Father quits job in quest to prevent steroid-related deaths, By: Staci Hupp

June 5, 2007

Don Hooton's fight against steroids started as a way to come to grips with his teenage son's suicide in 2003. Now he's making it his full-time job.

Mr. Hooton, 57, quit his high-ranking job at Hewlett-Packard last week to hit the road as a lobbyist of sorts. The Plano man will try to persuade policymakers in other states to follow Texas' lead on steroids testing in high schools.

Last week, state lawmakers forwarded a bill to Gov. Rick Perry that would open thousands of public high school athletes to mandatory random steroids tests.

Mr. Hooton believes the tests would have saved his son, Taylor, who used steroids to bulk up for baseball at Plano West Senior High School. The boy hanged himself from his bedroom door in what his parents believe was steroid-induced depression.

His son's death was a personal turning point for Mr. Hooton. Texas' steroid-testing bill was a professional turning point.

"This will be quite a change," said Mr. Hooton, who worked in computer sales for more than 30 years. "But a good one. There's a general ignorance about how dangerous this drug is. Somebody needs to be out beating the drum."

Mr. Hooton already has some experience with that. He has spoken to doctors, children, athletes and lawmakers across the country. His words were powerful enough to persuade Major League Baseball to pledge $1 million to the Taylor Hooton Foundation.

Mr. Hooton took early retirement from Hewlett-Packard, where he most recently was in international sales and business development.

He will draw a salary from the foundation, although he said the details haven't been worked out. Part-time consulting work for a telecommunications company will add extra pay and benefits, he said.

"I'm not going to be able to enjoy the same kind of income we had before, but that's part of our contribution to this effort," Mr. Hooton said. "At some point, you step up and do it because it's right."

Mr. Hooton offers what doctors, number-crunchers and policymakers can't: a story.

Taylor Hooton had a 3.8 grade point average and a girlfriend. He also had big dreams involving baseball. But he worried he was too small, so he turned to steroids.

The boy's drug-induced rage and depression weren't lost on his parents, who took him to doctors. The cause was steroids, Mr. Hooton said.

The night after his son's wake, Mr. Hooton said, he was standing outside the funeral home when it hit him: "If we were ignorant or unaware about the problem, then there are a lot of other parents in the same boat. Somebody needs to step up and talk about this."

The logic behind the legislation is that high school students won't try steroids if there's a chance they'll get caught, supporters say.

Last year, New Jersey became the first state to start statewide testing for high school athletes.

Texas lawmakers expect it to catch on in other states.

State Rep. Dan Flynn, who introduced the House version of the bill, has been on sports radio talk shows and said his "phone has rung off the wall talking to other states."

"Texas is recognized as a high school football state, and for us to pass this bill, they see as a bold step," said Mr. Flynn, R-Van. "We believe our bill will be a model bill for the nation."

Mr. Hooton said his contribution to the Texas effort was small, but he hopes to have an impact elsewhere.

"We need to put a face on the problem," he said. "As it turned out, that's been Taylor. That's kind of our purpose in life right now. Wish somebody else had done it first."