WEBVTT - Vol. 4: Chris Herren 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.600 Charges. That's created by Poor Delays and Control Media. It's 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:07.400 produced by dB Podcasts in association with I Heart Radio. 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:13.400 This time a former Son's player who you might remember 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:16.040 as t Rex. More video in just a moment, But 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:18.720 this is Rex Chapman's mug shot, and we are learning 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.799 a lot more about the Charge Up the Chargeman. I 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:24.200 remember coming out of jail that night and I remember 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:26.680 calling the guy who should it to me and like, listen, 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.840 I need more because him is so good. It almost 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:33.400 killed me. You know, I wish people challenged me in 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:37.199 other areas of my life. My wife is less than 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:41.600 a quarter mile away from this scene, and she's about 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:44.960 to find out that her husband is a heroin addict. 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:52.040 You're a walking, fucking miracle man. Welcome to Charges. I'm 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.720 your host, Rex Chapman. Today on the show, we have 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.040 perhaps one of the best players to have his career 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:02.080 and potential completely ruined by addiction. Compared to a lot 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.000 of the guests we'll have on this show, you might 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.399 not know him, so let me give you a little background. 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.800 Chris got his own Sports Illustrated photo shoot, which in 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.840 was about as big a deal as trimming on Twitter 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.560 for a week straight I spoke with a number of 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:20.600 Chris's former coaches, teammates, and opponents, including our resident two 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:25.839 time NBA MVP Slash Charges executive co producer Steve Nash, 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:27.640 and he told me that Chris should have played in 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:31.440 the NBA for ten, twelve, fourteen years he played for two. 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:34.679 Come join us today on a crazy and in some 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:46.640 ways cathartic episode of Charges with us Today is Chris Harren, 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:49.160 perhaps one of the best players to have his career 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.720 and potential completely ruined by addiction. Chris was the pride 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:56.280 of Fall River, Massachusetts who became a McDonald's All American. 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.040 He would land at Boston College and go on and 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.320 start at Fresno's a under legendary coach Jerry tart Kanian. 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.880 But we will get into why he changed schools later. 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.519 He was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in the second 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.880 round of the ninety nine NBA Draft thirty third overall, 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.040 and then played for his hometown Boston Celtics the following season. 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:20.160 He then head overseas to play basketball in China, Turkey, Italy, 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.160 Poland I Ran. He did all of this while battling 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.799 a massive drug addiction. A drug addiction so consuming that 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.040 he would overdose and need to be brought back from 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.560 the dead more than once. You might know of Chris 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.400 if you're a true hoops junkie, which if you think 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.280 about it, what a term, right, or you may know 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.120 him from the incredible documentary on him as part of 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.320 ESPNS thirty for thirty series called Unguarded by Jonathan Hawk, 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:49.360 or his memoir Basketball Junkie. Chris is an author, motivational speaker, 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.520 and wellness advocate. Chris has founded three organizations that provide 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:57.280 programs and services with the goal of overcoming setbacks and 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.280 navigating life's challenges. It's great honor to be here with 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.600 Chris today. And Chris, I'm so glad you survived to 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.880 talk with me. Bro. No man, I'm honored honestly, you know. Uh, 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:13.239 you know, aside from everything you just talked about. Um, 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:14.880 you know you are one of the reasons why I 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.400 picked up a basketball. You know, there's no doubt about that. 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.680 So I remember, you know, cutting out sports illustrated pitches 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.600 of you, and so it is it's great to be here, 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:27.800 and um, I'm glad we're here in this uh talking 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:33.239 about recovery and so on. That's really cool bro, Thank you. Um. Yeah, 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.440 I reached out to a guy yesterday who I spent 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:40.080 time with in the NBA, A coach. Um. Now, he's 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.440 not much older than I am, but I reached out 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.840 to him yesterday because I told him, I said, weren't 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.440 you uh with Chris? At one point he said yes, 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.400 And I want to read you what he said. See 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.680 if you can guess who it is, I'm sure you can. Wow. 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:59.160 I love Chris, everyone does. Most likable kid I ever coached, 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.400 even and back then, very unselfish. Only player who would 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:06.280 actually buy me lunch. I remember doing defensive slides with 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:09.520 him on his recruiting trip in his hotel room, showing 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:11.840 him we could teach him to guard the ball. He 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.480 knew he could score, but was concerned he wouldn't be 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:18.640 able to guard. Who is it? Johnny Welch. Johnny Welch, 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:23.600 Johnny Well you know exactly how great is that? Dude? Yeah? 