When Chris Herren Tells The Story Of His Fall From Fame, A Thousand Come And Listen

By: Brent Runyon
Published: 01/27/12

A thousand people came to Falmouth High School last night to hear former NBA player and Fall River native Chris Herren tell the story of how he became a top-level basketball prospect, descended into drug addiction, and then finally found a path to recovery.

Mr. Herren said speaking at Falmouth High School was meaningful to him because important parts of his recovery occurred at The Miller House, the Gosnold rehabilitation facility on Woods Hole Road in Falmouth.

“Falmouth to me is like a second home. Falmouth is where I became a husband and a father,” Mr. Herren told the crowd, who sat in silence for over an hour, as he told of his descent into drugs and his recovery in graphic detail.

Mr. Herren told the hundreds of Falmouth High School students that he remembered when he was a high school student hearing a speaker talk about substance abuse, but dismissed the warning. “The thing I remember most as I looked at that guy with the microphone was thinking, ‘There’s no way I could ever be a junkie,’ ” he said.

At the time he was a McDonald’s All-American—one of the top 20 high school basketball players in the country—and already a legendary Fall River point guard, but had also started drinking, smoking marijuana and abusing prescription medication.

He tried cocaine for the first time as a freshman at Boston College and failed three drug tests that got him kicked out of school. He got a second chance at Fresno State but continued to use drugs. He went to rehabilitation for the first time as a college student, but did not take the message to heart.

The Denver Nuggets drafted him out of college, and Mr. Herren had some success in the NBA. The veteran team built an environment that insulated him from drugs and alcohol. “That season for me was the best season of my life,” Mr. Herren said.

In the off-season, he was traded to the Boston Celtics, which should have been a dream come true, but he had become addicted to prescription painkillers.

At the press conference announcing his joining the Boston Celtics, as he held up his new jersey with the number 12 on it, all he could think about was meeting his drug dealer to buy some OxyContin.

In one of his first games as a Celtic, the coach told him he would be the starting point guard against the Washington Wizards and NBA legend Michael Jordan. What should have been a triumphant moment for Mr. Herren was overwhelmed by his addiction to drugs. “There’s no way I can play without them,” he said, “I’m dope sick in the Boston Celtics locker room.”

As the other players warmed up on the court, Mr. Herren stood outside in the rain waiting for his drug dealer. “My first memory of being a Boston Celtic was standing on the corner in the rain,” he said.

Although he was offered a contract for $8 million over three years to play basketball, Mr. Herren said the pull of drugs was too strong. He had built up his habit to 800 milligrams of OxyContin a day, and knew he could not continue in the NBA with his drug habit.

“Eight-hundred milligrams or $8 million,” he said. “Eight-hundred milligrams wins every time. Fact.”

He gave up his career in the NBA, rather than stop using drugs, and went to Italy to play basketball. It was there that he tried heroin for the first time. Heroin became his drug of choice, and he later overdosed and nearly died.

The drugs continued to dominate his life. He described a five-day drug binge with a friend who was a professional football player. They never left the man’s living room while they smoked crack cocaine and shot heroin.

Later the football player, whom he did not name, was executed in that living room on a night he had invited Mr. Herren to come over for more drugs. That was the first time in his life, Mr. Herren said, he refused drugs. “For the first time in my life I said no to drugs, and it saved my life,” he said.

Perhaps the lowest point for Mr. Herren was when he left a rehabilitation facility to be with his wife who was going into labor, but he chose to use heroin instead. When he finally showed up in the delivery room, his wife kicked him out. “I met my wife when we were in 6th grade, and my wife told me to get lost and called me a scumbag,” he said.

After that, he went back into treatment, and finally stopped using drugs. That was in 2008, and Mr. Herren said he has been sober since. He is still married to his wife, Heather, and they have three children, Chris, 12, Samantha, 10, and Drew, 3.

He turned his life around with help from Gosnold and other treatment facilities. “If it wasn’t for some places that extended their hands, like Gosnold, I wouldn’t be here,” he said.

His mission in life now is to speak to young people with the hope that he will change one person’s life. He addressed the high school students directly, those who might think that they would never become an addict. “There are kids sitting amongst us who will be addicts in 15 years,” he said. “Don’t be me.”

“You kids are perfect just the way you are,” he said. The crowd gave him a standing ovation and then had a chance to ask questions of Mr. Herren.

One young man asked Mr. Herren what the greatest moment in his basketball career was. “The greatest moment in my basketball career is being here,” he said. The best result of his basketball career is that it gave him an opportunity to talk to young people, he said.

Another audience member asked him what he would change, if he could change anything from his life. Mr. Herren said he was okay with everything that had happened to him, but he wished he could change his children’s memories.

Another student asked what it was like to hear thousands of fans chanting his last name. “I’ve got a crazy last name,” Mr. Herren said, because it sounds like “heroin” when people chant it.

Afterward, students gathered around Mr. Herren to take their pictures with him and get his autograph.

One student, Caroline Lebherz, a 10th grader at Falmouth High School, said, “It was very inspirational.”

Marianna Moore, a 9th grader at Falmouth High School, said she thought Mr. Herren’s message would touch a lot of kids.
Some people traveled a long distance to hear Mr. Herren. Laureen Butcher of Harwich brought her four sons, two of whom are teenagers, because she wanted them to hear Mr. Herren’s story. “It was amazing,” she said.

Adam Souweine, a 9th grader at Falmouth High School who plays on the freshman basketball team, had Mr. Herren sign a small basketball. “I thought it was really interesting,” he said. “Every kid struggles with peer pressure.”