The Tragic True Story Behind American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez

By scoring a touchdown in 2012’s Super Bowl XLVI, New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez achieved a childhood dream. One year later, he was arrested for murder. What followed was one of the most highly publicized and puzzling crimes of the past decade, dramatized by Ryan Murphy on the FX limited series American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.

Though the athlete never spoke about his motivations for the murder of his friend—former football player Odin Lloyd—reporting from The Boston Globe and Netflix’s three-part documentary Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandezpainted Hernandez as a figure plagued by unimaginable troubles. Throughout his life, he faced a history of childhood abuse, drug problems, the fear of the world learning about his sexuality, and a posthumous diagnosis of what doctors called one of the worst cases of CTE in an athlete as young as twenty-seven years old.

Since Hernandez’s conviction and shocking suicide, his story has been pulled in every direction. It uncovered the world of homophobic locker-room culture, the lack of support from his team’s staff, and even the dangers of football on the brain. He was called a “monster” (and worse) by the press. Talking about the new Murphy-created series, executive producer Stu Zicherman told the Los Angeles Times that he viewed Hernandez’s story as “a Shakespearean tragedy.” Instead of trying to solve why the athlete killed his friend, the series sought to follow the American Crime Story formula by “taking a crime or event and making it about something much bigger in the fabric of America.”

Naturally, that involves dramatized depictions of Hernandez’s early life in an abusive household, his struggles within professional athletic programs, and the murder of Lloyd. To separate fact from fiction on the series—which premieres its first two episodes on Tuesday, September 17—follow along below.

Al Bello//Getty ImagesAaron Hernandez on the field for Super Bowl XLVI.

Who Was Aaron Hernandez?Aaron Hernandez was born in Bristol, Connecticut, on November 6, 1989. His father, Dennis Hernandez, was a former star football player for Bristol Central High School. Dennis often got into physical fights with Hernandez’s mother, Terri Valentine-Hernandez, a public school administration assistant who allegedly ran a bookkeeping operation on the side. Both of his parents were arrested several times during his childhood, amid countless separations and recouplings. His father was abusive toward Aaron and his older brother, DJ, as well as reportedly homophobic.

But Hernandez still sought the approval of his father, taking after him by playing football at Bristol Central. He was named Gatorade’s Football Player of the Year in his home state and began dating his future fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins. Hernandez then went to the University of Florida after head coach Urban Meyer convinced the star player’s high school principal to let him graduate early.

“He had graduated high school more than a semester early—not because he was a great student but because he was a great football player,” The Boston Globe reported after Hernandez’s death. “The athletic gifts were obvious, but behind them was an angry teenager struggling with an abusive upbringing, a growing dependence on drugs, and questions about his own sexual identity.”

FX/Hulu//HuluJosh Andrés Rivera as Aaron Hernandez on American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.

The prognosis was largely correct. Chronic drug use and partying nearly got Hernandez kicked off the team, with the athlete later telling the Globe that he was high “every time I was on the field.” If he wasn’t drafted into the NFL, then his days on Florida’s football team were over. But the New England Patriots selected Hernandez in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, right behind tight end Rob Gronkowski.

American Sports Story depicts Hernandez’s relationship with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick as tenuous, with the six-time Super Bowl–winning team threatening to cut its losses if Hernandez proved to be too difficult. But he developed into a reliable offensive player alongside Gronkowski and star quarterback Tom Brady. When the Patriots reached the 2012 Super Bowl, Hernandez scored a touchdown, though the team lost to the underdog New York Giants. He was arguably the most effective player on the field that day besides Brady, earning himself a five-year, $40 million contract extension. Then the troubles began.

Whom Did Aaron Hernandez Murder?On June 18, 2013, authorities found the body of Odin Lloyd with multiple gunshot wounds a mile from the Patriots star’s home. Lloyd was a good friend of Hernandez’s who was dating his fiancée’s sister at the time. All signs pointed to Hernandez as the first suspect. Police later found shell casings in a car that he’d rented before the murder, as well as security footage that showed him dismantling his cell phone in his lawyer’s car the day after. Hernandez pleaded not guilty but was sentenced to life in prison in 2015.

Before Lloyd’s murder, Hernandez already had a confusing collection of violent encounters to his name. In 2007, he drunkenly refused to pay a bar tab in Gainesville, Florida, and hit the manager so hard on the side of his head that it ruptured his eardrum. In 2013, he allegedly shot Alexander Bradley, his marijuana supplier, through the eye. Though Bradley lived, he refused to name Hernandez as the shooter until 2016. They later settled in a civil suit out of court. According to the Globe, Hernandez also had a second apartment—where he stored drugs and illegal weapons—that he hid from his fiancée.

Jared Wickerham//Getty ImagesHernandez in court on August 22, 2013, just two months after the murder of Odin Lloyd.

Why Did Aaron Hernandez Kill Odin Lloyd?At the time, police reported that it was possible that the athlete acted out after Lloyd discovered his sexuality. His motivation may have stemmed from a previous double homicide in Boston, but this theory has never been proven, either. Just a year before Lloyd’s murder, Hernandez was investigated for the death of Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu and Safiro Teixeira Furtado. They were killed in a drive-by shooting; there was no breakthrough in the case until after Lloyd’s death.

While searching Hernandez’s cousin’s home, police found a vehicle that was wanted in connection to the double homicide. Furthermore, testimony from Bradley placed Hernandez in direct confrontation with the two men at a nightclub that same day. The pro athlete was tried for the two murders in 2017, but he was acquitted after accusing Bradley of the shooting. Hernandez hanged himself in his prison cell just five days later.

American Sports Story will likely attempt to make some sense out of the madness. If early reviews are any indication, the series dramatizes the paranoia of Hernandez’s sexuality becoming public, coupled with his trauma and the pressures of performing as a professional athlete. In reality, Hernandez’s motivations were never proven.