Steve Howe killed in California rollover

Former Whitefish resident and professional baseball pitcher Steve Howe died April 28 when the pickup truck he was driving rolled on a highway in Coachella, Calif.

Howe lived in Whitefish through the 1990s and moved to California about four years ago.

According to the New York Daily News, Howe was driving westbound about 130 miles east of Los Angeles on Interstate 10 around 5:30 a.m. when his truck drifted into the center median, hit an embankment and flipped.

The Daily News said Howe was reportedly not wearing a seat belt and was partially ejected from the vehicle. Howe was pronounced dead at the scene. Police declined to say if there was evidence of drug or alcohol use, pending further investigation.

Howe was a promising baseball star who ran afoul of drug use throughout his career. He started out with a bang, winning the 1980 Rookie of the Year award while playing with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he helped the Dodgers win the World Series the next year.

He was first suspended from professional baseball in May 1983. Howe checked himself in for cocaine addiction treatment, but he was suspended again in September that year after he refused to submit to a urinalysis test. Three more failed drug tests followed, and baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended Howe for the entire 1984 season.

After playing with several independent teams and clubs in the Mexican League, Howe signed on with a minor league Yankees team in February 1991, where he posted a 1.68 ERA in 37 games.

Despite his success on the field, baseball commissioner Fay Vincent ordered Howe banned for life in June 1992 — the first such ban in professional baseball history — after Howe was caught purchasing cocaine in Montana.

Howe was arrested in Kalispell on Dec. 19, 1991, after he paid $100 to an undercover informant for one gram of cocaine. Police were acting on information obtained after the largest cocaine bust in Flathead County history occurred one week earlier in the Canyon.

An arbitrator successfully argued that cocaine use helped Howe deal with attention deficit disorder, and he was reinstated. After a brief stint in minors, he was back with the Yankees.

Federal charges were filed against Howe a second time when, just two days after the Yankees released him on June 22, 1996, he was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport — a loaded .357 Magnum handgun was discovered in his Kalispell-bound luggage. He pleaded guilty to gun possession and was ordered to three years probation and 150 hours community service.

Local newspapers reported in August 1997 that Howe was critically injured while riding his motorcycle in Kalispell. He was treated at Kalispell Regional Medical Center for collapsed lungs and a ruptured trachea. Police said the accident had not been reported for three days. Howe had recently returned to Montana after straining his arm while playing for the Sioux Falls Canaries, in the independent Northern League.

His good record on the field could not erase Howe's long history of drug abuse and arrests, and in 1999, he was banned from the Whitefish High School softball field, where his daughter, Chelsi, was a standout player on the high school team.

School District 44 superintendent Dave Peters ended Howe's role as a volunteer assistant coach for the team, saying, "The notoriety Steve has because of who he is caused us some concern. Because of that, it was felt a background check was in order to protect the school."

The school board backed up Peters, despite the presence of 75 players and parents who turned out in support of Howe at the school board meeting. Board trustee Leo Tracy noted that Howe had taken to the field even after Peters ordered him not to, calling it evidence of "unwavering defiance of authority" and "incredible ability to use bad judgment."

Board chairman David Fern asked the board to avoid personal attacks, noting that all staff should now have background checks.

The Whitefish Softball Association joined Howe in appealing the decision, but it was upheld by Nancy Keegan, the state superintendent of public instruction.