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.960 He's the best. He I mean, I want to be 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.960 here today. Um. He made me, you know, he brought 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:31.720 me into the lab and created this basketball player. So 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:34.840 you know, without John Welch, I would have never made 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.799 it past college. Um. But what people don't know about 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:45.479 our relationship too is he was instrumental into supporting my 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:50.520 recovery as well as introducing me to recovery. So on 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:54.599 so many levels, so impactful. You know, just a great man, 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:58.719 a great mind, a great soul and uh you know, 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:03.279 nothing but cherished beautiful memories of Johnny Welch. That's so 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:06.599 great here, Yes, truly hit son. Riley has been playing 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.080 here at Kentucky the last few years as a walk 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.039 on so and he just graduated. So I can't believe 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.400 that he was just a little guy. It seems like yesterday, 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:18.000 you know, could you please, you know, set the scene 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.279 where you're from Fall River in Massachusetts. The city it 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.640 seems like it shaped you. And as a kid from Kentucky, 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.080 I can kind of understand that. Tell me about fall River, 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.560 you know, Fall River was a booman city back in 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:36.440 the twenties and the thirties, textile, a lot of mills um, 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:38.520 but a lot of blue collar, a lot of blue 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:43.479 collar people, hard working. You know, the city in itself 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:47.200 is a tough city. But you know the lineage, the 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:51.600 history of diffy basketball just you know, growing up in 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:55.159 that time. You know the Celtics, you know they were 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.400 kind of second back seat to diffy basketball. To me 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.320 as a kid, you know, diffy basketball meant everything to me, 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.440 you know, especially with no internet and no access. You know, 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.920 all I cared about it was Tuesdays and Friday nights 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.159 going to watch diffy basketball. So you know, my father 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:16.880 played hoop. My brother was unbelievably successful as a high 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:20.080 school basketball player. Did you guys play together? You and 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:24.200 your brother? He was older by too much, right, yeah? Yeah, 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.040 so he You know, I came in his freshman year 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:28.960 of college. So I was a freshman in high schoolhen 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.279 he was a freshman in college. You know, I was 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.480 blessed with probably more athletic ability. He was blessed with 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:38.000 more heart in a sense, you know, in toughness. Yeah yeah, 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:43.160 I mean, you know he's he but come on, yeah yeah, yeah, 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:49.800 well listen, I was blessed with enough of it accepted. Yeah. Yeah. Um, 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:51.880 you know, he was a tough act to follow, and 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:55.560 playing in front of, as you know, thousands and thousands 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.080 of people as a fourteen fifteen year old kind of 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:02.080 shapes you and sometimes negative I understand that. Man. You know, 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.800 the town I grew up in sixty thou people, Owensboro, Kentucky, 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.000 and four high schools my dad coached. He played, he 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:11.320 played an old a B A but he you know, 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.800 I was always Wayne Chapman's son. But he coached at 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.920 Apollo High School, and that's all I wanted to do, 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.320 was the only thing I wanted to do. I went 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:25.680 to his practices every day. Nothing else mattered. And you know, 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.000 as I grew up, you know, started getting better and 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:32.120 better and stuff, but it was always rewarded, you know, positively. 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.040 When that's all I knew how to do. I didn't 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.560 give a shit about anything else, school, nothing else, you know. 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:42.000 So I wonder, you know how similar that might have 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.440 been for you playing for Durfy completely. You know, I 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.640 often tell people, especially when I speak to kids, like, 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.920 you know, I wish people challenged me in other areas 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.760 of my life, you know, like I wish somebody came 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.560 up to me and you know, and said, you're really 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:01.040 good at basketball, but you really struggle, you know, being yourself. 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:03.600 And you can play and perform in front of a 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:05.840 lot of people and score a lot of points, but 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.080 you really struggle with yourself on a Friday night with 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:11.840 kids that you've known your whole life. So you know, 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.920 in my my mission today and all the public speaking 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:16.720 I do and all the kids I'm in front of, 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:21.040 you know, it's about awareness. It's about you know, challenging 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:25.480 our children socially and emotionally and exposing them to different 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.440 life skills, coping skills, skills that I never had. And 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.840 you know, I'm listening to you talk about you know, 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.240 you didn't care about school and it was just scoop, 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.440 and internally I kind of cringe, right, because that's that's 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.640 the thing. Yeah, I mean, that's one of the things 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.880 I'm most embarrassed by, you know, is that lack of 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.280 effort that I put in into so many other areas 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.240 of my life. Lack of curiosity. That's what gets me, 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.320 you know, just I didn't care if somebody did tell 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.600 me I was messing up. I remember them telling me 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:00.959 in school sophomore year, and I had no plans on 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.280 leaving school early, but they said, rex, you know, this 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.440 is a class you're gonna need. And I was like, 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:10.000 I'm not gonna need that. I'm not gonna need that, 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.440 and then I left. And then guess what that degree 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.199 would have been coming really handy about seven or eight 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.559 years ago, right, you know, I couldn't even coach basketball 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.400 because I don't have a degree. So you're in high school. 