The Real Reasons These Athletes Were Banned For Life

As a player, Pete Rose is legendary. The baseball star spent most of his 23-year career playing for the Cincinnati Reds at first, second, and third base and left and right field. He was so talented that he was voted National League Rookie of the Year following his first season in 1963 and earned a spot on the National League All-Star team a whopping 17 times.

In 1984, Rose also became the Reds' manager, a position he would hold until 1989. His actions while in this role eventually would get him banned from baseball for life. In March 1989, the MLB announced it was investigating Rose regarding unnamed "serious allegations." The next day Sports Illustrated published an exposé that detailed Rose's habit of gambling on games his team was playing in, an action that directly goes against Rule 21(d), prohibiting personnel from gambling on any game in which they must perform. He initially denied placing the bets, but eventually accepted a spot on the MLB's permanently ineligible list, which, for many fans, was an admission of guilt.

It wasn't until the release of his book, "My Prison Without Bars" (via The New York Times), in 2004 that Rose finally came clean about his misdeeds, admitting that he had gambled on multiple Cincinnati Reds games. In 2021, the former player launched his own gambling podcast.

At one point, you couldn't have a conversation about the greatest athletes in history without bringing up Lance Armstrong's name. The cyclist, who began competing professionally in 1992, won seven consecutive Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005, the most ever attained by an individual, making him, arguably, the greatest road racer to ever live.

Unfortunately, none of those wins were legit. Rumors began swirling around the cancer survivor as early as 1999 (immediately following his first win), but it wasn't until 2006, when a former teammate admitted to doping, that they began to stick. In October 2008, the USADA found Armstrong guilty of using banned, performance-enhancing substances and trafficking those substances. The organization recommended a lifetime ban for the athlete, which included stripping him of any and all titles he won after 1998.

Initially, Armstrong refused to acknowledge either the allegations or the ban (he didn't even contest the USDA's accusations in court). It wasn't until 2013, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey (via YouTube), that he finally admitted to doping. "It was this mythic, perfect story, and it wasn't true," he said, flat-out answering "no" when Oprah asked him if it felt wrong at the time. Ultimately, Armstrong was just one of a slew of individuals found guilty of partaking in the sophisticated scheme. Dozens of other people, including his former team manager Johan Bruyneel, were either banned or hit with fines and restrictions by the USADA and the International Cycling Union.

Hockey is one of those sports where no one seems to bat an eye at a bit of violence. One grown man swinging on another? Normal. A whole team clearing the bench to avenge some barely perceptible slight? Just another day at the office. This is why it's so surprising that someone — namely Billy Coutu — managed to cause such a big fight that he was banned from the NHL.

In 1927, Coutu was playing for the Boston Bruins. He was known for his rough playing style and had previously found himself in several on-ice brawls (including one that resulted in an opponent losing an ear). Still, the drama that followed this Stanley Cup match was something the league had never seen. Unhappy with the game's results — the Bruins' loss — and how the referees made specific calls, Coutu physically attacked both officials in the hallway leading to their dressing room. He reportedly tackled the head referee, Jerry Laflamme, first before swinging on his assistant, Billy Bell, when he tried to intervene.

The NHL's reaction to his revenge-fueled wrestling was swift and aggressive: Coutu was to be banned for life and fined $100 (remember, this is the 1920s). Not deterred, Coutu switched to the Can-Am League, where he played for the New Haven Eagles for a time. Eventually, the NHL reversed Coutu's ban, and the newly-retired player returned to coach, arguably just as aggressively, for a few more seasons.

At the 2000 Olympic games, track and field star Marion Jones was constantly touted as one to watch. She was the United States' most exciting runner and was set to compete in a handful of events. In the end, the hype surrounding her was real. Jones took home three gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 1,600-meter relay, along with two bronze medals, in the long jump and 100-meter relay. It seemed a new GOAT had entered the chat.

Four years after the games ended, folks seemed to be taking some rumors surrounding Jones seriously, particularly once her connections to the Bay-Area Lab Co-Operative (BALCO), a lab that admitted to providing performance-enhancing substances to pro athletes, became public. In 2007, Jones finally admitted that she had been using and lying about these drugs for years. As a result, the USADA suspended her for two years and stripped her of all medals and titles.

Following the USADA's ruling and Jones' six-month jail sentence (for perjury), the International Olympic Committee also decided to ban the sprinter from the sport. But instead of a two-year ban, they passed down a life sentence. In addition to disqualifying her as a track and field athlete, the IOC barred Jones from future Olympic games and required her to return her five medals. Despite the drama, Jones wasn't ready to give up on sports. She went on to spend two seasons playing for the WNBA's Tulsa Shock before quietly getting cut in 2011.

Harry Howell has gone down in history books for being one of the first professional athletes ever to be banned from their sport. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Howell was one of the toughest pitchers in the MLB. He spent most of his 12-year career bouncing back and forth between teams in Baltimore and New York, but with his final team, the St. Louis Browns, he got himself in over his head.

