On Monday, local basketball legend, former NBA and Boston Celtics player Chris Herren visited Old Rochester Regional High School to address students. Herren was not there to strictly talk about basketball, however. Herren serves as a influential, motivational speaker, having lived through many years of drug abuse and near-death experiences as a result. He captivates listeners with stories of his meteoric rise and nearly catastrophic downturn. I would know, as I also heard him speak over a decade ago at my high school. On Monday, however, Herren was speaking to the students in ORRHS in a packed auditorium.
Herren was born in and grew up in Fall River. He played basketball at B.M.C. Durfee High School, achieving the rare feat of a 2,000-point career before attending Boston College in 1994. While playing for BC, Herren failed drug tests and was later injured while playing. Being out of the game, Herren explains, exacerbated his drug dependence. He was expelled from BC but attended Fresno State in California. He was drafted into the NBA in 1999, his senior year. He first played for the Denver Nuggets and transferred the next year to the Celtics. Following a few years in the NBA, Herren played internationally in Italy, Turkey, China, Germany, Iran, and Poland.
His talk to ORR students did not focus on his basketball career, though that may serve as a good hook initially. Herren details his long struggle with addiction and dependency on painkillers following injuries like Oxycodone, Percocet, and Vicodin. He says, “The focus oftentimes is on the worst day when it comes to speaking about addiction. We need to understand how this begins rather than how it ends. Prevention starts on the first day.”
Following a near-death car crash following an overdose from heroin in 2008, Herren has been drug- and alcohol-free since. Speaking at ORR, Herren is close to home as he often circles back on his travels which have seen him speak to millions of students and listeners.
ORR said in a statement, “Today was maybe the most attentive we’ve seen our student body!”
By Sam Bishop