Basketball Legend Describes Struggle With Addiction During Summit in Gloucester Township

Gloucester Township, NJ -- “Why aren’t you good enough anymore? Why can’t you hang out with your friends you’ve known your whole life without doing drugs.”

That’s what basketball legend Chris Herren hopes he never finds himself saying to his 16-year-old son.

Herren, who realized his dreams by playing for the Boston Celtics, only to lose it all to addiction, was the keynote speaker during Camden County’s standing room only second Addiction Summit Wednesday night at Highland Regional High School.

Herren not only lost his dream of playing for his hometown team to addiction, he nearly lost his family. At the height of his addiction, he said the worst part for him was knowing he failed at everything he did in life.

His low point came following the birth of his third child. He had been in rehab for 30 days following an overdose in which a cop told him had been dead for 30 seconds. During that time, he wasn’t allowed to speak with his family.

When he was finally allowed to speak to them, his wife went into labor and said she needed him by her side. His counselor reluctantly allowed him to go.

He made it to the hospital in time for the birth, after which his son and daughter joined Herren, his wife and their new child in the hospital.

“I’m not mad at you,” Herren’s son told him.

Later that night, Herren, whose vices included alcohol, oxycontin and heroin, got high in the same alley in which he had his most recent overdose.

The following day, his wife told him she never wanted to see him again and his counselor told him his family would be better off without a “no-good scumbag junkie who has no business being a dad.”

“I dropped to my knees and prayed that night,” Herren said. “It was Aug. 1, 2008. That’s my sobriety date.”

He is reunited with his wife and three children, but he said his family’s recovery process is never-ending.

He said he’s found his calling in life by sharing his story of abuse with audiences in hopes of reaching just one person and making a difference in their life. He’s spoken to pro football teams, baseball teams, colleges and jail inmates.

“I used to go to assemblies like this and be looking at my phone and judging the speaker, saying ‘that’s never going to be me,’” said Herren, who added that the first time he tried cocaine was after he attended an assembly on addiction at Boston College.

His story includes leaving Boston College after being a highly recruited basketball player because he failed three drug tests. It includes making his first start as the starting point guard for his hometown team, the Celtics, and being more concerned about finding a way to get high when he should’ve been warming up to play.

It includes abandoning his dream of playing for the Celtics to play for a team in Europe, only to throw that opportunity away when he became addicted to heroin.

It includes spending $25,000 a month on pills as a 32-year-old dad, as well as three overdoses, including one in which he hit a woman with his car.

After his first overdose, his reaction was to find the man who sold him that pill because it was so good, it almost killed him.

It includes the road to recovery, but it also includes his 16-year-old son playing point guard for his high school basketball team having to deal with chants of “heroin” while he’s at the free-throw line.

It also includes praying for the day that his children tell him “I’m good enough not to do drugs.”

Herren, whose father and uncle are both alcoholics, recognizes that addiction is a disease that one person can’t beat alone, and that he’s fortunate to not have lost his family to his illness. He also says addiction takes over when “you don’t feel like being you anymore.”

He says high school students tell him they just smoke a “little bit of weed.”

“You just can’t be you 24/7, let’s call it like it is,” he tells them. “If you could, you wouldn’t use mom’s money to buy drugs.”

He still attends meetings because it helps him stay sober.

His memoir, Basketball Junkie, was released in May 2011; in November 2011 a documentary based on his journey, Unguarded, aired as part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series.

Last year, the Herren Project raised $2 million to send 390 people away for addiction treatment, and they’re looking to do more this year.

Camden County’s first addiction summit was held last year at the Grand Ballroom in Collingswood. The idea of the Camden County Addiction Awareness Task Force was first broached during that summit.

The county has also expanded its prescription drug drop box program, and collected over 5,000 pounds of prescription drugs, Camden County Freeholder Carmen Rodriguez said Wednesday night.

All law enforcement officers are equipped with the heroin antidote Narcan, and anyone who is saved using that antidote is immediately offered the opportunity for treatment.

For addiction help and information, call the Addiction Awareness Task Force at 877-266-8222.