University of Georgia Athletics
Former NBA Star Herren Speaks To UGA Student-Athletes
September 10, 2012 | General
ATHENS----University of Georgia student-athletes sat down Sunday night to listen to former NBA player Chris Herren speak to them about his life. Herren's talk focused on his recovery from an alcohol and drug addiction that cut short his promising basketball career.
Herren speaks at venues across the country and appeared in front of Georgia's student-athletes at the UGA Performing Arts Center. He said that, despite him being a former basketball star at Boston College and Fresno State, he doesn't change his message specifically for athletes.
"I speak at so many different venues, to so many different audiences that I don't get into changing it much no matter who's in front of me," Herren said. "At some point everybody has been touched by addiction. Last week I spoke to the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers. It's a little different than college kids but my story evolves into the pro scene and that's what they can kind of pick up. The story stays the same no matter what. I don't stress the athletic side of it too much."
Herren was drafted in the second round of the 1999 NBA draft and played two years in the league with the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics. Herren's addictions to alcohol, cocaine and heroin eventually derailed his promising career. He said he hopes his message can help Georgia's student-athletes throughout their lives, even after they have finished their athletic careers.
"I don't try to force any message on them. What I do is I just tell my story which I think most people can identify with at some point," Herren said. "Obviously speaking to athletes, me being a former athlete, that is a way to identify with how fast life can turn because of a couple of bad things."
His background as a basketball standout does allow Herren to speak to the athletes from his own personal experience, something he sees as a benefit.
"For these kids I sat in their seat, I listened to people like me that I thought I was better than," Herren said. "I thought I was above it and I paid a heavy price for that attitude. I also stress to them that, especially young athletes, we all aspire to be professionals at what we do, but we all forget to be a professional person and I think that's huge. Sometimes these kids seem so focused on the sport and lose sight of themselves and then they wake up with nothing and they don't know how to deal with it."
Travelling across the country Herren is able to reach countless people with his story. He said, however, that no matter how many times he tells it, it is still a difficult story to tell.
"Once I find that it's easy I will stop telling it. Honestly, I won't even do it anymore because I would know that I'm out of touch and I'm too confident and too content with my situation and my past," Herren said. "I always want that edge."
