The younger brother of Vic Tanny – who went on to become one of the pioneers of the gym industry – Armand won the 1949 Pro Mr. America and 1950 Mr. USA titles. He came to the forefront in “Strength & Health” magazine at the young age of 14.

The Rochester, New York native broke in to the business as a weightlifter, as many of the old-time bodybuilders did. He competed in that field as a teenager and placed second in the 1941 Junior nationals in Ohio. As many young men of the era did, Tanny joined the military when the United States became involved in World War II and he suffered a knee injury. 

Once back home, he turned to bodybuilding and could either be found at Muscle Beach or his brothers gym in Santa Monica. Tanny was also part of the Mae West traveling nightclub act, a group of which Zabo was also a part of.

Tanny delved into a brief acting career and also tried his hand at professional wrestling in the 1950s. He also joined the Joe Weider crew and was a writer for Muscle Power (the precursor of Muscle & Fitness) magazine.

It’s going to be a hard sell for big and burly professional football players to convince anyone that they only took a product that is marketed as a weight loss drug for middle-aged women. The model on the company’s home page (www.starcaps.com) brings back memories of Mae West, for Christ’s sake! (No offense, Nikki Haskell)

StarCaps even had to put a disclaimer on their website and “temporarily suspend shipping” due to the lawsuit. Now, I totally understand that these players are just covering their asses by blaming the product, but the fact remains that a diuretic such as this is also used as a masking agent for steroids, more specifically, the banned substance bumetanide.

What may be an important piece of evidence is that Dr. John Lombardo (the Steroid Policy’s Independent Administrator) was aware of StarCaps containing bumetanide back in 2006, but failed to inform NFL players because he did not want to line up their excuse for them if they were caught using a masking agent.

Three players on the New Orleans Saints (Duece McAllister, Will Smith and Charles Grant), two Minnesota Vikings (Kevin Williams, Pat Williams) and one Atlanta Falcon (Grady Jackson) all failed drug screening tests for bumetanide. All but Jackson, who has already served his suspension, can miss four games each if found guilty. They have filed appeals with the league and are awaiting hearings.