Keith Henry was running late. Invited to the annual Washington Commanders rookie dinner earlier this month along with his son K.J., a fifth-round defensive end out of Clemson, the elder Henry showed up at the restaurant and immediately noticed the presence several iconic figures from the team he’d rooted for growing up.
There was Doug Williams, the trailblazing quarterback who lifted the Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII. Doc Walker and Mark Moseley were there, too.
“I was like, ‘No, this can’t be true,’” Henry said.
Henry still considers the evening to be “surreal.” But it was an evening that wouldn’t have been possible if not for the work put in by his son — on and off the field. K.J. Henry didn’t just make it to the NFL. While he played at Clemson, he was also helping to save his dad’s life.
Last year, the pass rusher raised more than $100,000 through name, image and likeness sponsorship opportunities to help pay the medical expenses for his father’s kidney transplant. In February 2022, Henry posted on social media that Keith needed help. By July, Keith went in for surgery — having found a donor through his wife’s family.
The operation was a success. These days, Keith Henry feels strong enough to be able to make the trek from his North Carolina home to watch his son at Washington’s offseason practices. In addition, Keith — a college football assistant coach with more than three decades of experience — is back on the job in his longtime profession: In April, he joined Vincent Brown’s staff at North Carolina A&T to coach safeties.
K.J. can see the difference in his dad’s health, too. Keith’s “always on his Peleton,” K.J. says.
“That was kind of just a no-brainer it felt like, to be quite honest with you,” K.J. Henry said, referring to his decision to help his father. “I felt like what’s the point of (having) a major platform and influence if you can’t use it on your family members? It was a discussion I had with my family of how to go about it the right way.
“But it was kind of like a return on investment for my parents — just how they raised myself and my siblings to always care for each other … and help somebody along the way.”
A father’s influence
The afternoon he was drafted, K.J. Henry joked that no one was screaming louder in the room than his dad. “My team! My team!” Keith Henry yelled. He knew then and there that his son was going to wear burgundy and gold. A North Carolina native, Keith Henry grew up in an era when the Washington franchise dominated the region, long before the Panthers came to his state as an expansion team. The first jersey that K.J. received as a child, his father said, was a Washington jersey.
Soon after the defensive end was selected, K.J.’s mom Nicole had her friend go upstairs and grab a notecard she wrote the night before. With her son still undrafted after Day 2 of the draft, Nicole felt a spiritual urge to predict where her son would end up going.
The notecard had just two words: “Washington Redskins.”
“‘My wife’s a prophet,” Keith said.
K.J. helped make that moment possible for his father. And his father had done the same for his son.
The pass rusher’s rise to the NFL wouldn’t have been possible without the influence of his father — an influence that goes well beyond the obvious: K.J. credits his father as a coach — one who was in his ear constantly about “the right things” that led him to become a five-star prospect, win a national collegiate championship and become the 137th overall pick in this year’s draft.
Keith was K.J.’s official football coach for just one year — when K.J. was in the eighth grade and the elder Henry was between college jobs. Even then, Keith said he recognized K.J. was a “natural,” an athlete gifted with fast-twitch reflexes, a high motor and the intelligence and drive needed to study his craft thoroughly.
But off the field is where K.J. arguably impressed his parents even more. When the defensive end would go out, his dad said, he’d always return 30 minutes before his curfew. Keith called K.J. a “self-starter” and a young man who avoided trouble.
At Clemson, K.J. was praised by coach Dabo Swinney as “one of the best young men that’s come through our program.” K.J. played a record 58 games for the Tigers, who voted him captain last season.
“My son knows what he wants out of life, what he wants to do,” Keith said, “what his future’s like. He’s ahead of the game.”
That includes helping his dad.
Finding help
Keith Henry kept getting phone calls one afternoon, with person after person telling him that they were sorry to hear about his kidney diagnosis. Henry didn’t know how they found out. Then, he checked social media. K.J. made a video that explained the situation — and how his dad needed help.
“Tears came to my eyes,” Keith said.
To raise money, K.J. did several things. First, he partnered with Help Hope Live, a nonprofit dedicated to paying off medical bills through fundraising. Then, he and his Clemson teammates organized an autograph-signing session with proceeds going to his dad. The March 2022 event sold out: 350 tickets at $100 each.
Keith remembers “how full” he felt that day. He was moved by the support that rallied to his son’s cause. “It was unbelievable,” he said.
The signing not only showed how close K.J. was to those at Clemson, but what a leader he had become, Keith said.
Jen Smilg, Help Hope Live’s client services coordinator who worked with Keith, said in more than a decade of working with Help Hope Live, K.J.’s efforts to raise money were among the most successful the nonprofit has seen. “This is what I wish for every client,” she said.
And in the year since the charity started working with the Henrys, K.J. remains involved as a brand ambassador. The pass rusher spent a day with a high school student affected by a spinal cord injury to offer words of encouragement, Smilg said.
“Nicky and Keith have really raised their kids in a beautiful way,” she said. “To give back. And that’s what he’s doing.”
Keith had waited months to tell K.J. that he needed a kidney transplant — it was an issue, after all, that Keith said he had been dealing with for 25 years. Doctors had been regularly monitoring his organ function. Finally, in the fall of 2021, with his kidneys failing, doctors explained he needed a transplant and that the process could take three to five years.
When K.J. learned about the diagnosis, he went to work. Keith remembers how calm his son was and how he declared that they were going to find a donor.
Within four months, Keith had three possible matches. including Karen Eaton — a Florida-based nurse and family friend who ended up donating her kidney.
“It’s been a blessing,” Keith said.
‘A gift of life’
When Keith visited Ashburn earlier this month, he got to spend two-and-a-half days around his son and the Commanders. For K.J., getting to see his dad not only provided a “breath of fresh air” amid having to learn the ins and outs of professional football, but the visit was also rewarding just to see how excited his father was.
“They did everything, but just sign him to a one-day contract,” K.J. said. “My mom joked, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever made your dad that happy.’”
After being drafted, K.J. finally asked his dad how he became a Washington fan, anyway. Keith, it turns out, loved watching Joe Gibbs’ teams — and the success they had.
But at dinner, as much as Keith enjoyed getting to know Washington’s icons like Williams and Walker, he spent the evening seated next to his son.
That was more than enough.
“It’s a gift of life,” Keith said. “He gave me a gift of life.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.