Published: April 06, 2008 12:33 am            

COLUMN: Henry on path to self-destruction

MORGANTOWN — He stood before the bench in the Hamilton County Municipal Court, just as he had stood in courtrooms so many other times before, only this time the court had had enough of wide receiver Chris Henry’s antics.

The presiding judge, Bernie Bouchard, told Henry “You’ve become a one-man crime wave.”

That is saying a lot to — and about — one man in city that in 2007 had 67 murders, 322 rapes, 1,973 robberies, 1,082 aggravated assaults, 6,198 burglaries, 12,615 larcenies and 2,421 car thefts.

But then again, how many people since December of 2005 have been arrested five times, as Henry has?

Little more than a week ago he was stopped and cited for driving with expired license plates.

Now it appears he may be making license plates.

Just a few days later, he was arrested for punching a University of Cincinnati student in the head and smashing in his car window with a beer bottle, leading to his release by the Cincinnati Bengals. It also led to having to come up with a $51,000 bail and being confined to his riverfront condo in Cincinnati under house arrest, complete with tracking bracelet.

Here is a man who had everything, or, as The Cincinnati Enquirer put it this week, he “had million-dollar hands but a 10-cent head.”

And it is that “10-cent head” that interests us today for it once wore a helmet with a flying WV on it.

Let us begin by noting that this university — any university — should not be allowing 10-cent heads into what is an institute of higher learning, no matter how fast they can run, no matter how high they can jump or no matter how much money they can create for the school through their athletic abilities.

Let us also note that certainly the roots of Henry’s discontent were laid long before he arrived in Morgantown, in the small Louisiana town in which he was raised and praised, where whatever discipline was supposed to be instilled in a young high school athlete failed to take hold.

But it must be said the university — especially the football program run at the time by Rich Rodriguez — failed to do anything to straighten out this gifted but troubled young man.

It failed in its responsibilities to Henry, to his family and to society, which is threatened each day he walks around freely.

Multiple sources within the athletic department and football program say Henry was much worse than his public image, and that public image was never exactly heroic.

On the field, Henry was a game-breaking, record-setting receiver but one who over and over drew personal fouls for unsportsmanlike conduct, topping it off with two against Rutgers in 2004 that led to his ejection and to his getting into a sideline argument with Rodriguez and flipping off the taunting Rutgers fans as he left the field.

Henry did draw a suspension for the ensuing Temple game — and game that WVU was expected to win easily and a suspension which lasted only for the first half. Even that suspension was shoved down Rodriguez’s throat.

“The orders for that came from Stewart Hall,” a source revealed, suggesting WVU President David Hardesty demanded Rodriguez offer a public form of discipline.

But there never was any real criminal behavior, or so it seemed.

Yet one source revealed Henry once punched another student in a food line and was arrested.

And then there was the 2003 Gator Bowl disaster, ending what had been a season of high hope with a devastating 41-7 loss to Maryland and an 8-5 record.

The 2003 team was led by Henry, troubled cornerback Pacman Jones, who is attempting to get his NFL life in order after missing last season because NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had suspended him for his transgressions, and wide receiver Travis Garvin, who is currently incarcerated after being arrested for armed robbery.

In late December, while practicing for the Gator Bowl, Garvin and Henry apparently rebelled at having to come out of the locker room to run. According to a source on the scene at the time, Rodriguez sent wide receivers coach Steve Bird in to get them and they refused. Henry is said to have cursed and offered a one-finger gesture.

Garvin was sent home but returned the next day and was in uniform for the game.

After the season, Bird was fired. Bird had become the fall guy for Henry and Garvin.

Had the whip been cracked hard and early on Henry, on Jones, might WVU been able to save their lives rather than trying to save its own football skin by letting them get away with almost everything but murder?

We’ll never know but we do know that two of the most talented players in the NFL missed time last year due to suspensions and that Henry is now looking for work, which he will surely find even though San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto referred to him as “a serial nitwit.”

Ratto went on to compare Henry with Steve Howe, the-drug addicted relief pitcher who was given chance after chance despite numerous suspensions because he had the same kind of unique talent Henry possesses.

About the only salient fact about Steve Howe that Ratto didn’t point out came in this article from The New York Times:

“Steve Howe, the relief pitcher whose promising career was derailed by cocaine and alcohol abuse, died yesterday when his pickup truck rolled over in Coachella, Calif., about 130 miles east of Los Angeles. He was 48.”

Chris Henry is now 24 and on self-destruct.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.

        

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