At the start of the 1910 baseball season, the Chalmers Automobile Company promised a brand-new car to the player with the best batting record of the year. Heading into the final few games of the season, two players, Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie were neck and neck for the award. For some indiscriminate reason, Howell had been convinced to help Lajoie cheat his way to a title; a plan that was going swimmingly until one of Lajoie's hits resulted in an error (which lowered his batting average and knocked him out of the running for the Chalmers Award).

According to the book "Banned: Baseball," Howell sent a batboy to the game's scorer, asking them to turn the at-bat from an error to a hit in exchange for a fresh suit of clothes. Unswayed by the bribe, the scorer refused, the stat stood, and Howell found himself banned for life for his troubles. It seems cheaters really never do prosper after all.

In 2006, Sports Illustrated declared Chris Washburn the second-biggest draft bust of all time. While we're sure that's certainly not the title the 6'11" center set out to earn, it is, unfortunately, the only one he ever took home.

The first-round draft pick for the Golden State Warriors, Washburn had seemed decently promising as a high school athlete, making the All-American Team and earning a spot at North Carolina State University. While in college, his work ethic was considered when it came to light that he was granted admissions with a 400 SAT score and rarely went to classes. Even worse, he almost found himself kicked off the team when he got caught stealing a stereo. Still, the Warriors decided to take a chance and called him up in 1986.

In a talk at the 2022 F.R.E.S.H. Book Festival (via Sports Casting) in Daytona, Florida, Washburn explained why his NBA career was so short-lived and unstoried despite his potential. According to the former player, he was addicted to drugs almost from the jump, which robbed him of the energy and focuses he needed to work on his game. To deal with the disappointment of underperforming, he just did more drugs and spent more money. Eventually, after failing three drug tests in a row, Washburn was banned for life by the NBA. He spent some time on the streets and in prison before getting clean in the early 2000s.

NASCAR royalty Shane Hmiel was practically born to be a race car driver. His father, Steve Hmiel, was a crew chief and competition director who worked with some of the sport's biggest teams. So it shocked no one when the younger Hmiel followed those footsteps, embarking on his rookie season in 2001.

However, what shocked many folks was the younger Hmiel's substance abuse. In 2003, just two years after he began racing professionally, Hmeil failed a drug test. The misbehavior earned him a temporary suspension and required him to participate in the league's Road to Recovery program. Things seemed to look up for the young driver for a while, but in late 2005 and early 2006, he tested positive for drugs again. It was this third violation that led to NASCAR banning him for life.

The expulsion was the first of several things that helped Hmiel turn his life around. He told ESPN that by 2007 he was clean, and not long after that, he returned to racing, albeit in leagues like IndyCar and the United States Auto Club. Unfortunately, it wasn't all smooth sailing from there. In October 2010, Hmiel was in a crash that left him paralyzed. There is, however, a happy ending to Hmiel's story. The former NASCAR driver is still clean, and in 2013 he was able to get back behind the wheel once again, driving a specially made car in a charity event.

The 100-meter dash, the most anticipated event of the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, Korea, had all the makings of a dramatic showdown. The race featured American prospect Carl Lewis pitted against Canada's Ben Johnson, two accomplished athletes who shared an intense dislike for each other. The matchup was over in 9.79 seconds, a world record for Johnson who handily beat Lewis.

"A gold medal — that's something no one can take away from you," Johnson later told CNN. Evidently, he spoke too soon, as the next day, his lab tests revealed the steroid stanozolol, a performance-enhancing drug, was present in Johnson's system. Almost immediately, the Canadian athlete was stripped of his gold medal, which went to Lewis. Canada's sports minister declared that Johnson would be banned from the national Olympic team for life, while the International Amateur Athletic Foundation suspended him from competition for two years.

After a second case of doping showed up in Johnson's lab sample after a 1993 track meet, he was banned from the track by the IAAF for life. Johnson still refuses to comment on the race that first did him in. "I have moved past the events of 1988 and am enjoying a full life with family and trusted friends," he said to CBC in 2018. "I have not allowed that time in my life to define me. It is just unfortunate that some in the media and in the bureaucracy of sport still feel a need to vilify me."

One of the most victorious teams to play in the World Cup is Brazil, which has given the world superstars that include Pelé and Ronaldinho. But the legacy of the team, lovingly dubbed the Canaries for their yellow uniforms, was in serious jeopardy in September 2023, when FIFA and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) imposed lifetime suspensions to players Ygor Catatau, Matheus Phillipe Coutinho, and Gabriel Ferreira Neris for fixing domestic matches. Eight other players received temporary suspensions between 360 to 720 days. 

According to Brazil police and government officials, players were in cahoots with organized crime and could earn up to $20,000 for fixing a game, usually by being yellow or red-carded for overly aggressive conduct while playing. A red card means expulsion of the player, leaving his team short-handed, improving the odds of its opposition.

FIFA also sent the CBF a letter in December to meet about the situation. "For the sake of good order, we would also like to underline that should the CBF be eventually suspended by the relevant FIFA body, it would lose all of its membership rights with immediate effect and until the suspension is lifted by FIFA," said the letter, per Diario AS. "This would also mean that CBF representative and clubs teams would no longer be entitled to take part in any international competition while it is suspended." Sadly, that would include the World Cup, which Brazil has won five times, more than any other nation.