Anabolic steroid (AS) use among high school athletes was first systematically documented in 1971, with 2.5 percent of athletes having used. By 1988 it was reported that 6.6 percent of male high school seniors nationwide had used AS; this subsequentially led to the first real media attention paid to young athletes use of AS, as well as the first primary effort to legislate non-prescription use of AS, the AS Control Act in 1990. Further legislation was passed in 2004, again partly based on the reported use of AS among young athletes, as well as attention being paid worldwide to highly publicized doping reports. As a way to illustrate effects AS may have had on young athletes, a visible time line reflecting popular national and legislative efforts regarding AS was plotted, overlaid with the height and weight of elite high school football players over a period of 42 years. Each year, Parade Magazine publishes its Parade High School All-American Football Team, as voted on by high school and collegiate scouts. The sample used for this study was all lineman designated All-American from 1963 to 2005, for a total N of 379. Reported Body Mass Index (BMI, which equals weight in kg. divided by height in meter squared) was used as the primary variable for each lineman. To provide a comparison group, a nationwide BMI sample of males ages 18-24 from cross-sectional surveys conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics over the study years was used. The purpose of this was to examine any changes to BMI among elite high school football players across documented historical points of AS interest and use. When data points are plotted on a regression line, results show from 1963 to 1971 there is very little change in BMI among football players and household males. From 1972-1989, immediately following the first documented use of AS in high schools, there is a significant and unexplained increase in BMI in football players, but no increase for household males. Conversely, the years immediately following AS legislation, 1991 and 2005 show the only two reductions in 42 years in BMI among football players. Discussion from this session will involve a scholarly dialog including possible explanations for increased BMI including advances in nutrition, strength training and coaching, but also the notion that AS may have influenced the size of elite athletes beyond accepted training methods.Keyword(s): high school issues, sport topics, youth sports