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:25.880 You're dominating though on the court, you know, but off 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:29.200 the court, what were your vices? What were you doing? Drinking? Smoking, 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.079 you know, and did that affect your game at all 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.760 as a high schooler? You know, I think so drinking 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.319 and smoking primarily occasional pills. Right, If I could get 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.920 my hands on if some valu yeah, if some parents 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.720 had surgery, will get ahold of their Viking ins um, 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.120 someone you know had their wisdom teeth pulled, or you know, 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:52.839 one of our friends had a little orthoscopic surgery. So 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.760 we weren't afraid of that. From the outside looking in, 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.360 I would say a lot of people would not have 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:03.840 projected my struggle because the game of basketball took me 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.080 away from it. It was an escape for those two hours, 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:12.440 and you're dominating. You know, you feel superhuman in many ways, right, Yeah, 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.920 And not to mention the fact too, like, you know, 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.959 a AU was just kind of coming into its own 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.520 and it was yet to be taken over by the 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:27.199 sneaker companies. But I was playing you know, seventy eight 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.599 Games of Summer, right, So I'm traveling to Vegas to 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:34.960 Tennessee to Florida. So I'm away from the scene. It's 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.200 just when I come back to the scene, right, I 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.480 come back and I dive right in part of me. 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:42.480 And I don't know if you struggled with that, but 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:47.320 I wanted to be normal, and you know, like I 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.160 was envious to the kids who didn't have, you know, 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:52.920 all this pressure, you know, in this ability, and I 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.360 just wanted to be normal, right, And you know, it 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:58.320 is kind of like the whole be careful what you 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.520 wish for. I dreamt all of my friends from age 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:05.319 eight to grow to be able to play basketball. They 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:07.240 all dreamed for it, and then it happened to me. 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:09.840 You know, I just wanted to get a scholarship somewhere. 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.679 What I wasn't prepared for was I was so socially 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.720 inept if I wasn't around my good friends when I 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.040 came to Kentucky. Part of me coming to Kentucky was 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:23.160 that I got to bring two of my boys from 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:25.880 high school to live in the dorm. That was the deal. 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.360 That was the deal, A part of the deal. So 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.600 and they did you know they lived downstairs, my twins, 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.080 Kevin and Keith Vanderpool. There my boys to this day. 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:39.600 But I almost had no confidence around anyone else. I 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:42.959 got really weirded out with people looking at me, wondering 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.520 if they were talking about me, talking shit about me, 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:47.920 or are they loving me up? And and I in 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:51.840 securities of the time. They're lining me up, you know, 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:53.920 they're sizing me up. They're not saying, oh, look at 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.600 Chris Harren, What a good guy. You know, I'm thinking 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:01.679 immediately they're talking about me. So um, and that's alcoholism 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.479 at its best in a sense, right, is untreated alcoholism. 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:10.280 But um, you know, I too did not have the 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.000 deal on the table of bringing my homeboys to Fresnel. 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:19.040 But but they I know they were there, but they 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.800 came anyway. We're gonna get to that. But part of 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.719 that high school thing. And I didn't win, Chris, I 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:26.839 didn't win in college. We were good, but we didn't 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.160 win it. But we won the third region to go 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.960 to the state tournament my junior year in high school. 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.960 And it might I feel because all my boys got 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.480 to do that. They got to go and play in 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.480 rupp Arena. I knew I was gonna go and play later, 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:45.880 but it's you know, so that high school thing huge 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:50.559 special especial it's you know, and and unfortunately, right, so 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:54.160 during high school, they were writing a book about you know, 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.480 Far of a Dreams and you know in that book 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:01.320 are quite a few of my friends, and you know, 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.680 we all struggled, right, we all struggled like whether it 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:09.319 was heroin, cocaine, alcoholism. And you know, I say to 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:11.800 kids all the time, like, you know, that's the scariest 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.400 thing about addiction. Nobody knows who has it yet, you know, 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.920 nobody knows who's gonna be the one suffering so much 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:19.360 as an adult, you know, because of some of the 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:23.120 decisions we're making today. And you know, to grow up 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:25.760 and walk to school with these kids and go to 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:29.120 elementary and recess and play whoop in their driveways and 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.720 you know, go down to parks, and then fast forward 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.160 twenty years later, we're all shooting heroin and jam and 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.440 coke op on those you know, it's tragic, it is. 