John Bosley Ziegler.html



John Bosley Ziegler, John Ziegler, Montana Jack, (circa 1920 - 1983) was an American physician who originally developed the anabolic steroid Methandrostenolone (Dianabol, DBOL) which was released in the USA in 1958 by Ciba¹². He pioneered its athletic use as an aid to muscle growth by bodybuilders, administering it to U.S. weightlifting champion Bill March of the York Barbell club in 1959 when he was the physician to the U.S. Weightlifting team³. It was banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Controlled Substances Act. In later life he was outspoken against its use in sport, saying "It is bad enough to have to deal with drug addicts, but now healthy athletes are putting themselves in the same category. It's a disgrace. Who plays sports for fun anymore?"⁴. Ziegler suffered from heart disease, which he partially ascribed to his experimentation with steroids, and he died from heart failure in 1983.

Early life

John Ziegler was born in the Midwestern United States but he returned to his family roots in southern Pennsylvania and graduated from Gettysburg College in 1942. He was descended from three generations of doctors going back to the American Civil War, and his father had been both practicing physician and a scientist who had discovered the salt tablet.⁵

He served as a officer in the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific in World War II, but suffered extensive wounds. His experience of surgery and convalescence lead to a speciality in recuperative medicine at the University of Maryland Medical School. He served his internship and residency at Marine hospitals in Norfolk Virginia and Mobile Alabama, before completing a two year residence in neurology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. In 1954 he settled in Olney, Maryland to practice medicine whilst conducting chemistry research at Ciba Pharmaceuticals part time.⁵

He became an enthusiastic weightlifter who pumped iron the York Barbell Club, which was at the center of American fitness training thanks to its owner Bob Hoffman. Hoffman had competed with Joe Weider and Charles Atlas for the title of Mr America and wrote the book Weight Lifting in 1939. Ziegler's scientific credentials supplemented Hoffman's bodybuilding theories.⁵

Developing steroids

Main article: Doping (sport)

In October 1954, Ziegler, went to Vienna with the American weightlifting team. There he met a Russian physicist who, over "a few drinks", repeatedly asked "What are you giving your boys?" When Ziegler returned the question, the Russian said that his own athletes were being given testosterone.

Returning to America, Ziegler tried weak doses of testosterone on himself, on the American trainer Bob Hoffman and on two lifters, Jim Park and Yaz Kuzahara. All gained more weight and strength than any training programme would produce but there were side-effects. ⁶ Ziegler sought a drug without after-effects and hit on an anabolic steroid, methandrostenolone, (Dianabol, DBOL), made in the U.S. in 1958 by Ciba.¹².

Ziegler's dream turned into a nightmare as evidence increased of the damage done to some athletes who had taken more than the prescribed dose, and he came to regret helping invent anabolic steroids: "I wish I'd never heard the word 'steroid.' These kids do not realize the price they'll pay."⁷

Ziegler suffered from heart disease, which he partially ascribed to his experimentation with steroids, and he died from heart failure in 1983.

See also

• Methandrostenolone
• Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), a sports nutrition center in California allegedly linked to doping of many high-profile athletes.
• Doping at the Olympic Games
• List of sporting scandals
• List of doping cases in cycling
• List of doping cases in sport
• Mitchell Report (baseball)

References

• The Man Behind the Juice - Fifty years ago, a doctor brought steroids to America. By Justin Peters