Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died

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Henry, 26, dies day after dispute

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died, one day after falling out of the back of a pickup truck in what authorities described as a domestic dispute with his fiancee.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Henry died at 6:36 a.m. Thursday. Henry was 26.

Henry was rushed to the hospital Wednesday after being found on a residential road "apparently suffering life-threatening injuries," according to police. Police said a dispute began at a home about a half-mile away, and Henry jumped into the bed of the pickup truck as his fiancee was driving away from the residence.

Police said at some point when she was driving, Henry "came out of the back of the vehicle." They wouldn't identify the woman, and no charges were immediately filed.

"We ask that you keep Chris' family -- especially the young children he leaves behind -- in your prayers," Henry's agents, Andy Simms and Dave Lee, said in a statement. "It is tragic when a life is taken so young. He was a man just realizing his potential, not just in football, but in life."

Police spokeswoman Rosalyn Harrington said homicide detectives have been assigned to the case but had no further information. Police have not released the 911 tapes, and Harrington wouldn't say if the woman was present at the scene when police arrived.

Henry is engaged to Loleini Tonga, and the couple has been raising three children. Tonga's MySpace page identifies herself as "Mrs. C. Henry" and has a picture of her next to a person who appears to be Henry. She also has a post from Tuesday talking about buying wedding rings. A neighbor said Wednesday that the Tonga family owns the home where police say the incident began. Charlotte is home to his fiancee's parents.

Henry was away from the team after breaking his left forearm during a win over Baltimore on Nov. 8. He had surgery and was placed on season-ending injured reserve following the game.

Throughout his career, his temper and poor decisions got him in trouble.

He was ejected from a game and suspended for another at West Virginia, where former coach Rich Rodriguez told Henry that he was an embarrassment to himself and the program. His reputation was already costing him -- the Bengals were the only NFL team to bring him in for a pre-draft visit in 2005.

They found that his demeanor didn't match his reputation. Henry was shy and spoke in a quiet voice. They warned him that he had to stay in control if he was going to stay in the NFL. Then, they picked him in the third round.

In a sense, it was already a second chance.

"I'm worth the chance," Henry said, when he showed up the following weekend for a rookie minicamp. "I'm just happy they took me."

Henry become a vital part of the offense as a rookie, helping the Bengals reach the playoffs in 2005 with his ability to run past defenders to grab long passes. In the final month of the season, he also showed his other side, getting arrested for marijuana possession. After a playoff loss to Pittsburgh, he was arrested on a gun charge in Florida.

Henry and former Tennessee cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones became the league's two most trouble-bound players. Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended both in 2007 -- Jones for a full season, Henry for half of it -- as part of a toughening of the league's conduct policy.

When Henry was arrested for a fifth time following that season on an assault charge, the Bengals decided they'd had enough. At his arraignment on April 3, 2008, Municipal Court Judge Bernie Bouchard called Henry "a one-man crime wave." He was released by the Bengals the same day.

It was a jolt to Henry, who had dreamed of an NFL career since high school, when he got the NFL logo tattooed on the back of his right hand. No team showed an interest in bringing him back. His career seemed finished.

Then, Bengals owner Mike Brown -- who refers to himself as "a redeemer" -- changed his mind and gave him another chance.

"If you only knew him by hearsay, you'd think he's some kind of ogre," Brown said, during the Bengals' appearance on HBO's "Hard Knocks" series this summer. "It's not true. He's a good person. When you see him up close, you'll find that you'll like him. He'll be a soft-spoken, pleasant person."

This time, Henry seemed determined to stay out of trouble. After only 19 catches and two touchdowns in 12 games in the 2008 season, he set about making himself a top-flight receiver again. He got into top shape and worked out with teammates in the offseason, showing more resolve than at any point in his career.

"For those who knew Chris, he was nothing like his public perception," read his agents' statement. "A loving and caring individual, he was thankful for what he had in life, and proud of what he had overcome.

"Nobody worked harder to rehabilitate his image than Chris. 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 [the] NFL, fans could be proud of."

Henry indeed changed his personal life, spending more time with his fiancee and the children they are raising. Teammates noticed a pronounced change in his demeanor.

"He's a great kid with a great heart," quarterback Carson Palmer said as training camp started. "He's changed his life around. He ran into some trouble, made some bad decisions, and realized that. He's sorry for them, apologized for them, and has done everything he can to make himself a better person. I'm just proud of him."

Before the 2009 season, Henry got a new tattoo that matched his new outlook. Below his left ear, in flowing one-inch script, was the world "Blessed."

"I kind of felt like I dug myself out of the hole and started doing the right things," Henry said in an interview with The Associated Press as training camp opened. "People say, 'How you feeling now Chris? You doing all right?' I just tell them I'm blessed. That's why I got it."

He caught a touchdown pass in each of Cincinnati's four preseason games. A thigh injury slowed him early in the season, and he had 12 catches for 236 yards -- his 19.7-yard average per catch leads the team -- when he broke his left arm during a win over Baltimore on Nov. 22, ending his season.

