"Basketball Junkie" Chris Herren to Speak to Dover-Sherborn Students

This Monday former basketball player Chris Herren, whose career was badly affected by drug and alcohol abuse, will speak to Dover-Sherborn High School and Middle School student.

Herren was once one of those "can't miss kids," the ones who everyone thinks will make it to the top.

Thrust into the spotlight at a young age as a three-time Massachusetts Player of the Year in Basketball and a McDonald's All-American, not to mention a best-selling book, Fall River Dreams, that chronicled his high school basketball team in Fall River, people thought Herren had everything.

But having all the talent in the world on the court didn't keep Herren from developing a substance abuse problem. While he was able to briefly have an opportunity in the NBA, his struggles with addiction to drugs and alcohol often made it difficult for him to be the superstar that he was once always expected to be.

Chronicled in the ESPN documentary Unguarded, which was nominated for two Sports Emmys (including Outstanding Sports Documentary), and written about by himself alongside acclaimed sports author Bill Reynolds in Basketball Junkie: A Memoir, Herren has used his story to bring many lessons to young people about addiction to drugs and alcohol.

When Chris speaks to young people he shares the struggles he's had in his life in the spotlight and his many years of substance abuse. He is determined to help all young people capture their dreams on and off the court.

SPAN-DS, together with their new student-athlete leadership group, "The Raider Way," are proud that they are bringing Herren to Dover-Sherborn. As they like to say, there's only one way to play: "The Raider Way."

This assembly is also made possible by the generous funding of the Dover and Sherborn Boards of Health.