Chris Henry passed away

[Mike.357]

I know pretty much no one here will care but I have to get it out somehow.

My favorite Cincinnati Bengal and NFL player died this morning. I am in shock, not sure how to feel.

The guy had problems in his personal life but really seemed to be turning it around. Went to make plans for his spring wedding, got into a squabble with his fiancee, for whatever reason jumped in the the bed of the truck she went to leave in. Apparently he fell out hitting his head and died from related issues. A sad sad mistake by an young person with his whole life ahead of him.

RIP # 15. The demons will haunt you no more.

[Smith]

Man that's really sad. He seemed to be turning things around. Why these guys can't figure out how to control themselves is beyond me.

[memphismason]

Chris Henry was a hell of a wide-out. I hated to hear this story. I feel sorry for the ones he left behind.

[Guest Jcochran88]

Man Cincy can't catch a break can they. I guess it's good that they picked up Larry Johnson now.

[willis68]

I have been a Bengal's fan since I was a kid, this is very sad, I didn't realize he was in that serious of condition I heard about it last night and he was turning his life around, this is truly sad news

[Guest db99wj]

Dang, sad to hear. Yep seems he was turning his life around for the most part.

[Guest HexHead]

Not to piss in anybody's cheerios here, but wasn't this guy basically a thug with a respectably long rap sheet? And let's not gloss over his accident happened in the midst of a domestic abuse episode?

But I guess in a sport populated by thugs, as long as he can run with a football, it's all good.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming now.

[Guest db99wj]

Not to piss in anybody's cheerios here, but wasn't this guy basically a thug with a respectably long rap sheet? And let's not gloss over his accident happened in the midst of a domestic abuse episode?

But I guess in a sport populated by thugs, as long as he can run with a football, it's all good.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming now.

It was a domestic dispute. No abuse mentioned in the article I read. Police were not called until after all of this, so the dispute was not a call they got. Can't say it was abuse.

If it was...different story. It does appear he was turning his life around and if that is the case I commend him. Everyone deserves a 2nd chance. If new unknown details come out contrary to all of that, then my opinion will change.

[Guest HexHead]

It was a domestic dispute. No abuse mentioned in the article I read. Police were not called until after all of this, so the dispute was not a call they got. Can't say it was abuse.

If it was...different story. It does appear he was turning his life around and if that is the case I commend him. Everyone deserves a 2nd chance. If new unknown details come out contrary to all of that, then my opinion will change.

Fair enough, but be honest, if he couldn't run with a football and was just some guy in the hood with his same rap sheet, would you give a crap?

Would you be saying he deserved a 2nd chance?

I'm, just tired of these idiots being given a pass just because they can run down the field with a ball like they just held up a 7-11. The NFL (and all sports) really needs to stop being a thug league and throw these guys out when they get into trouble.

For better or worse, professional athletes are role models to our kids and with many of them, there's no difference between them and the gangstas doing rap music in terms of being poor examples.

[trblmkr13]

Its a sad day for the Bengals they already have dealt with the death of Mike Zimmer's wife and now this, I hope they are able to make a long run in the playoffs

[Guest Drewsett]

Not to piss in anybody's cheerios here, but wasn't this guy basically a thug with a respectably long rap sheet? And let's not gloss over his accident happened in the midst of a domestic abuse episode?

But I guess in a sport populated by thugs, as long as he can run with a football, it's all good.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming now.

I pretty much agree with you...I mean, he may or may not have been "turning his life around" but he did have a mile long rap sheet. Live by the sword...

Oh and this woman sounds like a real gem...speed off fast enough out of the driveway with your fiancee in the back to throw him out of the vehicle...I bet she's kicking herself now cause she killed her cash cow.

[Mike.357]

hexhead go piss on someone elses thread will ya,

I cared about Chris Henry, followed his career, ups and downs since he was drafted.

The dude made mistakes in his life as do a lot of young people. He was turning it around.

I see a family that will forever have this memory during the Christmas holidays, little kids who will always wonder where their Daddy went.

There is no proof whatsoever of domestic abuse. He was in Carolina planning for their wedding. I will go out on a limb and say they were fighting from stress due to wedding planning. Kind of common yanno.

Is an argument between you and your wife a domestic dispute? Should you be bashed for it?

You do not know the first thing about the guy. People who are stand up citizens in Cincinnati have had this guys back, I take their word for who the real Slim was.

Why don't you go back to crying about your guns in bars law.

Jerk

Go Bengals

Edited December 18, 2009 by Mike.357

[Guest GunTroll]

!

[pitt2magic]

I thought this guy had finally grown up and got his act together. He we definitely one hell of a wide out, he had a great career ahead of him. I feel for those he left behind.

[Mike.357]

Chris Henry remembered by Bengals players for turning his life around

Chris Henry remembered by Bengals players for turning his life around | cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

The Bengals have already dealt with plenty of adversity with the death of the wife of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and the tsunamis in American Samoa, which affected the team’s samoan players.

But nothing can prepare a team or organization for what they faced on Thursday morning – the death of one of their own.

