My first nomination
Lawrence Taylor.
Taylor's mug shot from his 1996 arrest in South Carolina for attempted possession of crack cocaine.
Drugs and extreme measures
"For me, crazy as it seems, there is a real relationship between wild, reckless, and abandoned off the field and being that way on the field."
—Taylor in 1987
In contrast to his success on the football field, Taylor's personal life has been marred by drug usage and controversy. When Taylor was once asked what he could do that no outside linebacker could, his answer was, "Drink".[9] However, alcohol abuse was not the largest of his substance abuse problems. After admitting to and testing positive for cocaine in 1987, he was suspended from football for 30 days in 1988 after failing a second drug test. After his second positive test he gave up drugs for five years as a third positive test would have ended his career.[70] However, as he approached retirement he looked forward to picking up the habit again, saying in his second autobiography "I saw coke as the only bright spot in my future."[75] After his retirement he began abusing drugs on a regular basis. He went through drug rehab twice in 1995, only to later be arrested twice over a three-year span for attempting to buy cocaine (from undercover officers).[76] During this period Taylor lived almost exclusively in his home with white sheets covering his windows and only associated with other drug users.[70] Taylor later stated, “I had gotten really bad. I mean my place was almost like a crack house."[70] In his first autobiography Taylor also admitted that he had begun using drugs as early as his second year in the NFL.[77]
In a November 2003 interview with Mike Wallace on the television newsmagazine 60 Minutes, Taylor claimed he hired and sent prostitutes to opponents' hotel rooms the night before a game in an attempt to tire them out,[70] and that at his peak, he spent thousands of dollars a day on narcotics.[70] During the interview he also recounted several other instances of his hard-partying lifestyle during his years in the NFL, including an episode when he arrived to a team meeting in handcuffs after a night spent with some call girls. Taylor stated, "A couple of ladies that were trying out some new equipment they had. You know? And I just happened to, and they just didn't happen to have the key.”[70] He also recounted that to beat NFL drug tests he would submit the urine of his teammates.