Tongan mother Loleini Tonga and the tragic death of her former fiancé, NFL player Chris Henry, have returned to the spotlight as their son Chris Henry Jr begins his highly anticipated college football career with Ohio State.
Henry Jr arrived at Ohio State this season as a five-star wide receiver and one of the most highly rated young football prospects in the United States.
His emergence has renewed interest in the remarkable and painful family story behind his journey to one of America’s leading college football programmes.
His father, Chris Henry, played five seasons as a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals before dying aged 26 in December 2009.
Henry suffered fatal head injuries after coming out of the back of a moving pickup truck driven by Tonga during a domestic dispute in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Police investigated the circumstances but filed no charges against Tonga, saying they found no evidence that she had been driving recklessly.
Tonga later said she had been driving slowly because she knew Henry was standing in the back of the vehicle and maintained that he jumped from the truck.
Henry and Tonga had two sons together, Chris Jr and DeMarcus, while Henry also helped raise Tonga’s daughter Seini.
Following Henry’s death, former NFL player and close family friend Adam “Pacman” Jones became an important father figure to the children and later helped Chris Jr pursue his football ambitions.
Those efforts have now culminated in Chris Jr joining Ohio State, following his father’s path as an elite wide receiver.
The family’s sporting connection with Ohio State extends further, with Seini also playing basketball for the university.
