Fans of American football remember well the rise and fall of Adam โPacmanโ Jones, but not many expected to see him bounce back. Zak Keefer delivers my favorite kind of redemption feature in this profile of Jones, whoโs now mentoring the sons of his late friend and teammate Chris Henry. The story starts with Jonesโ tears; it might end with yours.
โYโall need to uproot and move up here with us,โ he urged Loleini Tonga, the boysโ mother. โWeโll help you out.โ
So thatโs what they did. Pacman Jones, once the NFLโs cautionary tale for reckless behavior, made Chris Henryโs family part of his own. They moved in with him in Cincinnati, where he drives the boys to school and picks them up after practice, where he trains them in the offseason, where he pushes Slimโs two sons the same way he once pushed their father, passing on the lessons learned from the opportunity they both almost threw away.
โIโll tell you this,โ Jones says, getting a bit heated. โIโll beย damnedย if these kids make the same mistakes I did.โ
sportsethicist