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.120 Take me to your dorm room at Boston College. You know, 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.000 cocaine's a serious step up from weed and booze and 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.920 pills um. And that wasn't that long after Lenny Bias 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:51.080 had died, which was a huge deal nationally and especially 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.760 in Boston. What was it about that coach that intrigued you? 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.480 Because I played against guys with guys who did coke 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:03.720 who and they were a fucking nightmare to guard. And 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:08.200 I assumed if I did that, I would a die 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:11.480 right away or I would love it, and so I 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.320 never did it. So I'm really intrigued to know. And 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.480 how did it make you feel? Playing as well? It 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.200 probably would have had the same exact effect on you 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:25.000 that it did on me, um, because and only people 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.680 that really partied on coke can identify with this. But 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.840 it was kind of my truth serum. It allowed me 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.360 at three thirty in the morning to sit there on 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.560 a couch and talk about who I was, my feelings 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.400 when I'm struggling with It just opened me up and 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:51.120 it made me unbelievably transparent and vulnerable. Now, you know, 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.320 at three o'clock the next afternoon, when I'm just shaking 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.280 it off and waking up, I'm like, what did I 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:00.360 talk about? You know what I mean? But at that moment, 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.600 you know that social awkwardness that you talked about, you know, 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:07.960 it takes yeah, and it takes that away. It takes 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.280 that away, and it kind of it allows you to 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.400 kind of spill your guts. Um, that was one of 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.760 the attractive things to me. You know, obviously I had 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.120 no idea you know how attracted I'd be to it. 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.600 You know, I I truly said it, and I meant it, 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.160 you know, because of Lenny Bias. Right, I'm saying to myself, 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:31.720 I'll do this one time and I'll never do it again. 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.840 And fourteen years later, Um, but it's a tough drug. 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.120 My dorm room, you know, eighteen years old, five in 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.040 the morning and I'm watching kids carrying their backpacks going 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:44.960 to class, and you know, I was just I couldn't 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.840 identify right, and I'm depressed and I'm digging a hole. 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.600 And I just remember the Boston College Athletic director, you know, 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.240 bringing me into his office and saying, we need to 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.920 help you, and I need you to to write down 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.440 who your teaches us I can contact them. And I 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:06.880 was like, buddy, I don't even know my teachers. You know, yeah, 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:08.920 I'm with you. And that was like three months in 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:10.840 four months in you know what I mean. I just 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.240 I just didn't know him. I wasn't going And you 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:16.440 know I say that laughing because you and I can 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:23.160 identify but also with great embarrassment. After breaking his risk 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:27.440 during a Boston College home game in November of things 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.320 started going off and into the rails of cocaine addiction. 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.240 Within three months of his injury, Chris failed two more 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:36.320 drug tests for marijuana and cocaine use. He was expelled 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:40.360 from the team and the university. So you get kicked 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.440 out at BC. How crushing was that? You know you 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.320 live not far away. Yeah, it was crushing. I couldn't 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:48.040 wrapped my head around it, you know what I mean. 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.720 I was doing a lot of coke, a lot of party, 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:54.200 and it's embarrassing. Right. So I had just got done 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.680 being a feature in Sports Illustrated coming off the McDonald's 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.760 All American Game. BC was you know, we had a 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:03.960 top five recruiting class, so there were high expectations and 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:09.320 then it's over and any in hindsight, right, my mother 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:13.560 she's at the time, you know, thirty nine years old 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:16.000 and she's got to find out her son has a 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.760 major cocaine addiction, you know. So it's just devastating on 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.400 so many levels. I can dive into it a little 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.080 bit more today than I did at eighteen. I was 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.760 just like, yeah, big mistake. Let's keep it moving. You know, 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.480 when you go to Fresno in the middle of nowhere, 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.639 friends they move out there with you. Uh do you 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.560 ever think, man, I gotta find a way to stay 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:39.639 away or did you think, you know, these are my people, 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.920 they'll help keep me safe. Could you even negotiate that 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.440 I wouldn't keep them safe? You know what I mean? Like, 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:47.600 that's the thing I remember growing up as a kid, 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:50.760 and I remember, you know, parents say, oh, you gotta 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.160 stay away from that kid, you know, And I'm like, 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:55.520 you have no idea they have. Parents are saying the 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:58.680 same thing about me, you know, Like you know, people 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:00.480 tell me, like, you can't hang out with your friends. 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.239 Those friends don't shouldn't be hanging out with me, you know. 