All over the country athletes say they are getting results with DMSO. Some Dallas Cowboys and some Rams and Raiders use it, but under the guise of what an NFL spokesman calls "experimentation." . . . Others are naturally careful about unapproved medication, like the Orioles' Doug DeCinces. "They use it on horses," he says. "Horses only compete for three or four years. I want this body to last a lot longer than that. I've got a bad back. Do they know what it does to the liver?"
Even physicians disagree about the effectiveness of DMSO. Dr. Frank Jobe, orthopedist for the Dodgers and a founder of the National Athletic Health Institute, says, "It's quite spectacular on soft-tissue injuries like sprains, contusions, bursitis and tendinitis. It could revolutionize sports medicine." Dr. Robert Kerlan, another renowned sports orthopedist and a founder, with Jobe, of the NAHI, says, "DMSO has some medicinal benefits, but curing routine sports injuries isn't one of them. It's almost useless for athletes."
One of the first sports figures to use DMSO was Sam Bell, currently the track coach at Indiana University. ". . . In 1965 Pierre Piloté of the Chicago Black Hawks treated a dislocated shoulder with DMSO and was able to resume skating immediately. Also in 1965 when Sandy Koufax recovered quickly from a nagging elbow problem to pitch brilliantly in the World Series, many insiders were convinced that DMSO had done it. Koufax always denied it, and recently the Dodgers' trainer, Bill Buhler, said, "I tried it on Koufax. The only thing we got was a dry, chapped elbow."
Satchel Paige's Magic Snake Oil, which was rubbed onto his geriatric arm in the 1950s, was thought to contain DMSO, but the old Cards' trainer, Doc Bauman, says, "It was just chloroform liniment with cologne in it to cut the smell."
By 1968 DMSO was stinking up NFL locker rooms. Former Raider Quarterback Daryle Lamonica, who testified about DMSO at a Senate subcommittee hearing on medical research last summer, says, "One day I jammed my right thumb in practice and it hurt so much I couldn't make a fist. The trainer put DMSO on it and in 15 minutes the swelling and pain were gone; in 24 hours I was throwing again. It didn't work on a torn ligament, but without it I wouldn't have won the passing title in '69. A lot of us used it—Pete Banaszak, Jim Otto, Ben Davidson, other guys. And the only side effect we ever noticed was body odor and incredibly bad breath. It's a smell you don't forget. I got on an elevator in Washington after testifying and I smelled it. I was so excited I yelled. 'Who's using DMSO around here?" and a guy raised his hand."
The 49ers' outstanding guard, Randy Cross, a confirmed DMSO user, says, "The breath thing is awful. It's death breath. It makes for a lot wider huddle."
NFL trainers are reluctant to discuss the drug. One says, "Maybe the stuff would help, but if I give it to a player, he can sue me in 10 years if he has trouble. Players are winning those suits."
The 49ers' Cross started using DMSO on his own—for a wrist injury—after his mother told him it relieved her arthritis. "I applied it once a day during the season," he says. "In football things keep hurting. About half of our team uses it. When we played New Orleans, a Saints player* wanted some, so we gave it to him. The guy complained that the bottle read 'For horses and dogs.' I told him most people think we're horses, anyway."
The Raiders' orthopedic consultant, Dr. Robert Albo, says, "Every NFL player has tried it. They'd be crazy not to. Athletes are looking for the panacea that will get them back a game earlier, allow them to play one more season. But you have to be careful with it. I always ask, "What DMSO? From where?' "