Walter Riker Jr., 87; Named First Drug Advisor to NFL in ’73
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Walter F. Riker Jr., 87, a pharmacology expert who became the first drug advisor to the National Football League three decades ago, died Feb. 20 at a New York City hospital of unstated causes. He lived in Fort Lee, N.J.
Riker was tapped as an NFL advisor in 1973, when the league was awash in scandal over purportedly widespread use of amphetamines by players.
He quickly set up a system that required team doctors to report the antibiotics, painkillers and other medications they prescribed for team members.
In the early 1980s, Riker helped the league deal with players’ use of cocaine and steroids.
After he warned that steroids could lower sperm count and alter liver function, the NFL began randomly testing for their use in 1990.
Born in the Bronx, N.Y., Riker was educated at Columbia University and Cornell Medical College, where he began teaching in 1944 and was named chairman of the pharmacology department in 1956.
He retired from Cornell in 1983 and from the NFL in 1984.
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