaix admits that he never called Jordan’s mom about the suspected steroid abuse but he along with Athletic Director Steve Marlowe say, they never received a call from her either.
“I think that a lot of these football teams or the football coaches want the kids to be on steroids,” says Amy. “I think that they want what they can get so that these kids outperform the other kids. Cause that’s all that it boils down to. Win the game. Win the game.”
A 2005 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, found that 3.7 percent of high school boys in Utah had taken steroid pills or shots without a doctor’s prescription in their lifetime.
Two years earlier, that number was said to be 8.2 percent.
Of the 32 states surveyed that year, only Tennessee reported a higher percentage of steroid use among male teenagers.
Craig Povey with the Utah Department of Human Services says, “It’s very concerning a number like 8 percent.”
“We want to follow up with some more rigorous surveys and find out exactly what that number is,” continues Povey. “If it’s 8 percent, we’ll be investing and getting the local authorities or local communities to invest in some programs for steroid abuse.”
The problem with any survey lies in the honesty of those taking it.

One noted researcher, Professor Charles Yesilas of Pennsylvania State University, says, “In his 60 years, other than pedophilia, he’s never witnessed a behavior as secretive as steroid use.”
Povey agrees, “You’ll have kids that lie.”
Those are the surveys. But what about programs?
At least one steroid prevention program with a highly successful track record was offered to Salt Lake City in the recent past for free and was not received well.
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson says, “it was brought to Salt Lake City on a silver platter.”
“And then what happened?” asks Mayor Anderson. “The coaches, with only one exception, to my knowledge, were uncooperative. The athletic directors were uncooperative.”
“And I think that’s really unfortunate. I think that demonstrates a real twisted sense of priorities.”
It’s important to note that the steroid prevention program Mayor Rocky Anderson is talking about, was given for free to the Salt Lake City School District and not to the Granite School District, which Skyline High School is a part of.
Tomorrow night at in Part III 10 p.m. we dig deeper into why an award winning steroid prevention program was handed over to Salt Lake City, but never implemented properly.