As you may already know, Chris Henry, a 26-year old wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, passed away this morning at 6:36 AM. Yesterday, Henry was involved in what North Carolina police termed a “domestic situation.” Following his fiancée’s departure from a home in North Carolina, Chris Henry jumped into the bed of the pickup truck she was driving and then — somehow — fell from the bed of the truck.

There is a temptation here to point to Henry’s life as some sort of cautionary tale in the narrative of a “troubled” life. Indeed, Chris Henry was a wide receiver whose name you knew — even if you did not follow football. During his time with the Bengals, Henry was arrested five times, released from the team, and then re-signed. It short, he behaved like many 20-somethings in our country, but had the bad luck to get caught (multiple times). Still, that was not Chris Henry. In fact, according to his teammates, his coach, and the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals, Chris Henry had turned his life around.

Personally, I think that transformation is why this news — from learning of the injury yesterday to this morning’s news that he did not make it — has profoundly disturbed me. Henry, I think, was becoming representative of what I believe about everyone: We are all capable of making mistakes, and more importantly, we are all capable of profound change.

But, as with the death of any celebrity, I’m simply mourning the death of the idea. My closest link to Chris Henry — like most of us — was the opportunity to watch him play football. I’m glad I had the chance to see him play. Why?

Although the city of Cincinnati — like much of the Midwest, much of the country — has had an awful economic year, our Bengals were playing well. They’re playoff bound and have provided us with beautiful distractions every weekend this Fall. And now, we’ve lost a sometime resident of our city who showed us that — if enough people put their faith in you — maybe things can go from awful to good. And we need things to go from awful to good here.

 

A few final thoughts: my thoughts go out to the Bengals, to Chris Henry’s family, and to anyone — even strangers like myself — who find themselves reminded of mortality and mourning an inexplicable loss. Today, according to ESPN, Chad Ochocinco took the practice field this afternoon wearing Henry’s #15 jersey, and I’d like to leave the last words here for Ochocinco — someone who over the next few days must grieve for the loss of the man he knew, not just the idea of the man we’ve all suddenly lost: Ochocinco on Chris Henry.

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