Basketball Junkie
A Memoir
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In his own words, former NBA and overseas pro Chris Herren tells how he nearly lost everything and everyone he loved, and how he found a way back to life. Powerful, honest, and dramatic, this remarkable memoir, Basketball Junkie, is harrowing in its descent, and heartening in its return.
I was dead for thirty seconds.
That's what the cop in Fall River told me.
When the EMTs found me, there was a needle in my arm and a packet of heroin in the front seat.
At basketball-crazy Durfee High School in Fall River, Massachusetts, junior guard Chris Herren carried his family's and the city's dreams on his skinny frame. His grandfather, father, and older brother had created their own sports legends in a declining city; he was the last, best hope for a career beyond the shuttered mills and factories. Herren was heavily recruited by major universities, chosen as a McDonald's All-American, featured in a Sports Illustrated cover story, and at just seventeen years old became the central figure in Fall River Dreams, an acclaimed book about the 1994 Durfee team's quest for the state championship.
Leaving Fall River for college, Herren starred on Jerry Tarkanian's Fresno State Bulldogs team of talented misfits, which included future NBA players as well as future convicted felons. His gritty, tattooed, hip-hop persona drew the ire of rival fans and more national attention: Rolling Stone profiled him, 60 Minutes interviewed him, and the Denver Nuggets drafted him. When the Boston Celtics acquired his contract, he lived the dream of every Massachusetts kid—but off the court Herren was secretly crumbling, as his alcohol and drug use escalated and his life spiraled out of control.
Twenty years later, Chris Herren was married to his high-school sweetheart, the father of three young children, and a heroin junkie. His basketball career was over, consumed by addictions; he had no job, no skills, and was a sadly familiar figure to those in Fall River who remembered him as a boy, now prowling the streets he once ruled, looking for a fix. One day, for a time he cannot remember, he would die.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this blunt, self-deprecating memoir, Herren tells his story as one of the greatest high school athletes to come out of southern New England. Fall River, Mass., has a storied basketball tradition, and Herren's achievements on the court made him a local hero as well as bringing him to the attention of national recruiters and Sports Illustrated. Overwhelmed by expectations, Herren avoided school and abused drugs and alcohol. Although Herren managed to make it to the NBA, his life continued to spin out of control until he OD'd in his car and was found unconscious with a bag of heroin on the seat beside him. Herren offers explanations for his downfall but doesn't make excuses. Neither does he glorify the partying and excess that made his life a blur. What he does achieve is something more valuable: giving a stark portrayal of the surreal existence led by young sports stars in a world of rapacious agents, vicious rivals, oblivious fans, and educational institutions that enable their "student" athletes to get away with almost anything. In the end, this is a sobering, cautionary tale for star-athletes-to-be.
Customer Reviews
Riveting...Raw...Inspiring
I’ve seen the documentaries on ESPN, but Chris dives deeper into his life’s journey with an inside look at the private (and secret) battle that waged inside him while being seen publicly as a basketball star on the rise. He pulls no punches and describes the reckoning he ultimately faced in detail by heartbreaking detail after hitting rock bottom. Whether you’re a basketball fan, a Massachusetts native, a recovering addict or a family member of someone going through addiction, everyone can take Chris’ story to heart and find that there is always hope - even when it seems all hope is lost.
A MASTERFUL job at telling a gripping account of such a long journey in a book that can be read over the course of a single evening.
Inspiring!
A wonderful comeback story! So proud of Chris and Heather!
Speechless!!
What a great book!! He is truly an inspiration to anyone going through this.