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Today’s Boston Globe carries a lengthy profile of former Allen High School cheerleader, gymnast and class vice-president Dionne Passacantando, who, in 2003, started taking anabolic steroids when she was 17 because “she just wanted six-pack abs.” Passacantando, who now lives in Bruce Springsteen’s New Jersey hometown, says she used to score her Winstrol, which eventually made her suicidal, from a classmate who wound up playing football at Texas A&M — she won’t name names.
“All I did was give him $250, and within two or three days I had a cycle of steroids,” the former Allen Eagle tells the paper. “And we went to a CVS and told them we needed some syringes for a 4-H fair.” (And you thought Allen cheerleaders just liked to drink.)
She also says half the football team was using steroids — “A lot of parents and coaches were OK with the fact that this was going on … I feel it was even encouraged to a point” — which the school’s athletic director strongly disputes. –Robert Wilonsky
