Adam “Pacman” Jones is as well known for his antics off the field as those on it.
Yet despite his penchant for partying and drama, the latest news about Jones is by far the most admirable and surprising of them all.
In an interview with Shannon Sharpe, Jones revealed that he adopted the sons of former Bengals’ receiver Chris Henry, who died in December of 2009.
“I don’t know if you know but I adopted Chris Henry’s kids too,” said Jones to Sharpe.
“We love each other hard. We cry together, we pray together, we do everything together. We all family,” he added.
Chris Henry died from injuries suffered after he fell out of the back of a pickup truck in a tragic accident almost 12 years ago.
The troubled receiver seemed to have put his past behind him when he sadly passed away, a belief held by the team as well at the time.
“We knew him in a different way than his public persona,” Bengals owner Mike Brown said at the time. “He had worked through the troubles in his life and had finally seemingly reached the point where everything was going to blossom. And he was going to have the future we all wanted for him. It’s painful to us. We feel it in our hearts, and we will miss him.”
A year after his passing, Henry became the first NFL player to have died with C.T.E. while still active in the NFL.
After the diagnosis, some questioned whether the progressive and debilitating brain disease contributed to his troubled behavior off the field.
That question remains unanswered.
Henry and Jones became close friends in Morgantown where they both played for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
In the 2005 NFL Draft, the Titans selected Jones with the sixth pick in the first round. Henry went in the third round to the Bengals.
Although they didn’t play on the Bengals together, as Jones joined the team after Henry’s death, they remained close throughout their careers.
Jones retired from the NFL in 2018 but always remained close with Henry’s fiance, Loleini Tonga, and their children. He helped take care of them and raise them.
Now he’s their adoptive father.
“Everyone know me and Chris was best friends in college,” said Jones. “I’m still close with his whole entire family. I’m still close with Loleini… we’re inseparable. We’ve been working on this for three-[to]-four years, and we finally got it done like six, seven months ago.”
Salute Adam Jones.
