A story to tell
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The floor was open for anything Brent Venables wanted to talk about on this Saturday in late April of 2017.
A crowd of 380 people had gathered to support a fundraiser for Ripple of One, an initiative that empowers families to move beyond government assistance.
Stephanie Enders, founder of the program, sought out Venables to speak at the event after hearing he had a difficult childhood.
But Enders did not know the details of his story. And she had no idea Venables was going to talk about anything but football that day.
And talking about football would have been good enough. Venables' presence alone helped boost the profile of the event, to the point that it sold out five weeks before.
Plus, three months before Clemson had won a national championship. So the crowd would've been fully captivated had he chosen to reflect solely on a magical 2016 season.
Nothing about football was mentioned over the 30-plus minutes Venables was at the microphone.
That night, Venables told the condensed version of the story you have read this week as told to Tigerillustrated.com.
The father who left the family when Venables was a 2-year-old, the youngest of three boys. The succession of stepfathers who were physically and mentally abusive as his mother tried to get by.
The government cheese, the food stamps, the regular occurrences of the electricity and water being turned off when he was growing up in Salina, Kan.
Losing his mother and fourth stepfather to cancer within a three-month period in 2005. In 2011, losing his oldest brother Kirk and a beloved Oklahoma football player within a 24-hour period -- one to alcohol, the other to opioids.
For years, