Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Chris Herren

11 comments:

  1. Return to Center Court
    By Natasha Ladhani
    After being one year sober, Chris Herren was finally able to look himself in the mirror while shaving. After being one year sober, Chris Herren was finally able to reflect on himself while performing an everyday task. After being one year sober, Chris Herren was finally able to do something so routine in a way that caused him no pain. Something many people take for granted, the ability to shave while looking in the mirror, took Chris Herren 33 years to achieve.
    As a former Celtic and pride of his hometown, Fall River, Massachusetts, Chris Herren underwent a fourteen-year struggle with drugs and alcohol. He recently spoke at Wellesley High School in front of 1300 surprisingly silent students.
    Herren’s experience with drugs was something he never intended to go down. “I never thought when I was sipping red Solo cups and smoking blunts, ‘oh I can’t wait to be a heroin addict’”, Herren stated. “It can happen to anyone”, he said, “we all start out in the woods or when our parents go on vacation”.
    Despite this, he is using his experience as a chance to prevent high school students to undergo what he had to deal with. “If I could just prevent one kid, that would be worth more than all the records I broke and all the money I earned”.
    Even though Herren was asked to speak due to his experience with drugs, the assembly focused more on insecurity. “This talk is not about heroin or cocaine, its about you being good enough”, said Herren. He shared that he often questioned himself, “How come being me is not enough”, and that he “wished [he] never had to change to go out with friends, that [he] felt cooler just as [him]”.
    During his road to recovery and was tempted back into drugs, it wasn’t because of the drug itself. Herren reflects stating, “when I’m not happy being me, that’s when the though of drugs and alcohol comes in”. Despite his struggle to find peace with himself, at the age of 32, on August 1st 2008, Chris Herren gave up drugs and alcohol. He said that at 32, “[he] was finally able to find peace and that being [him] is enough”.
    Many students praised the assembly shortly after. Izzy Seidman, a sophomore, said, “I though that as much as the experiences he went through were really sad, the message he tried to convey was really encouraging”. Another sophomore, Livy Masuret, stated, “he presented the information in a new way that related to [the students] in a way that had never been done before”.
    Herren highly stressed the importance that high school students must have, “self-esteem, self-respect, and self-confidence”, and then they will be set for life. Herren closed by assuring every student in the gym, “you are perfect just the way you are, and that’s a fact”.

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  2. Standing at the center of the school gymnasium with all the baskets up is a man, speaking passionately into a microphone to a crowd of over a thousand high school students.

    That man is Chris Herren, former Celtic team member and recovered addict of a number of drugs. He spoke to the student body of Wellesley High School on Wednesday, December 5 about the negative consequences of substance abuse and positive consequences of abuse ending and prevention. He gives these kinds talks all the time.

    Herren tells moving stories of his own suffering, as well as the others he helped and those who refuse to listen. His poetic expressions and repetition showed deep emotion and reflection on his part.

    “I had no idea,” he said as he spoke of how every time he got the first bit of a new drug, about how he never paid attention to their dangerous effects, only that they helped him escape his life.

    The desire to want to help others not to fall into the struggle of addiction that he did was clear is his speech. He spoke for a length of time on how substance abuse always stemmed from self-esteem issues and wanting to change themselves. For him, it was wanting to relieve all the pressure on him to be the best on the basketball court with his teammates and friends.

    “All my friends are either sober or addicted.”

    Out of the fifteen members of his old Fall River high school basketball team, six ended up with substance abuse problem. Two are junkies still on the streets.

    “Their parents drive in their BMW’s and don’t drive in that part of town because they’re scared that their sons will jump on them,” Herren said.

    Thankfully, Herren was able to embrace being himself, while also acknowledging how difficult it was to achieve and continue. Being uncomfortable in your own skin was what Herren felt was the motivation of trying to escape and that who you associated with affected your decisions.

    “Hurt people hurt people,” he repeated

    Statements like these in Herren’s presentation really opened the eyes of the students with the important issue of self-acceptance and substance abuse avoidance.

    “He was great and inspirational,” said one ninth grader at the school.

    His message was also a warning of how the grim effects of drugs far outweighed the good, if there even was a good. Stories of tragedies and near-misses made it very obvious that drugs are not something to start, or if someone has already begun, it is something to fight to stop.

    Overall, Herren served as an influence to love oneself and not to feel the need to change through drugs and alcohol.
    As Herren said, “Being me in enough.”

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  4. Chris Herren’s Road to Redemption
    By Peter Santo
    A basketball superstar from a working class town in Massachusetts, the best basketball player that town had seen in decades. Basketball had given him everything he had in life, money, fame and a life that most people would kill for. He had everything he ever wanted, and he threw it all away.

