There could have been so many potential roadblocks and countless detours, all of which might have sent Kevens Clercius down a different path — a wrong path — and derailed a promising career in professional football long before it began.
“If it wasn’t for sport,” began the Winnipeg Blue Bombers rookie receiver after practice Monday, “I’d probably have been doing some crazy stuff. So, what this season reminds me is that all the work I’ve done in my life, it’s paid off.
“It’s also hopefully an inspiration to others from where I’m from to keep doing what they’re doing so that they can achieve their goals.”
Clercius will be wearing Blue Bombers colours this Saturday at Molson Stadium but symbolically he’ll also be flying the flag for his neighbourhood, Montreal-Nord. It will be a meaningful day for him and all those from the borough who helped him with coaching, with encouragement and even financial aid so that a son of Haitian immigrants could represent Canada — and win a gold medal — at the 2018 International Federation of American Football World Junior Championships as well as pay for a trip to a University of Connecticut ID camp, where he would eventually earn a scholarship with the Huskies.
And now to a place with the Blue Bombers. He said expects at least 20 — but closer to 40 — members of his family and friends to be there on Saturday for his first game in his hometown.
“Coming from Montreal-Nord… it’s a rough neighbourhood with a lot of gang violence,” he said. “It’s not really known for the good stuff, and I’d like to think what I’m doing now is beating the odds.
“It’s important for me to show people that yes, it’s an area with violence but there are also some good things happening. There’s me and there are other athletes like Lu Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder) and Bennedict Mathurin (Indiana Pacers) who are helping show people there is a better way or have a positive outlook on our neighbourhood. I’m trying to inspire my community with the message that you just keep going hard every day. If you have a goal, just keep doing what you have to do to get to your goal because the world today is not easy.
“There’s good people there in my neighbourhood, too,” he added. “I had a lot of people help me. The mayor, my high school (football) coach, my basketball coaches, my friends… they all helped me. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to go to Team Canada. If it wasn’t for my high school coach, I wouldn’t have been able to play football. If it wasn’t for my friend’s dad, I wouldn’t have been able to go to the UConn camp and get my scholarship.
“So many people helped me to achieve what I’m doing right now. I want to give those people credit and it’s hard sometimes because the only thing you hear about my neighbourhood on the news is negative. They helped me financially. They helped me mentally when I was down. A little story: when I was at UConn I was thinking about transferring but my high school coach inspired me to stay one more year and trust what I was doing. I’ve had that kind of help and financial help from people. I have so many to thank.”
The Blue Bombers won’t be in Montreal for long this weekend, flying in on Friday, playing Saturday afternoon and then chartering home immediately afterward. Clercius doesn’t have much of a window, as a result, to do a whole trip down memory lane thing in his old neighbourhood.
He will visit his barbershop, he said, and see some family. And then it’s all about doing his part in helping the Blue Bombers on Saturday.
“I’m trying to treat it like just another game,” he said. “I know that I’m going home and will be playing in front of my people, a lot of them who never even got to see my when I was in college. I’m happy about that. Like I said, I appreciate them so much. I’m thankful for them but I have a job to do.”
The Blue Bombers made Clercius their first pick, 13th overall, in the 2024 CFL Draft after being impressed by his physical gifts — he’s 6-2, 217 and has giant mitts with a vice-like grip — but also because of his story and what they heard in his pre-draft interview. There’s a humility there with the 25-year-old Montrealer, but also a maturity that is evident when he talks about his journey and who helped him along the way.
He’s dressed for all 17 games this season, starting the last 11, and is sixth on the club in receiving with 29 receptions for 320 yards and a touchdown.
“It’s been excellent,” said head coach Mike O’Shea of Clercius’ rookie campaign. “What’s held true all along is the coaching staff has given him more and more and he keeps on absorbing it — it’s not always perfect, but he keeps trying to make it perfect, he keeps on getting better and it’s not like he keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
“The stuff we liked about him from the beginning, and I don’t think he’s missed a beat in bringing that to this level is he’s got really strong hands, he’s a very capable and willing blocker, he can survive contact and he dishes it out, too.
“… I enjoy being around him on a daily basis,” O’Shea continued. “He’s quiet. But you see things about him, and you go, ‘That’s the right way to play football.’”