Nick Adenhart's Parents Share Their Grief

Shortly after midnight on April 9, Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed by a drunk driver just hours after a start against the Oakland Athletics. Now Adenhart's parents are speaking out about how they've dealt with their grief over the last six months.

"I have some days now that, you know, you try to move to that place where you're thankful for the time you had," Janet Adenhart says in an interview that will air Tuesday on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. "But we're definitely not there yet."



"Next to the day of his birth, that was the happiest day of my life," his father Jim says of watching Nick pitch that day. "I just wanted to yell out, 'My son is starting tonight!'"

Just a few hours later, Nick Adenhart was dead.

Jim recalls that before Nick went out with friends to celebrate his start, he asked his dad whether he should just stay in to talk with him about the game.

"I said, 'Nick, go on and go out,'" Jim Adenhart recalls. "Thinking I'd have plenty of time to talk to him."

The Real Sports piece by correspondent Mary Carillo is the story of a tragedy, but it contains a hopeful note, showing Adenhart's friend Jon Wilhite, the only survivor from Adenhart's car, is steadily improving despite suffering "internal decapitation" -- his skull separating from his spine. Wilhite says in the Real Sports profile that he still feels Adenhart's presence.

Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel debuts Tuesday at 10 PM ET/PT.