Sean Marsee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sean Marsee (1965 – February 25, 1984) was a 19-year old track star from Talihina, Oklahoma who died because of cancer allegedly resulting from the regular use of dipping tobacco.
Sean earned 28 medals on his high school track and field team. Before his addiction he was in excellent physical shape.
Marsee started using snuff at the age of 12, when he got a free can of Copenhagen tobacco at the rodeo. He used four or more cans a week. Marsee's mother, a registered nurse, found out about his habit and angrily confronted him. He told her that he felt it was no big deal, and that even his coach didn't mind his athletes using snuff. Sean's ordeal started when he noticed a large white-cored sore on the tip of his tongue. His doctor ran tests and found wide-spread cancer. Marsee underwent several operations that left him severely disfigured. His physical appearance had been altered so much that one of his friends fainted when he saw Sean. Shortly before his death, Marsee wrote two notes. One was a simple declaration of Christian faith, and the other was a warning to others that they needed to kick the habit that had cost him his life.
The company had targeted sports personalities and other male role models with free samples of its products. In 1974, U.S. Tobacco in conjunction with the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association had created the Copenhagen Skoal Scholarship Awards Program for student athletes.
At the only smokeless-tobacco case ever tried in the United States, a jury in 1986 returned a 6-0 verdict clearing U.S. Tobacco of liability for his death, on the grounds of insufficient proof.
