Ben Plucknett Busted for Roids and USATF Athlete of Year in 1981?

Walter Harrison ("Ben") Plucknett (born April 13, 1954 in Beatrice, Nebraska – died November 17, 2002 in Essex, Missouri) was a American athlete, who competed in the discus throw.

Plucknett attended Beatrice High School and was the state discus record holder in Nebraska. He received a degree in animal husbandry from the University of Missouri-Columbia and was a member of the track team, throwing the discus and shot put. He received the Tom Botts Award as a freshman, was a member of the Junior Olympics team in 1973 in discus, and won the Big 8 as a freshman, sophomore and senior at the university.

Plucknett participated in many national and international competitions, and was a member of the 1980 Summer Olympics team but did not compete due to the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games. He threw a world record in discus in 1981 and still holds the American record. He retired from track and field around 1989. He became involved in the Highland Scottish Games, participating nationally and internationally, and won the world championship in Edinburgh, Scotland.

He set world records of 233 feet 7 inches on May 16, 1981 in Modesto, California, and 237-4 (72.34 metres) on July 7 in Stockholm. Less than a week after the second record, track and field's world governing body, the International Amateur Athletic Federation, announced that he had tested positive at a meet the previous January 31 and February 1 in New Zealand. It said the drug was nortestosterone, a bodybuilding anabolic steroid banned partly because of potentially dangerous side effects.

The federation nullified both world records, the first time it had thrown out a record because of a positive drug test. It banned Plucknett from competition for life, although he could petition for reinstatement after 18 months. The Athletics Congress, then the American governing body, allowed him to compete in domestic meets. His 237-4 throw was recognized as the American record and still stands.

Plucknett was inducted into the University of Missouri Intercollegiate Hall of Fame in 2000.

not that it makes it right, but all of the top weight men in the shot and discus were juiced in the 70s and 80s. Look at Mac Wilkins, Al Feurbach, George Woods, etc, etc. RIP Big Ben...a nice guy.

SO i take it he got reinstated?

Can't believe they had a lifetime ban in 1981. Typical that USATF let him still compete domestically. Kind of like Dennis Mitchell getting cleared.

It wasn't "typical of USATF" because there was no USATF. It was TAC, run by Ollan Cassell, about whom there is almost nothing good to be said.

I didn't mean to capitalize the "SO" but it worked.

Didn't TAC become USATF with Cassell still in charge? I don't see much difference.

wejo wrote:

Didn't TAC become USATF with Cassell still in charge? I don't see much difference.

Yes, Cassell was still in charge. TAC became USATF for better name recognition, since Americans didn't associate athletics with track and field. Nothing changed except the name.

sorry for hijacking the post wikpedia on Cassel:

Ollan Conn Cassell (born October 5, 1937) is a former American athlete, winner of gold medal in 4x400 m relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics.

Born in Nickelsville, Virginia, Ollan Cassell attended Appalachia High School.

Cassell won his first AAU championship title in 1957 in 220 yd.

Cassell took up the quarter-mile when attending to University of Houston. In 1962, he won a gold medals in the 400 m and 4x400 m relay and a silver medal in the 4x100 m relay at the World Military Championships. The following year, at the 1963 Pan-American Games, Cassell won two gold medals in the relays and was second in 200 m and sixth in 100 m.

Cassell is a graduate of Appalachia High School in Appalachia, Virginia.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Cassell was a semifinalist in 400 m and ran the opening leg in the American 4x400 m relay team, which won the gold medal with a new world record of 3:00.7.

Cassell won his second (and last) AAU title in 440 yd in 1965. After that, he retired from sports and started to work as the track and field administrator of the AAU from 1965-1972. He was an Executive Director of the AAU from 1970-1980 and Executive Director of USA Track and Field from 1980-1997. He also was a founding member of the International Athletics Foundation that was created in 1988 and served as vice-president of the International Amateur Athletics Foundation (IAAF) from 1976-1986. Right now he serves as an adjunct professor for Olympic Sports history at the University of Indianapolis and is the president of the Indiana Olympian Association.

The New York Times has an article on Cassill in today's sports section

Ben was such a badass that the story I heard was he was working as a bouncer in a bar, was shot, and the bullet bounced off him. A thrower I had met in California swore it was a true story.

And Mary Slaney is in the Hall of Fame

TAC/USATF same thing

It is wrong to think there was any improvement or movement after Olan left.