Chris Herren, Former Boston Celtic, Delivers a Powerful Message

If you read his book Basketball Junkie or saw the ESPN documentary Unguarded, then you have probably heard of Chris Herren and his story. Recently, I got the chance to see him speak in person and it was quite powerful. 

He opened his speech by telling a story about when he was a freshman in college and had to attend a presentation by a former professional athlete whose career was ruined by drug addiction.

Instead of listening to what the man had to say, Herren sat in the back and laughed to himself, wondering why he had to listen to this guy because something like that could never happen to him.

Fast forward 17 years, and he is in the exact same spot as the man whose presentation and circumstances he scoffed at. From there though, he rewound his story to his high school days.

Growing up in Fall River and attending Durfee High School, he was as cool as can be. He was a high school phenom scoring over 2,000 points, he was the Gatorade New England Player of the year, the two time Globe Player of the Year and a McDonald's All-American in 1994. 

His popularity brought him into the party scene at a young age. Although at the time he wanted to, he was never able to say no to the alcohol and drugs offered to him. Each time he tried a new drug for the first time, he would say to himself that he would do it just that one time, then never do it again.

Unfortunately, this would never turn out to be the case for Chris. Still though, drugs had not yet dominated his high school life and they certainly didn't affect his play. 

That all changed in college though, when he decided to fulfill the dream of many Massachusetts basketball players and go to Boston College to play college ball. It was there that he ignored what the former professional athlete had to say about drugs. And it was there, on one fateful day, that he tried cocaine for the first time.

He was a freshman and when he entered his room, he saw his roommate doing a line and quickly ran out of the room. All he could think of, he remembered, was Len Bias, the second pick of the 1986 draft and would-be Celtic, who died of cocaine just one day after the draft.

However, like every drug before it, he could not say no, especially when a girl in the room informed him that it would not kill him. But this first experience with a new drug, like every other, came with a promise to himself that he would only do it that one time. 

He never kept this promise to himself and when he failed three drug tests on account of the cocaine, he was kicked out of Boston College. From there, he went to Fresno State where he continued to excel on the basketball court, but also continued to fall deeper into drug dependence. His good play did land him a job in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets.

This scenario turned out to be a dream come true for Herren, and not just because he had achieved his life-long dream of making the NBA, but because he had Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess on his team. The two of them kept Herren clean for his entire rookie season and Herren recalls it being the most relaxing season of his career.

Then, what should have been a dream come true for Herren, a trade to the Celtics, really just turned out to be yet another step in the wrong direction. He would be back in the same area that he started his life with drugs.

In his inaugural press conference (the moment he had dreamed of ever since he was a kid), all he could think about was how after the press conference he was going to meet his dealer in the parking lot.

That wouldn't be the only dream come true that he would overshadow with his drug use though. When he got the opportunity to start at point guard for the Celtics, he needed oxycodone. He needed it so much so, that he called his dealer and told him to drive up by the Garden.

Then after Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker left the locker room to go warm-up, Herren ran outside, past all of the fans, in his full Celtics gear and waited in the pouring rain for his dealer just five minutes before tip-off. He got the drugs, quickly took them and was starting for the Boston Celtics a couple minutes later.

After a season-ending injury in the form of Shaq landing on top of him ended his career with the Celtics, he had to enter the Summer League for any chance of playing in the NBA again. He played well enough to be offered an $8 million contract if he just finished the summer league out. However, he opted not to finish the final two games or get the big contract because he needed to return to Fall River to get more drugs. 

Similarly, in his first stint in Europe, he turned down $50,000 a month salary from an Italian team because training camp was in the mountains, somewhere where he had no access to drugs. Then, after traveling around Europe for many years playing, and finding drugs all along the way, he ended up back in the states, broke. And for a short time, he was even homeless. 

One of the biggest turning points in Chris' life came just a few days after he had spent a five-day drug stint at a former NFL player and friend's house. This friend called him again and asked if he wanted to come back over for more. But for the first time in his life, Chris said no.

Early the next morning, he got a call from his friend's wife who was in tears; she told him to turn on the news. There, he found that his friend and the other person in the room with him had been shot by a gunman. Chris said no for the first time in his life, and it saved his life.

But by far the biggest turning point in his life came when he briefly died from the combination of a heroin overdose and the crashing of his car. He was brought back to life, and with help from Chris Mullin and his wife, was able to enter a rehab center.

Since then, he has turned his life around and now travels around telling his powerful story. But out of all that, what I found most powerful of all was his answer to a question he was asked. Someone asked him if he would rather have had an illustrious NBA career, or be doing what he is doing now. He answered that he would rather be doing what he is doing now.

On the surface, this seemed like a silly response, or something that he didn't really mean. But then I thought about it more and dove deeper into his reasoning. I understood where he was coming from.

Not anyone can be a great NBA player or have the basketball success he had. And if he did have a great career, then what message would he be sending to all those aware of his drug addictions? 

More important than that though is the fact that anyone can ruin their lives with drugs. Chris is living proof of that. But that is not was important, what it is important is what he is doing now.

He is leaving a powerful message to the entire country about the negative effects of drugs. Not everyone can be the next Chris Herren basketball star, but anyone can be the next Chris Herren drug addict. And that is exactly what he is trying to prevent.

His story and message seems to be influencing the youth of America in a positive way and keeping many from making the same mistakes that he once made.