Chris Henry, 26, died Thursday morning at 6:36 a.m. in Charlotte, N.C., after suffering head injuries in an accident on Wednesday. Carson Palmer informed the team of Henry’s passing before their 10 a.m. walkthru.

Palmer was one of Henry’s most vocal supporters, often calling him Randy Moss Jr. during offseason interviews. The quarterback and receiver even shared a ride to training camp in Georgetown, Ky.

“Chris was a guy that I believe and our team believes was heavily misunderstood,” Palmer said. “There was a lot of speculation about who he was, but the only guys that knew Chris and knew how good of a heart he had, how kind he was, how gentle he was, the guys in our locker room, the guys who were close to him, his family.”

To honor Henry during Sunday’s game at San Diego, the team will wear a helmet decal with Henry’s number and coaches will wear pins that look like the decal. Plans for Henry’s funeral were unknown.

Said Zimmer of the events of the past couple days: “This is life. Life is so much more fragile. In this case it just shows how fragile life is.”

Turning around his life

Players and coaches remembered Henry not as a troubled football player but as a person who had turned his life around and was just starting to realize success on and off the field.

Almost everyone spoke about how Henry’s public persona, which was known more for the five arrests in 28 months from 2005-08 than his on-field ability, was different than the person they knew in the locker room.

Team president Mike Brown, who decided to re-sign Henry four months after he was released, was equally as stunned and sad over the news. Director of Security Rusty Guy arrived in Charlotte early Thursday to be of assistance to the family. Henry’s mom and his immediate family had arrived in Charlotte Wednesday night.

Henry had been on life support since he fell from the bed of a pickup truck driven by his fiancée, Loleini Tonga, during what police said was a domestic dispute.

“We knew him in a different way than his public persona,” Brown said. “He was soft spoken, pleasant, comfortable to be around. He had worked through troubles in his life and finally seemingly reached the point where everything was going to blossom and he was going to have the future we all wanted for him and he wanted for himself and then this tragedy cut him down.”

Brown’s decision to re-sign Henry last August was met with public backlash. But in a period of 12 months, many of those questioning why Henry was back were asking why he wasn’t on the field more. Brown reiterated on Thursday that he did not regret the decision to bring him back.

Defensive tackle Domata Peko saw firsthand what type of changes Henry had made, from a person who would stay out all night and get in trouble to a player who had become a family man.

“As a teammate, a father and as a good friend of mine he’s going to be missed tremendously,” Peko said. “I had seen him change. True testimony. He’s been to my house a bunch of times and his kids would come over and have play dates.”

Andre Caldwell talked about how the two of them went to the NBA Finals between the Lakers and Magic this past summer and how much Henry was like a big brother to him. Caldwell, Henry and Jerome Simpson were also in California during the past offseason to run routes with Palmer.

The most devastated in the locker room was Chad Ochocinco, who had tears in his eyes as he described his last conversation with Henry, which happened Tuesday night. They discussed last Sunday’s game at Minnesota and Henry offered some words of encouragement.

Ochocinco wore a No. 15 jersey during Thursday’s practice at Paul Brown Stadium.

“He was doing everything right, he was doing everything right,” Ochocinco said. “My grandma always says you never question the man upstairs on decisions he makes… everyone makes mistakes, but. … I don’t see how Chris was supposed to go already, especially when he was on the right path.”

Henry’s agents, Andy Simms and Dave Lee of Cleveland-based PlayersRep Sports, who started representing him this past February said that “he realized he made mistakes and made positive changes to his life. As a result of these changes, he had become a man that all Bengals and NFL fans could be proud of.”

Henry was finally happy

Henry was in Charlotte, where his fiancée’s family lives, to continue making arrangements for their March wedding. They arrived in North Carolina on Tuesday.

On Nov. 9, after what looked to be a season of much promise, Henry’s season prematurely ended after eight games when he fractured his left forearm during the second quarter against Baltimore. He finished the season with 12 receptions for 236 yards and two touchdowns.

Before the injury, coach Marvin Lewis saw Henry as the happiest he had been in awhile. In the week leading up to the Oct. 25 game against Chicago, Henry had been suffering from the flu and was not in the team hotel the night before the game. But Henry started to feel better on Saturday night and came to the stadium on Sunday ready to work.

“I watched him work out on the field and they didn’t really do much but stand and catch. I said no, no, I need to see him run,” Lewis said. “So he ran routes -- Jordan (Palmer) I think was throwing -- and he came over and sat with me on the photographer’s stand at the end of the end zone and he said ’Coach, I feel better than I’ve felt in the last month.’ I said, ’You know what? You look that way, so you suit up today.’”

“And just the grin on his face because again, when Chris spoke and talked, you got to see the genuine person. And a lot of times Chris was very quiet and he let everybody speak for him too much. And until Chris turned the corner is when he began to speak up himself and distance himself from the people that were dragging him down and express his real thoughts and feelings. And I thought that day, he did that.”