    Chris Herren was a star basketball player from Fall River, Massachusetts. He attended Boston College and Fresno State on full basketball scholarships and played in the NBA with the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets. Herren had the life that every kid dreamed of, and drugs and alcohol took it all away from him.

    Herren’s battle with addiction began in High School when he and his basketball teammates would drink alcohol and smoke marijuana on the weekends and sometimes on weeknights after games. It was during his freshman year at Boston College when Herren began using harder drugs like Cocaine.

    “One night during my freshman year at Boston College I walked into my dorm room and my roommate was sitting there with a young girl snorting crack Cocaine. They invited me to join them, and that was the first time I ever tried crack Cocaine,” Herren said. This is when Herren’s battle with addiction truly began, he failed multiple drug tests and was kicked off the Boston College basketball team and out of the University.

    Herren’s addiction eventually got bad enough that he was forced to seek treatment at a rehab facility. Throughout his lifetime Herren had been addicted to Cocaine, Heroin, Marijuana and OxyContin among other drugs.

    Herren’s life reached rock bottom when he came back to the rehab facility under the influence after witnessing the birth of his third child. He walked into the treatment facility and the man who said he shouldn’t have left in the first place said: “Call your wife and say goodbye, call your wife and your kids and tell them you will never see them again, because they are better off without you.” Herren refused and the next day, August 1st, 2008, was Chris Herren’s sobriety date.
    “I used to sit in gymnasiums like this, listening to some guy tell his story, I always used to say that this doesn’t apply to me, I’ll never be that guy. But today, today I would do anything to go back to 1994.” This was one of the messages delivered by Chris Herren when he told his story at Wellesley High School; he hoped that his message would be able to change the life of at least one student.

    Wellesley High School sophomore Rudy Pikulik shared what he thought about Herren. “I thought Chris’s story was very inspirational. He showed me a life that I never want to live and I know that his story made a difference in the lives of many students here at Wellesley High.”
    Herren’s story of addiction began when he was just a teenager growing up in Fall River, it all starts when you’re a teenager. “It all starts in the basements where the parents let us drink, it all starts at parties in the woods where the police can’t find you, it all starts with red Solo cups and blunts.”





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  5. Herren’s battle with Heroin

    He walked into his dorm room to see his friend with two girls using cocaine. “It’s not going to kill you” one of the girls said luring him to join. At the time he didn’t know he would spend 14 years battling drug addiction, as a result of one line he took that day.

    Chris Herren, former NBA player, came to Wellesley High School December 4th to present to the student body on the importance of drug and alcohol abuse.

    Identity was one of Herrens biggest messages in his speech. He wants kids to know that “Being themselves is enough.” Kids should be happy with who they are saturday night without drugs or alcohol.

    Herren wants teens to know that addiction starts at a young age from the basics. “We all start out in the woods or when our parents go on vacation with red Solo cups and blunts” Herron said. “90% of drug addicts started as teenagers” He added to warn the group further.

    Along with the age addiction starts at, Herren finds “day one” to be very significant. He knows that many high schoolers have already gotten to the point where they have experimented with drugs and alcohol and wants them to know even trying is dangerous enough. Everyone thinks “I am gonna do drugs once and never do it again” yet the reality is quite different.

    Wellesley Freshman Katie Smith was very moved by the speech. “I enjoyed his honesty. It was really easy to connect with him,” Smith said.

    Ironically an anonymous upperclassmen disagreed with Smith. “I liked the speech but there are slim chances of anyone actually pledging to be sober. Good effort though,” Anonymous said. It is interesting to compare feedback from a lower classman to an upper classman and see how their viewpoints vary based on age.
    To conclude his speech Herren finished with a moving quote. “ ‘Hurt people’ hurt people” he said. This was just one of the many powerful messages Herren talked about in his speech.

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  6. Herren Assembly

    By, Julia Clapham

    “If I can make a difference in one person’s life, well that means more to me than any basketball record I’ve ever gotten.”

    Chris Herren, former NBA basketball player, stood in the Wellesley high School gym on December 5th this year and talked about his life as a drug addict. He put a whole new spin on drug prevention when he said not taking drugs was about self-confidence and loving oneself.

    Herren tied drug use with identity crisis and self-esteem issues. “Being me wasn’t enough on Friday and Saturday nights.” Herren said about his teenage self. Thinking back, he realized that his drug usage was because he wasn’t happy with himself. He went on to say the reason people take drugs is because they don’t love themselves and think they need to change themselves, ideas that need to stop.

    “You are perfect just the way you are, and that’s a fact.” Herren said

    Another realization from many high school students was that addiction can happen to anyone. “Chris Herren walked in looking like a put together, regular guy. From just looking at him, you could never tell he was a drug addict.” Lily Fenton, student present at the assembly, said.

