Chris Henry

Chris Henry (May 17, 1983 – December 17, 2009) was an American football wide receiver who played five seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cincinnati Bengals. He played college football at West Virginia and was drafted by the Bengals in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Henry died on December 17, 2009, when he was dragged from a moving truck that his fiancée was driving after a verbal altercation. An autopsy revealed that Henry had developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) during his playing career due to repetitive hits to the head. Because CTE can only be definitively diagnosed in an autopsy and Henry was still active in the NFL when he died, Henry represented the first case where an active player had died and could be diagnosed with CTE. Early years Henry was born to Carolyn Lee and David Henry in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. He attended Belle Chasse High School where he was named New Orleans small schools offensive player of the year during his senior year. During that season the Fighting Cardinals made it to the Louisiana AAA State championship game, which was played at the Louisiana Superdome. Henry also excelled in basketball and track. College career Henry enrolled at West Virginia University in 2002, spending his first season as a redshirt. In 2003, he earned Big East Conference freshman of the year and All-Big East second-team honors for catching 41 passes and gaining 1,006 yards and scoring 10 touchdowns. He also became the second player in school history to record over 1,000 receiving yards in one season (behind David Saunders), and his 24.5 yards per reception are the third most in a season in school history. Henry's best game was a career-high performance of 209 yards and two touchdowns against Syracuse. His career-long reception came against Rutgers that season, an 83-yard reception.