Sports Radio Interviews

T.J. Houshmandzadeh Reflects on the Life of His Former Teammate Chris Henry

What tragic news that swept the NFL nation last week.  I remember how I felt when I heard the news so I could only imagine how people in and around the league felt when hearing that Chris Henry passed away.  I had only dealt with Chris Henry a few times and I have a pretty good relationship with his agent, but I didn’t really know him as a person as much as I knew of him as a football player.  I was surprised and I was saddened by the news.  Most people will remember Chris Henry for the trouble that he got in earlier in his career and the poor decisions that he made off the field.  However, those that know Chris Henry or that played with Chris Henry, have a different perception of the man that they called “Slim.”  They remember him as incredibly talented player on the field and as a quiet and laid-back person off the field.  They remember him as a person who didn’t start trouble, but rather just made bad decisions early in life.  It appeared that the poor decisions that he made in the past were indeed in the past and he was turning his life around.  Henry was given a second or even a third chance in the NFL and in life and he was making the most of it. 

Chris Henry died last Thursday at the age of 26 and it was another story of a life taken too soon.  According to reports, he died after falling out of the back of a pickup truck last Wednesday following a domestic dispute with his fiancée.  I send out my deepest sympathies and condolences to the Bengals, his friends and family and all those that have been affected by this tragedy. 

T.J Houshmandzadeh was a teammate of Chris Henry’s in Cincinnati and he joined The Dan Patrick Show last Friday to talk about where he was when he got the news, what he wants people to know about Chris Henry and, what he plans on doing to honor him.

On when he heard the news of Chris Henry:

“I heard it after practice.  I checked my phone throughout meetings and things of that nature and I got  a text message that said Chris Henry was in a car accident and I thought it was minor.  Then as the day goes on, you get out of practice, you start making calls and then you realize, wow it’s really serious that he’s fighting for his life.  I couldn’t believe it.  It was almost like a movie, like it was fake.”

On how he will remember Chris Henry and the perception that people have of him

“He had a real distinct laugh and people that know him, you walk into a room and you hear a bunch of people laughing and you hear his laugh, you know it’s him.  Real quiet, real laid back, didn’t say much and if you were gonna have a conversation with him, you woulda had to carry it.  He was a really quiet guy, really respectful.  Obviously, like you said earlier, he’ll be remembered for some of things that he did that weren’t right, but he was a nice dude.  Everybody talks good about somebody when they pass, but he was really a nice dude.  He didn’t start trouble, he just made bad decisions.”

On whether or not he saw a change in Chris Henry:

“I thought last year was the tipping point for him when he got released and nobody signed him for the period of time ‘till we resigned him.  I think from that point forward, he was completely changed, he was completely focused, and he wasn’t doing those things.  You could see it in his energy, in practice and in meetings.  He actually has changed, he would call me periodically this season and in the offseason, and just ask me questions and talk to me about certain things.  That was very different from Chris because he didn’t do things like that and so that showed me that he had turned the corner.”

Listen to T.J. Houshmandzadeh on The Dan Patrick Show here

Tags: Chris Henry, Cincinnati Bengals, Dan Patrick Show, NFL, TJ Houshmandzadeh