Former Celtic and Basketball Junkie Author to Speak in Beverly

Chris Herren was a Massachusetts basketball legend at Fall River’s Durfee High School. Herren went onto play big time college basketball for Jerry Tarkanian at Fresno State University and was drafted by the Denver Nuggets.

Eventually, Herren made his way to the Boston Celtics, living out a childhood dream.

But as anyone who has seen the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Unguarded or read Herren’s harrowing memoir Basketball Junkie knows, his biggest opponent was off the court, battling drug addiction.

On Tuesday, Dec. 8, Herren will be speaking at Beverly High School at 7 p.m.

The speaking engagement is geared toward parents and guardians. Herren will be speaking about his own experiences and the evening will be focused on preventing the downward slide of substance use and abuse in adolescence.

Herren will share the story of his own heroin addiction to encourage young kids to resist drugs and alcohol and focus on the real-life challenges that students face today around substance use and abuse.