READING, MA — “I’m here today because, just like you, I didn’t want to hear this talk when I was your age,” Chris Herren, retired professional basketball player, recently told Austin Prep upper school students.
He spoke about the hazards and perils of drug and alcohol abuse. Mr. Herren grew up in Fall River, MA and played basketball at Boston College and Fresno State. He was drafted into the NBA and played with the Denver Nuggets and the Boston Celtics. Later, he played on professional teams around the world.
Mr. Herren said he began to drink alcohol and use drugs as a teenager – which escalated from use to abuse and scarred his college and professional careers. He failed numerous drug tests while in college and in the NBA, and was arrested several times. He overdosed and crashed his car into a utility pole. Emergency responders told him he had been dead for 30 seconds.
“We focus on the worst day, and not the first day,” Mr. Herren said about using drugs and alcohol.
What drug addiction looks like in the end is not what it looks like in the beginning.
Not all drug addicts are people who are poor and homeless, he said.
Mr. Herren entered rehab many times. The first time was at age 21 and he was too arrogant and ignored the message, help and support being offered. The final time – 12 years later – he spent one year apart from his wife and three children to get sober. He has been sober for eight years.
Today, he teaches basketball to young people and shares his story.
“If I can help one kid, it’s worth it,” Mr. Herren said.
(NOTE: The above news announcement is from Austin Prep.)
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