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.560 I mean, let's keep it real, right, So I fight 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:13.760 out to Fresno and I get put in the arms 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:19.240 of Danny Tarkanian and John Welch, And that year of 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:22.760 sitting out was so there was so much relief, right, 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:27.119 no pressure. You were crushing them, bro, I mean crushing 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:30.120 them your body. You know you were. You could tell 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:33.080 you look different if you look at my sophomore year, 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:36.200 that red shirt year to my sophomore year, my body. 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.000 Johnny Welch had my body like I was a fighter. 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.800 You know, I was ready and he put me in 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.679 that position. And you know we played. There was some 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:48.920 great players at Fresno and extremely competitive. Johnny Welsh could play. Oh, 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:53.119 he could play man. Yeah, got after it too, after 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.520 you Yeah, and you know he'll listen to this. But 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:00.119 what Johnny Welch won't tell anybody. I think he's for 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:07.840 three on right hooks on me. I ducked them all. 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.920 I've I've you got some fight to get your background too, 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:15.480 and I know he does too. He gives no fox man, 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:19.040 I mean on the nicest guy though off the court. 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:24.080 Nicest guy, yeah. The great and future Hall of Famer 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.200 Jerry Tart Kanyan May you rest in peace, gave Chris 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.719 a second chance to play by bringing him cross country 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:34.600 to Fresno State in Chris made his debut for the Bulldogs, 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:38.200 but after a breakout season under coach Tark, Chris's addiction 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.120 caught up to him once again. Chris felt a drug 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:43.520 test during his junior year and was forced to go 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.440 to rehab, the first of many trips he would make 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:50.840 over the next several decades. I saw your press conference 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.359 I saw your press conference and just started bawling because 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:56.639 I mean I could say you couldn't look you couldn't 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.399 look at anybody. The breaking news concerns one of Jerry 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.680 Tarkanians star basketball players. There's a news conference about to 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:07.199 get underway at President State, and perhaps some of you 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:09.320 may know. I haven't battled the first one problem for 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.080 the past four years. I am his days every one 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:17.440 I sent back in that clips up. It's time for 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.240 mental focus. I'll get Hi my letter back in auto 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:25.720 and discussion this feep with my doctor's coach kid clue 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:27.800 that should sep away for the best ball program. I 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:33.680 fress I finis I We'll be back to oh my 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:42.679 best Thank you now. This was June, But imagine this 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:46.720 scenario happening in today's seven news cycle. A top draft 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:50.320 prospect battling addiction coming soon to an NBA team near you. 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:54.480 Today's NBA franchises wouldn't touch Hearon or anyone else with 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:58.080 a ten football, A true testament to just how gifted 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.600 he was as a player. To tends to have executives 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:04.440 turning a blind eye or two two holes in character. 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:07.880 For Chris, it was more of a growing chasm ever 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:14.920 eroding before our eyes. What do you remember about your 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:19.120 you know, your pre draft workouts and draft night specifically, 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:23.920 you know, I remember just in complete fear, right like 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:26.720 if it wasn't for Danis. So Dannis still gave me 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.080 a little bit of comfort, you know, like he Kentucky Wildcats. Yeah, 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:34.439 no doubt, no doubt. And I remember working out for 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:36.560 the Nuggets and him throw me in his car and 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.960 driving me back down to the Pepsi Center, and you know, 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:44.359 we both shared stories about our childhood and what we 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:48.040 had to face and what we went through. And I 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.280 felt that if at thirty three Dennis who was going 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:53.639 to take me after our conversation, So that gave me 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:55.919 a little comfort I was sitting that was kind of 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:59.639 your backstop, no doubt. And it was a very guard 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:03.320 dom minute draft, like Baron Davis and Steve Francis and 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:06.240 William Avery and Fontigo coming. There was just a lot 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:09.000 of guards going in the first round. So you know, 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:13.159 I fell and I waited for you know, Daniel, and 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:15.719 and I was fortunate enough to land there. I uh, 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:19.760 it was a party. The streets shut down in four River, 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:22.280 you know, we were escorted in My wife and I 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:25.880 and you know, the party began, the celebration began, and 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:28.760 it was just another mountain to climb, though, you know, 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:33.320 like as exciting as it was, like I saw another 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:35.600 mountain and I was like, fuck, man, I gotta climb 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:40.400 this one too. I watched your your draft footage, and 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:42.760 I was just every pick that went by. Of course, 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:45.879 like every fan, I'm just crushed and crushed and for 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:49.240 your wife, Heather, and and you're a young man who's 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:52.240 already been in rehab, man who's already been and I 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:56.080 can't imagine that. But on the drive down to the party, 0:22:56.280 --> 0:23:00.720 you were so excited, so excited in the car and 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:03.840 you got out and immediately you got up in front 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:08.560 of these people and you they are your people, but 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:12.800