    Herren continued to say that pot, seemingly harmless, only leads to worse addictions. “No addict ever started out on heroin, they started, just like you, in parents’ basements or in the woods doing pot,” Herren said.

    Finally, Herren explained that drugs don’t just affect the user, but affect that person’s friends and family. “You’ve broken my heart since seventh grade, but I won’t let you break our children's’ heart.” Herren’s wife once told him.

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  7. Chris Herren recalls the day he was pronounced dead. Not many people can claim to have died and come back to life; Herren is one of the fortunate few. While driving, Herren overdosed on heroin. Upon waking after losing consciousness, Herren was told that he was dead for 30 seconds. He found himself attached to a life-support and detox system. Herren’s story illustrates the drastic detriments in trying alcohol or drugs, even just once.

    Now sober, Herren visits school to share his compelling story. He recently spoke at Wellesley high school in front of the entire school.

    Originally from Fall River, a mill town in Massachusetts, Herren played extraordinary basketball, earning the #9 spot on the list of best high school players in the U.S. He once thought that all assemblies discussing drugs and alcohols were jokes. He tried pot once in freshmen year, but this would lead to a series of event that would upheave his formerly successful life.

    Herren attracted the attention of all division 1 scouts through his amazing talents as a basketball player. He eventually decided to attend BC, where his drug and drinking habits worsened.

    The first day of college, when he entered his college dorm, he saw two college girls preparing cocaine. He immediately turned around, but the girls persuaded him to try a tiny bit of cocaine. He didn’t believe that this trial of cocaine would lead to an addiction, but it did.

    Herren traced the origin of substance abuse back to his identity and low self-esteem. In an attempt to deal with his internal insecurities, Herren resorted to drugs. In retrospect, Herren said, “Being me is enough”.

    “We started out in the woods with red solo cups and blunts,” Herren said.

    Herren’s compelling recounting of his personal struggles with substance abuse moved the student body. Several students broke down into tears. Students were overall satisfied with their experience.

    “It was very deep,” Tim Rey, a sophomore, said.

    Herren concluded the assembly emphatically, encouraging students to accept themselves as who they are, rather than turn to drugs.

    “Hurt people hurt people,” Herren said.

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  8. Herren Says Hangovers Are Not Just Hype

    “I never realized that that little yellow pill would change my life forever- and take 15 years to get over”.

    This is the message Chris Herren, former NBA player, gave during his presentation to Wellesley High School students on December 4. After a life as a drug and alcohol addict he took a career speaking about the severe consequences of drugs, especially to high school students.

    Herren geared his presentation to relate to the students who may have already been dealing with drug issues. As WHS English teacher Craig Mustard put it, “he went up there and it was a performance”. Mustard praised Herren for acknowledging the problem of adolescent drug abuse and then tackled it well by showing the kids they are just as likely to become addicted if they are not careful.

    Herren explained to the students “it was just [him] sitting in those bleaches of a gym listening to why we shouldn’t do drugs” he new the same feeling as the students, he said, “I never thought it would be me who ended up as the alcoholic”.

    Students at WHS felt that what made Herren’s speech so effective was his relation to the students who needed to hear his message the most. Herren stressed that doing drugs and alcohol as a kid starts small, “we all start in the woods with our red solo cups” he said “and from there it only gets worse. Not one of those kids in the woods said to me ‘ I can’t wait to become a heroine addict’ yet look were we ended up”.

    WHS ninth grader, Louise Lynn, who saw the presentation on Wednesday said that Herren’s stories were “interesting and [she] thinks[s] it changed people’s view on things [such as drug and alcohol abuse]”. Lynn hopes that Herren’s first hand experience and passion for how important it is for high school students to stay away from drugs and alcohol were well received by the student body. She said, “I think in the future [students] will make better choices based off his story”.

    However, Herren could not fix all of the problems in the school. While his presentation was well received and very powerful, WHS sophomore, Matthew Hornung feels that “we also have to make the sad realization that the kids who his message is most applicable to, the ones doing the most risky things with their lives, are the ones who dismissed or ignored his message altogether, despite how much he tried to persuade them not to”. Hornung feels that despite this important consideration, Herren’s speech was “very strong” and a step in the right direction for many kids at WHS.

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  9. “Being me is enough”

    By Ethan Chiu

    All six hoops in the court was raised up. A star basketball player Chris Herren walked onto the court with a suit and tie instead of a jersey. More than 1,300 students watched Herren walk towards the center of gym after watching a video about him. Students were told by the principal that it was about drugs. Many of them expected a simple speech that they could not relate to. Instead, Herren’s talk with students turned out to be a relatable and inspiring one.

    Chris Herren, a 6 year pro in the NBA, entered a gym once again as a former drug addict on December 4th to talk about drugs not basketball. On that day, Herren talked to students at the Wellesley High School about his life story as well as standing against substance abuse.

