This is an accurate description of Chris Herren, who was born in Fall River, Massachusetts and was immediately destined for greatness once his talent on the basketball court was showcased. After being the all-star player of Durfee High School, he transferred to Boston College over such schools as Duke University for it being close to home and ultimately very attractive. This was the beginning of a downfall. Herren fell prey to cocaine on campus, and after failing numerous drug tests - testing positive for cocaine and marijuana - he was kicked out of the university. By then, Herren was a known-name in college basketball. Headlines such as "Cocaine? What a shame!" began to appear in newspapers across the country. Herren states in his famous speech that he makes across the United States that when he snorted his first line of cocaine off a dollar bill it took him several years before he could put down that dollar bill.
He was then recruited by Jerry Tarknaian to play for Fresno State. After a successful stint there, and a twenty-eight day rehabilitation, he was then drafted to the Denver Nuggets, where he continued to play great ball. After a year in Denver, still healthy and clean, he returned to his hometown to play for the Boston Celtics. While this was fulfilling a childhood dream, it ultimately was one of the worst things that could happen to him. Residing in Denver and California, under heavy surveillance from team-members and coaches didn't allow for him to step out of line. When he returned to Boston, he was surrounded by an enormous drug market, and eventually became addicted to painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin, percocet, and eventually, heroin. This habit took him fourteen years to break, and during this came he came close to death several times - at one time being dead from a heroin dose for thirty seconds.
Why am I writing about such an arbitrary topic when I'm known for publishing film reviews? My last two blogs have been on the Chicago-based rapper Chief Keef, so I can just imagine how far out of left field this seems to come. I had the privilege of seeing Chris Herren speak at my school two days in a row. Once, for two hours, on Thursday October 10, 2013, and the following Friday for one hour, both featuring a Q&A session.
I had been acquainted with Herren via his ESPN: 30 for 30 documentary Unguarded, the Emmy-nominated feature that focused on his rise to fame and his fall from drug addiction, in my sports and entertainment marketing class in late 2012. I recently rewatched the film in my journalism class a few days ago because the school hasn't stopped talking about acquiring Herren as a speaker since we found out early last month. I was astonished when we wound up getting him, after numerous negotiations fell through. He is not cheap and anti-drug assemblies have consistently had a negative buzz around them for their inherently didactic focus and their often condescending messages.
Herren's speech, on the other hand, both nights, was something different. Herren spoke with complete confidence and self-assurance. Never searching for a word, never hammering the tiresome actions of "goal-setting," and never trying to communicate a message, he spoke to give kids a perspective and to make them acknowledge his nightmarish tale of drug addiction and how it almost killed him and his family. It was a pleasant thing to note that Herren didn't reiterate every point from his documentary Unguarded either day he spoke. He, of course, touched on points, recounted tales of laying behind a 7/11, passed out in the company of homeless men (after he was a known basketball player), braving traffic and rainfall during Celtics pregame warmups to find his drug dealer stuck in a traffic jam, and buying black tar heroin on the shady streets of Italy during his brief career stint overseas.
I sat next to two girls - who are both sweethearts - who had no knowledge on Herren during the Thursday night event. They weren't fortunate enough to watch his documentary prior to this event, although I question if that changes the impact the speech has on you. It definitely left them more surprised than myself. Much of my surprise was achieved when Herren would discuss post-basketball life, which has been largely dominated by giving these kinds of speeches at high schools across America.
My math teacher brought up an extremely viable criticism about Herren after he spoke at the school Friday morning. He remarked about how incredibly fortunate Herren was for getting so many second chances in his basketball career, and being allowed rehabilitation through other people's money, where the average person with addiction has such fewer resources than Herren. This is why Herren has founded "Project Purple," an organization that gives kids and adults the means they need to get help for their addiction, regardless of socioeconomic or financial status. With so many similar organizations, and every troubled soul creating a foundation here and there, here is a foundation I find necessary and rather overlooked as an alternative for addiction counseling.
During the Thursday night event, a young girl stood up, whom I had never seen before. She was a bit husky, with blonde hair and a rather typical teen-girl outfit from what I could see. She was maybe six rows from the back and stood up during Herren's Q&A session, fighting tears and emotion to tell him something. She began, but few could hear her; not even Herren. A gracious soul magnified her voice who sat on the other end of the row. "Her name is Kelly, she is a fifteen-year-old, IV-heroin user and wants to know how she can get in touch with your organization," the woman said. Herren looked down for a moment, with a blank look on his face, before turning up, walking down the aisle and saying, "Well first, I gotta give you a hug." Kelly got up from her seat, met him halfway down the aisle and exchanged a big hug with the man, where Herren whispered some stuff to her, before she went and sat back down. The entire auditorium erupted in applause.
That fifteen-year-old girl did something more courageous than I have ever done in my life. She could've easily waited until after the session, when Herren was free for personal questions, pictures, and minor conversations (none of which I stayed for). She didn't need to say it in front of the entire auditorium and I wouldn't even think she did it for attention. She did it to perhaps draw awareness at how near and young heroin addicts can be (I live in clean, upper class suburbia where some of us probably think that the strongest drug out here is marijuana) and to show the first step in this hopefully brave recovery. I know nothing of this girl's story. I don't believe she goes to my school and I don't know her last name. And yet I've never felt such sadness and sympathy for someone who I heard say less than ten words.
It's vital to say I likely wouldn't have came back to the same institution for two more hours after spending eight hours in there for a speech if I didn't think the speaker would be good. The same day, I stayed after for two and a half hours in order to do a radio show, came home for a whole forty minutes, before darting back out and heading to see Herren speak. It was a hectic day. But, above all, worth it for Herren's honest look at his life, his truthful and intelligent commentary on medicine and the pharmaceutical industry ("Why do we even have medicine cabins?," Herren asks at one point during his speech), and his smooth, loquacious nature that fails to be condescending or alienating, despite his status in the NBA and the media. Even if you don't have the opportunity to hear him speak, that doesn't decimate the value of seeing Unguarded.
My review of Unguarded, http://stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/3375?page=1
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