Chris Henry Jr — the 8th grader who was adopted by Pacman Jones has received a scholarship from Buckeye wide receiver coach Brian Hartline to Ohio State.
These are Henry’s words after he was offered the scholarship to Ohio State;
“I’m honored,” Henry said after receiving the offer. “It makes me want to work harder. “It’s a surprise. But I think I earned it because I worked for it. But it just makes me want to get better.”
According to TPS;
His father Chris Henry played five seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals before passing away in December of 2009. What makes this story even better is that good friend and former NFL player Adam “Pacman” Jones adopted him and his brother.
Henry said he works hard to reach the level his father did and hopes to one day be better than the third-round NFL Draft pick who caught 119 passes and 21 touchdowns during his career.
“He helps me get better every day and helps me grow as a person,” Henry Jr. said of Jones, who he described both as a father figure, uncle and agent.
Chris Henry’s death was a tragedy.
On December 16, 2009, Henry sustained injuries when he fell out of the back of a moving truck driven by his fiancée Loleini Tonga, while they were engaged in a domestic dispute. Tonga has three children with Henry. On December 17, 2009, Charlotte police announced that Henry had died at 6:36 a.m. ET at Carolinas Medical Center from the injuries sustained in the domestic dispute. Two days later, on December 19, police confirmed that Henry died of blunt force trauma to the head. No charges were filed against his fiancée, and police announced that they found no evidence that Tonga drove recklessly or with excessive speed.[33][34][35] There was no alcohol in Henry’s blood at the time of the incident.
To honor Henry, every game of Week 15 (December 17–21) in the NFL that year began with a moment of silence before kickoff.
“Our football team, what they’re feeling yesterday and this morning … they watched a guy mature as a young man and work through adversity,” Lewis said, adding that Henry became “a beacon of hope.”
On December 20, three days after Henry’s death, the Bengals traveled to Qualcomm Stadium to face the San Diego Chargers. As with all the other Week 15 games, a moment of silence was held before kickoff. Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, a close friend of Henry’s, openly wept during the silence. Later in the game, on his first touchdown reception, Ochocinco dropped to his knee and paid tribute to Henry in the end-zone.
In June 2010, the Brain Injury Research Institute of West Virginia University released a report that Henry had developed a brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy during his playing career due to multiple hard hits to the head.[21] While several former NFL players had been found to have the disease after their deaths, Henry was believed to be the first still-active NFL player to have it. The discovery that Henry had CTE has become a serious issue of concern for football and brain safety, especially since Henry was relatively young and had never been diagnosed with a concussion in any of his five NFL seasons or during his college career at West Virginia. Concern has been raised whether an accumulation of lesser blows could eventually be enough to cause brain damage. It was also believed that the brain damage Henry suffered may have been a factor in his numerous off-the-field incidents.
After his death, Henry’s mother made the decision to donate his organs for transplant. Henry’s corneas, lungs, kidneys, heart, liver, and pancreas were transplanted, saving the lives of four people.
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