Former high school All-American and professional basketball player Chris Herren was a guest speaker for Good Counsel on November 7th. Herren, founder of Herren Talks, which aspires to help young students overcome addiction, spoke to the Kane Center full of students about his troubles with drug and alcohol addiction as well as mental health and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) awareness.
Herren, 49, played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets and overseas for five years. He has been a motivational speaker since 2009, giving over 200 speeches per year. During that time, he has spoken to over 2 million students, athletes, and community members about the struggles he faced, as well as substance abuse and addiction. Drug and alcohol-free since 2009, Herren founded the Herren Wellness Center, a residential drug and rehabilitation center.
Boys Varsity Basketball Head Coach George Kissal praised Herren saying, “I think what he does so well is he makes his speech very relatable and accessible for everyone of all backgrounds. He connected with all types of kids. His impact on student-athletes is that they can see a version of themselves in his story.”
Kissal, a fan of Herren during his playing days, said the story that resonated the most with him is perhaps the most talked about of Herren’s life. Herren told his kids that he was going to get them donuts, but instead, he went to get his drugs, ended up overdosing, and crashed his car. He says he remembers the glass shattering, and then being in an ambulance in cuffs, and the police officer told him he was dead for thirty seconds. Kissal says, “How he talked that if he had a superpower he could erase his kids’ memory because of all the horrible things they had to see when he was in that state,” is something that always stood out to him as a parent of young kids.
The former second-round pick by the Denver Nuggets from Fall River, Massachusetts, also had an impact on the members of the varsity basketball team. Sophomore forward Israel-Divine Tchoufbong says, “My biggest takeaways were how he never knew it would be him to do drugs.” Tchoufbong, who goes by Izzy, said he didn’t know who Herren was before the speech but looked him up after. He says, “If you need help, you should see someone immediately.”
Junior forward Kyle Logan says what he took away from Herren’s speech, “Stay true to yourself and believe in your morals and stuff, and don’t let other people affect you.”
Senior center Oliver Spence, who knew how good Herren was, says, “Don’t think that you’ll never be that guy. Don’t think that you won’t be put in that position because it can happen to any given person.” He adds that stuff like this goes on to affect you and your family, “Stay away from all the bad stuff and make sure to stay positive.”
Logan sums it up as “Just stay focused on what you want to do and don’t get distracted by your peers and peer pressure. And don’t do something you don’t want to do.”