Henry had two receptions for 26-yards in that game, a 45-10 Bengals victory, including a nine-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

Henry was in Cincinnati last weekend for an exam by the team’s medical staff. With no rehabilitation for his injury beyond periodic adjustments of his cast,he was cleared at that point to return to Charlotte.

“Since last August we’ve seen pretty much a continual growth of Chris in things and a degree of responsibility, expanding his role here, learning all three positions and our 3-wide receiver sets or 2-wide receiver sets and both positions in the regular sets, so quite an expansion of both football on the field and off the field,” Lewis said.

Lewis also remembered a story from earlier in the season that showed Henry’s growth off the field:

“I shared with Mike this story early in the season, when he asked me about getting the ticket to the Moeller-Elder football game so that he had enough tickets for his entire family. So things like that. To me, it’s a minor thing but it talked about the level of growth that Chris had had,” Lewis said.

Career with the Bengals

Henry was drafted by the Bengals in the third round in 2005. He was known as a player with immense talent, but his promise was marred by legal problems and three NFL suspensions totaling 14 games. During his first three seasons, his run-ins with the law included drug charges, to gun possession and, DUI. He served jail time for drinking in a Covington hotel room with underage girls. He was remembered more for that than his game-changing touchdowns or the team-leading nine TDs he scored in 2006.

Born May 17, 1983, Henry’s five-year totals were 119 receptions for 1,826 yards and 21 touchdowns in 55 games.

How the team responds in Sunday’s game against the Chargers along with the three remaining regular-season games remains to be seen. Lost in all the tragedy is the fact that the 9-4 Bengals would clinch the AFC North with a win or a loss by Baltimore. The game also has the second seed in the AFC on the line and a possible first-round bye.

“The main thing is to stay focused, channel everything in a positive way,” said offensive guard Bobbie Williams. “He wouldn’t want us to be down and depressed. He’d want us to give it our all (this Sunday).”

The Chargers will hold moment of silence for Henry before Sunday game.

[robin48]

Fair enough, but be honest, if he couldn't run with a football and was just some guy in the hood with his same rap sheet, would you give a crap?

Would you be saying he deserved a 2nd chance?

I'm, just tired of these idiots being given a pass just because they can run down the field with a ball like they just held up a 7-11. The NFL (and all sports) really needs to stop being a thug league and throw these guys out when they get into trouble.

For better or worse, professional athletes are role models to our kids and with many of them, there's no difference between them and the gangstas doing rap music in terms of being poor examples.

Glad Jesus gives second chances

[Guest clownsdd]

No offense, and not pissing on your thread, but +10 hexhead. I don't even know who Chris Henry was other than what was posted. I feel sorry for the people that have to live with the choices he made.

My concerns are more for the kid who died of cancer, kid that had no chance, killed by an abusive parent, kid that's burned and scarred all over their body for the rest of their lives. Those are the ones that need the headlines.

I could care less about these "professional" and I use the term loosely, figures that get paid way too much for what they do and think they are above reproach. They are adults and made their own decisions and must live (or die) with the consequences.

Again, sorry, but jmho.

[Armed Aviator]

[First Strike]

+1

[trblmkr13]

Why comment if you don't care? The guy made mistakes was given a second chance by the Bengals and the NFL and he made the most of it and turned his life around I just don't get all the hate for the guy

[Guest Revelator]

I find it hard to believe that there was that much stress coming from a wedding that was several months away. I mean if it was, like, next week, maybe. Even if the argument was over the wedding this is not how civilized, law-abiding people who have their stuff together handle it. Maybe the man was trying to turn his life around. And perhaps he succeeded for some time. But not getting arrested for one year, well let's not start handing out medals yet. People constantly tell you who they are.

All due respect to the deceased but I, too, am surprised with the sympathy that he is getting, compared to give-'em-the-chair attitude that the regular Joes who show up in the Newsworthy Reports section get.

[Mike.357]

yanno, screw a bunch of you.

The point of the thread was to give ME a place to vent some feelings. I feel sadness over this. I thought there might be support here, mostly there has been.

Thanks for the support, ( thats sarcastic to the few of you who showed your ass)

[Guest HexHead]

Why comment if you don't care? The guy made mistakes was given a second chance by the Bengals and the NFL and he made the most of it and turned his life around I just don't get all the hate for the guy

ARRESTED five times in 24 months. He's a regular Pacman Jones.

[trblmkr13]

Yeah but unlike Pacman he lived up to Roger Goodells requirements for reinstatement and stayed a model citizen until his death. If you really want to know what kinda person he was look at the reaction from his Bengals teammates and the front office if he was that bad of a person there would have been allot less emotion at the news of his passing.

[Seaslug]

ARRESTED five times in 24 months. He's a regular Pacman Jones.

Dude. He was arrested for things like marijuana possession, drinking with girls who weren't yet 21, and (GASP!) owning a gun. Not exactly Charles Manson. You know, there are lots of people who might opine that your lack of empathy and compassion for human life make you just as worthless a member of society as the "thugs" you so often decry. I'm not sayin'...I'm just sayin'...