Former All-American spoke openly to student-athletes about drug addiction

RINDGE, N.H. (September 7, 2009) – The Franklin Pierce University Department of Athletics welcomed former Boston Celtic Chris Herren to campus as part of the university’s “Pierce Pride” initiative on Monday night. The former All-American spoke openly and candidly with a standing-room-only crowd of Ravens student-athletes in the Franklin Pierce Fieldhouse about his rise through Massachusetts high school basketball and his eventual fall out of the NBA as a three-time convicted drug felon.

Herren chronicled his transition from Durfee High School to entering Boston College on a full athletic scholarship. He spoke of being featured on the front page of the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald at 18 years old due to his failed drug test and subsequent dismissal from Boston College. He described his journey to play for legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian at Fresno State.

From there, he spoke of his journey to the NBA as a 1999 second-round pick (30th overall) by the Denver Nuggets, of his time with the Boston Celtics and of his journey through myriad European countries playing basketball and abusing drugs, as well as speaking to his eventual recovery. Herren has now been sober for 13 months.

Herren’s emotional tale was followed by a spirited question-and-answer session with the assembled crowd which delved further into the psychology, the emotion and the relationships which led him, first into his drug abuse and, later, out of it.

Now in its second year, the "Pierce Pride" program is an effort by the Department of Athletics to foster campus- and community-wide support for both Athletics and Franklin Pierce University as a whole. The program seeks to help connect the campus and the community with the university's 17 intercollegiate athletics programs and, in turn, allow the athletics programs to give back to the community.