OPINION: Chris Kelly Opinion: From 'worst day' to 'first day' in recovery

Sep. 17—Chris Herren was in eighth grade when he found his first love. It was the beginning of an abusive relationship he struggled to escape until he was in his 30s and standing in the wreckage of a "dream life" destroyed by drugs.

"The first time I was introduced to an opiate I was probably in eighth grade," the former Boston Celtic turned motivational speaker said in a phone interview on Thursday.

"I had a little meniscus surgery. And I just loved the feeling (opiate euphoria), and unfortunately, I truly believe that people in this world either get sick from it and can't stand it or just love it, and I was in that unlucky group."

Now 16 years sober, Herren's mission is reaching young people before they join that unlucky group. He is the featured speaker at Wednesday's annual recovery fair hosted by the Susquehanna County Recovery Alliance. Herren will share his experience, strength and hope at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Blue Ridge High School in New Milford.

Herren's talk is one of many recovery-related events across the region this week in recognition of National Recovery Month. The Lackawanna County Recovery Coalition is among several organizers of a Recovery Walk and Celebration on Saturday at Nay Aug Park in Scranton.

Registration for the walk begins at 11 a.m. at the Schimelfenig Pavilion near the park's Arthur Avenue entrance. The walk steps off at noon. The celebration begins at 1 p.m., with food, live music, dozens of exhibitors and fun for families. Free doses of the overdose-reversal drug Narcan and training on how to use it will also be available.

All events are free and open to the public.

Herren has been in the public eye most of his life. A star point guard from a family of basketball standouts at Durfee High School in Fall River, Massachusetts, Herren was heavily recruited by top programs and nationally famous at 16.

As a senior, The Boston Globe and Gatorade named him player of the year. He earned a spot on the McDonald's All-America Team, and was the focus of "Fall River Dreams," a book about Durfee basketball by the late Providence Journal sports columnist Bill Reynolds.

"It kind of captures my life as a sophomore and junior in high school," Herren said. "I spent a lot of time with him as an author, in school, the hallways, the classrooms, the weekend. And he would tell you, when I was 16, 17 years old he didn't see this coming."

Neither did Herren, who, like me, grew up in a blue-collar culture that abused alcohol and other substances as a matter of course. In triumph, tragedy or on a slow Tuesday, it was always time for a drink. Herren's father was an alcoholic, and Herren and his friends were drinking in local bars at 16, he said.

He turned down offers at Kentucky and Duke and chose Boston College. Herren was a superstar, featured in Sport Illustrated before sinking a single bucket for the Eagles. He also failed a drug test. A broken wrist kept him out for the 1994-1995 season. More failed drug tests got him kicked out of Boston College.

"You start off as a kid drinking beers in the woods behind the high school, and, as years went on, friends changed, more substances were available," Herren said. "At 18 years old, I was introduced to cocaine and... I fell in love with the fact that it allowed me to be honest. It allowed me to open up to strangers at four o'clock in the morning and tell them what I'm really dealing with in life.

"That's what I was really attracted to. I was attracted to the social part."

Herren got a second chance at Fresno State playing for legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian. Rolling Stone did a story. Herren played like a champion, but partied like an addict. He failed another drug test and went to rehab. The season was chronicled in the FoxSports documentary "Between the Madness."

Selected 33rd overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 1999 NBA draft, Herren landed on the Boston Celtics roster a year later. It was a dream for a blue-collar kid from Fall River, but Herren traded it for OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet and heroin. He played professionally in Italy, Poland, Turkey, China, Germany and Iran, but addiction ended Herren's career and almost his life.

Herron was busted for possession of heroin in December 2004 after passing out in the drive-thru of a Dunkin' Donuts in New Hampshire. Two years later in Fall River, he passed out behind the wheel and slammed into a utility pole. Herren took another shot at rehab and has been sober since Aug. 1, 2008.

Herren has dedicated his life in recovery to helping vulnerable young people avoid the dark path he took, and leading those already on it to the light. He wrote a book with Reynolds called "Basketball Junkie" and was the subject of the Emmy-nominated ESPN documentary "Unguarded." He does over 200 "Herren Talks" presentations a year.

A few years ago, Herren said he realized that like too many presentations on recovery, his talks leaned too heavily on his "worst day" and not enough on his "first day" — the thoughts, feelings and fears that made him vulnerable to substance abuse.

"I used to walk into schools and tell them my story, but it was not the best story," he said. "They couldn't really identify with it. I'm a Boston Celtic, I'm shooting heroin. I'm overdosing, my family's falling apart. Any 15-year-old kid is going to say, 'Holy (bleep), that's a crazy story.' But it's not their story.

"So I started talking about the insecurity of being a teenager, the self-esteem issues you battle with early in high school, and the self-worth doubts and the fear and the anxiety that you walk around with those four years. Kids can get that."

And they do, Herren said.

"I talk to them about how I felt at 14, how I felt at 15, how I felt at 17 and the reasons why I was using alcohol or drugs at that age, and the masks that it allowed me to wear," he said. "Kids get that, and it's been very rewarding for me to reach out to these kids in a way I wish someone had reached out to me."

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, is grateful for people like Chris Herren. Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.com/kelly. Contact the writer: kellysworld@timesshamrock.com; @cjkink on Twitter; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.