RENTON — T.J. Houshmandzadeh, often the life of the Seahawks locker room, was much more subdued Thursday.
Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry died earlier that morning, leaving Houshmandzadeh to talk about a fallen former teammate rather than his team’s upcoming game.
Henry, who was Houshmandzadeh’s teammate for four seasons in Cincinnati, died early Thursday from injuries suffered a day earlier when he fell out of the back of a pickup truck being driven by his fiancee in what police are calling a domestic dispute.
“It’s unbelievable to me, man,” Houshmandzadeh said. “It’s surreal almost. You can’t believe it. It’s like, ‘Did this really happen?’ A guy that had basically turned a corner in his life, and then this happens. It’s like it’s fake almost. It really is.”
Houshmandzadeh, like many of the current Bengals players, thought Henry had turned his life around after dealing with legal problems early in his career. Henry was released by the Bengals in April of 2008 following a string of arrests, but the team re-signed him the following August. That’s when Houshmandzadeh noticed a change in his fellow receiver.
“I don’t know how many people were really close to Slim, but I still talked to him,” Houshmandzadeh said. “I talked to him after he broke his arm. He would just call me and ask me certain questions about certain things. Ask me what I thought and I gave him my opinion. He always would say though, ‘T, I’m going to be a family man like you.’ I think once he got released in April and nobody signed him and the Bengals re-signed him in August, I think that was the beginning of him realizing, ‘I’ve got to change my life,’ and he did. And now this happens. It’s crazy.”
Houshmandzadeh fears his former teammate will most be remembered for his legal problems, and not the good things Henry had done with his life in recent years.
“I think his time of being in trouble was over,” Houshmandzadeh said. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s what he’s going to be remembered by almost, the trouble he got into. And it’s unfortunate, but that’s just the way society works.
“But now it’s tough because he had a lot of people that relied on him. He has kids, young kids. His family left New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina to move out there to Cincinnati and they were all relying on him. So it’s a bunch of family that’s affected. Not just his kids, but his mother, his brothers and a lot of people.”
Houshmandzadeh will most remember Henry for his playmaking ability on the field. Asked what he’d remember most about Henry, Houshmandzadeh smiled and told the story of how the young receiver nearly helped keep the Bengals playoff hopes alive. Facing Pittsburgh in the 2006 season finale while still holding onto wildcard playoff hopes, Henry caught a long pass that set up the potential game-winning field goal. The kick missed, and the Steelers won in overtime, but that play still stands out to Houshmandzadeh.
“Throw him the ball and he was going to go get it,” Houshmandzadeh said. “That’s what he did. Just throw him the ball and he’d go get it… . We wound up losing the game because we missed the kick. But we thought we won the game. I mean, you just put the ball up and he had unbelievable hand-eye coordination. He could run full speed, snag the ball. It would look like it was overthrown, but he’d accelerate and go get the ball. He had a gift. He had great eyes and he had great hands.”
Curry practices
Just four days after being carted off of the field in Houston with a hip pointer, linebacker Aaron Curry was able to practice without limitations Thursday, indicating he’ll likely be back in the lineup Sunday. Receiver Nate Burleson (ankle), who will not play this week, was the only Seahawk that didn’t practice.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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