When he showed up in the locker room for the first time since surgery to fix the fracture, Henry sounded confident he could get through the latest setback.

"It just comes with time, you know?" he said. "I learned to handle all situations, so I'll be all right."

The Bengals (9-4), in the midst of their best season since winning 11 games in 2005, lead the AFC North. They visit the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.


Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
 
He's quoted above as saying "It just comes with time, you know? I learned to handle all situations, so I'll be all right."

Apparently not.

While it is hard to find much sympathy for a guy who beat up women, I find myself feeling really bad about this situation, mostly for his kids who will now grow up fatherless. I also feel bad for his family, as losing a loved one at such a young age is always horrible. In another way, I also feel bad for Chris Henry himself. He tried to get himself under control many different ways, but just couldn't manage to do so. I'm not absolving him in any way. For the most part, we are the sum total of the choices we make. But, it is still sad to see so much talent and blessing go to waste. He was a very gifted player and that talent brought him a lot of money and many extra chances to succeed. Unfortunately though, his poor choices ended up costing him his life.
 
Regardless of how bad he was, I think he might have been attempting to turn it around...and it's very unfortunate.
 
Chris-Henry.jpg
 
I've thought about this for quite some time and I have to voice my opinion. It never amazes me as to the many people who will come to the defense of any professional athlete who succumbs to an early death. It always seems that the guy is turning things around. This doesn't only happen to top jocks, but to everyday people as well. The one thing that is in common with them all is that they all have a history of being bad. One never hears of a good man/woman who has an early death that was thought to be a good person as turning bad things good. Other than Tiger, we hardly ever hear of them turning things bad, but that is for another thread. The public really doesn't know if Chris Henry was really turning the corner towards being a better human, but it really doesn't matter now anyway. For all that feel sorry for his children, wouldn't it have been better had he been the legitimate father? We seem to forget that part of the equation. Its always a shame to hear of a twenty something dying for any reason, but this guy had quite a history and though it is really a shame, is it really a surprise?
 
I've thought about this for quite some time and I have to voice my opinion. It never amazes me as to the many people who will come to the defense of any professional athlete who succumbs to an early death. It always seems that the guy is turning things around. This doesn't only happen to top jocks, but to everyday people as well. The one thing that is in common with them all is that they all have a history of being bad. One never hears of a good man/woman who has an early death that was thought to be a good person as turning bad things good. Other than Tiger, we hardly ever hear of them turning things bad, but that is for another thread. The public really doesn't know if Chris Henry was really turning the corner towards being a better human, but it really doesn't matter now anyway. For all that feel sorry for his children, wouldn't it have been better had he been the legitimate father? We seem to forget that part of the equation. Its always a shame to hear of a twenty something dying for any reason, but this guy had quite a history and though it is really a shame, is it really a surprise?

No, it is not a surprise. I heard a tape of a 911 call yesterday that was made by a woman driving behind the truck while he was in the bed. She said there was a black man wearing pants and no shirt with a cast on his forearm in the bed of the F150 in front of her. She said he was banging on the truck trying to get to the woman who was driving the truck. She said she didn't know if he was trying to rob the woman or what, but she needed the police there really quickly because it looked like the woman was in real trouble. That doesn't sound much like a guy who was trying to turn things around, does it?

I, too, get real tired of hearing about how great a guy somebody was after he died. Ted Kennedy was made out to be some kind of a great human being after his death, too. It is human nature to try to remember people as better than they really were. The truth is, the kids may be better off without having his influence on their daily lives growing up. It is still a shame that they will never know their father and that he never was able to really turn around his life. He had everything he needed to be a great father and to positively influence the world and his family. He had money, talent, fame, etc. but was never really able to embrace his potential.
 
Listening to ESPN Radio, you'd think this guy was a saint this year, but was the devil before this year. :rolleyes:

I also heard that one person said they overheard the man in the truck saying that if the driver didn't stop, he would dive out the back. Don't know how true that is, but if it is, looks like he did just that.
 
The timing of this next story is kind of funny. Any time I hear of an athlete beating up a woman I think of Lawrence Phillips, the former Nebraska star running back who got in trouble for smashing his girlfriend's head into a row of mailboxes. He was drafted in the NFL because of his amazing talent and in spite of his obvious character flaws. His attitude quickly led to a very short, unproductive NFL career. Three different teams still took a chance on the guy even though he was a terrible human being. The following is a story just recently reported on espn.com.

SAN DIEGO -- Ex-NFL running back Lawrence Phillips has been sentenced to more than 31 years in prison for attacking his girlfriend and driving his car into three teens.

Phillips, 34, was sentenced Friday in San Diego for assault and other crimes.

Phillips told the judge he didn't get a fair trail and he'll appeal.

Phillips twice choked his girlfriend in 2005 in San Diego. Later that year, he aimed his car and struck three teens after a pickup football game in Los Angeles.

A Los Angeles judge gave him 10 years for that attack but he was re-sentenced to seven years on Friday.

Phillips was once one of the nation's top college football players at Nebraska. The St. Louis Rams released him for insubordination in 1997. He also play for the Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers.
 
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