Super Bowl champ counts blessings as his foundation builds schools in Haiti
Anyone’s life can change in an instant. A heart attack, a hurricane, a knee to the chin. At just 33 years old, Cliff Avril (HHS’11) speaks with hard-earned authority on each of those examples. His father, Jean Samuel Avril, died from a heart attack on Memorial Day weekend 2015, and Avril’s 10-year NFL football career ended after a severe neck injury in a September 2017 game. Now he’s building schools in Haiti, an island nation caught too often in a hurricane’s path.
The son of Haitian immigrants, Avril grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. Throughout his childhood summers, the family returned to Haiti to visit his grandmother. Though he may not have been cognizant of the differences between his parents’ native and adopted lands as a child, those stark contrasts helped shape his worldview as an adult. To make a difference, the Cliff Avril Family Foundation funded the replacement of three dilapidated classroom buildings in the village of La Chanm with modern structures that are resistant to earthquakes and hurricanes, effectively doubling as shelters. Some 500 children in kindergarten through sixth grade will be better educated as a result.
Camaraderie in cleats and pads
Missing an August training camp for the first time in 16 years in 2018, Avril has come to terms with the end of his football days. “It’s OK. I played 10 years in the NFL and accomplished a lot,” says the former defensive end who won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in 2014. “Fortunately, I can still go to the Seahawks’ facilities and be around the guys. That’s what you miss the most.”
That sense of camaraderie, supremely evident in his Purdue days playing for the legendary Joe Tiller, remains Avril’s greatest personal takeaway from the game: “No matter what ethnic group or socioeconomic background you come from, we can all come together for the common goal of getting a win,” he says.
Avril’s college choices came down to Maryland and Purdue. He became a Boilermaker because with nine defensive players drafted from the previous team, he knew he’d have a chance to contribute immediately as a freshman. Transitioning from linebacker to defensive end in his four years, he distinguished himself among Purdue’s all-time greats at that position. Coined the “Den of Defensive Ends,” Purdue has fielded several 21st century sack standouts, including Akin Ayodele (LA’01), Ray Edwards (-LA’06), Ryan Kerrigan (LA’13), Rob Ninkovich (-T’06), Shaun Phillips (HHS’03), and Anthony Spencer (-LA’07).
Though he eventually became a sack specialist with the “Legion of Boom,” Seattle’s stalwart defensive teams, Avril’s transition from college to the pros was not without challenges. In his rookie year, he played on an 0–16 team in Detroit. The family-oriented approach of college sports gave way to NFL’s big business. “The turnover rate is really high, and you quickly learn that the guy in the locker next to you might not be there for long,” he says.
Avril says two Super Bowl appearances (they lost in a last-minute heartbreak to New England in 2015) came directly from the grinding hard work of football. As good as it felt to win the first — stampeding Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos — it felt just as bad losing the second. Still, playing on the biggest stage in consecutive championships illustrates a remarkable reversal of fortune in going from winless in Detroit to seemingly unstoppable in Seattle.
Payback mission
After rehabbing himself back to health, Avril stays busy in football retirement. Part of the Cliff and Puck radio show duo in Seattle, he also mentors some of the young Seahawks linemen. And he frequently puts his Purdue degree to work looking for other business opportunities. With his wife and their two sons, 3 and 7, Avril is happy living in Seattle’s lush greenery: “One of the most beautiful places on Earth,” he says.
He started his foundation with a twofold mission: to combat juvenile diabetes and improve the educational system in Haiti. Both causes are deeply rooted in family history, as his Haitian grandmother and several family members suffered from diabetes. Additionally, the foundation provides mobile health clinics throughout rural areas of Haiti. After Hurricane Matthew, which devastated Haiti in 2016, Avril promised to build a new home there for each sack he made. He kicked in a little extra, financing 12 homes after managing 11.5 sacks that year.
Through the educational component, Avril believes he can promote transformational change in Haiti. “Education is the one thing you can’t take away from someone,” he says. “It’s a chance to get kids on the right track.”
Marshawn Lynch, a former Seahawk teammate, connected Avril with another charity foundation that led him to some of the poorest communities in Haiti. Lynch and Michael Bennett, another teammate, visited the schools as they were getting final coats of paint in spring 2017.
“They thought it was amazing,” Avril says. “A lot of guys do great work in their own communities. But it’s pretty special to go to another country and understand the culture and history of a place. It’s also great to meet hardworking and resilient Haitians.”
In honoring his father, Avril believes these rebuilt schools reflect the man’s character. “My father said that no matter what the circumstances are, things could always be worse,” Avril says. “But you always have a chance to give back, too.”
In this next chapter of his life, Avril is committed to furthering good works in the world — something he feels obligated to pass down to his sons, who may or may not play football, though not before high school. “I didn’t grow up the way my parents grew up, and my sons aren’t growing up the way I grew up,” he says. “It’s important to understand how blessed we are.”
That building legacy, grounded in humble kindness, has made its way from Haiti to Florida to Seattle. For members of the Avril family, both passed and still striving, it’s a noteworthy way to be.