    Drugs started small for Herren. He was residing in the town Fall River, MA while being a phenomenal basketball player for Durfee High School when he first got introduced to liquor. He started drinking alcohol when he was 14 years old. Soon that evolved to drugs when he entered Boston College on a full scholarship for basketball.

    “We all start out in the woods or when our parents go on vacation with red Solo cups and blunts,” said Herren.

    One day in his freshman year, Herren walked into a dorm visiting a friend when he saw two girls hiding cocaine. When one girl asked him if he wanted to have some cocaine, he said no. The girl persisted and said that her first time wasn’t bad. He thought he would just do it now and only once. From that experience he later became a full-blown drug addict.

    “I’ve never have met a person who was anticipating to be addicted drugs,” said Herren.

    Herren looked like a normal person when playing basketball as a top scorer. Off court though he was sticking needles filled with heroine. Herren wanted to hide who he really was.

    “I honestly don’t care about my 2,000 points record in Durfee High School,” said Herren. “I care more about emailing that girl than all my records.”

    Herren was referring to a girl that emailed him after his speech at her high school about how she began to cut herself because of bullying. Her family wasn’t able to afford clothes so she had to wear clothes that classmates of her’s bullied her about. These differences made her an easy subject to be bullied.

    Tony Shu, a student who was at Herren’s speech. “I thought Chris Herren’s speech reinforced the idea that you don’t need to change yourself to impress others,” said Shu.

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  10. An Inspiration for Others
    Keenan Ashbrook

    Chris Herren was dead for thirty seconds.

    But after the paramedics in his hometown of Fall River had given up on the 32 year old star basketball player turned drug addict, a police officer who knew him told them to try to save his life one last time. Herren was revived in the back of the ambulance. Thanks to that decision, he survived a car accident and heroin overdose, and eventually broke his cycle of addiction.

    Herren, now 38, came to Wellesley High School last Wednesday to warn students of the dangers of drug and alcohol use. Speaking to an audience of 1300, he recounted his early glory days playing basketball, and his subsequent decline into addiction.

    Herren recounted his experiences starting during his high school days. He was the star of his high school basketball team, and all indications pointed to a successful career in college and the NBA. “When he was sixteen years old, he was the future, he was the hope,” said Bill Reynolds, the author of Fall RIver Dreams.

    Despite the glory of Herren’s life on the court, his personal problems began soon after. “I was in 9th grade when I first drank and smoked pot,” Herren said. He would go out on friday and saturday nights and party with his friends on the basketball team, which typically included drinking and using marijuana.

    Once Herren got to college, his drug problems got worse. “Two weeks after I got on campus, I opened up the door to my dorm room, and there are two young girls with my roommate chopping up lines of cocaine,” said Herren. He had never touched cocaine in his life, and initially he refused to use it with them when they asked him. Then, after they told him it wouldn’t hurt him, he agreed to try a line.

    After breaking his wrist during his first college game, Herren soon a habitual cocaine user. Herren began failing drug tests, and was eventually expelled. Even after transferring to Fresno State and then going on to play professional basketball for, among other teams, the Boston Celtics, Herren’s drug use got worse.

    While playing professionally, Herren moved to harder drugs. “I started with oxycontin and went to heroin,” Herren said. By 2006, he was a full-blown addict. The turning point for him came after his car accident. Herren went to drug rehab, where he realized that he was a failure as a person, and a failure as a father. He had to better himself for the sake of his kids.

    Now five years clean, Herren tours the country telling his story, and trying to make a difference. In the WHS auditorium, Herren talked about the dangers of using even marijuana. “90% of addicts started as teenagers,” Herrens said. “No one thinks: I’m going to be a heroin addict. No one thinks they will go beyond just drinking and smoking blunts.”

    He urged students to listen to his advice. “I remember walking into assemblies like this in high school and thinking ‘this is a joke.’” He didn’t think that he could ever be an addict.

    Herren says that even though marijuana can seem harmless, the real danger is in its role as a gateway drug. However, according to Herren, that is how he, and most other addicts, start. “Of the fifteen guys on my basketball team [who smoked marijuana], today six are addicts living on the street.”

    After he finished warning the audience of the risks associated with drugs, Herren shared stories of the impact that his assemblies have had on students. On many occasions, he has had a huge influence on the schools he visits. His assemblies have caused tearful confessions, shows of solidarity, and have even stopped a suicide.

    When he concluded presentation, Herren was met with a tremendous standing ovation. Leon Yu, a WHS sophomore, said that “the assembly was nice, because his story was personal.” In some final words of encouragement to the students in attendance, he told them the best way to resist substance abuse was to simply have self respect.

    “Just be fine with being you,” he said. “You shouldn’t need drugs or alcohol to make you better. Being you is good enough.”

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