Victor Conte, the eccentric and controversial businessman and self-styled nutrition and conditioning expert, died Monday at age 75 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Conte was the figure at the center of one of professional sports’ biggest performance-enhancing drug scandals in the early 2000s, but he went on to provide information to authorities and drug-testing organizations and positioned himself as an anti-doping advocate before again working with athletes, including a number of boxers.
BALCO, a San Francisco-based company founded by Conte in 1984, was investigated by the U.S. government in 2002, leading to high-profile athletes such as Major League Baseball’s Barry Bonds, the NFL’s Bill Romanowski and Olympic sprinter Marion Jones being swept up in the scandal. Conte and several associates were indicted on related charges, and in 2005 he pled guilty and served four months in prison.
To his credit, Conte owned up to his role in the widespread steroids distribution network, and he had a strong self-awareness that it would follow him long after he had served his time. (He told an NPR reporter during a 2007 visit to his headquarters, "Welcome to the BALCO Hall of Fame – or shame – depending on your viewpoint.")
In the aftermath, he also worked with organizations such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) to identify loopholes and bolster drug detection and founded SNAC Nutrition. SNAC, according to its website, professed to “pioneering the expansion of human potential by utilizing clinical science to drive athletic performance” since 1987. Rather than try to ignore his past, Conte leaned into it – and embraced the role as a reformed bad guy.
The fighters Conte worked with, which included Terence Crawford, Claressa Shields and Devin Haney – some of the world’s best – swore by him. And even after receiving his cancer diagnosis and facing chemotherapy treatments back in June, Conte was upbeat and focused on a big weekend of boxing featuring his fighters.
“To have seven fighters on huge platforms in the midst of fighting cancer … this is what I do,” Conte told BoxingScene.
“This is what I enjoy. I’m going to continue doing what I do.”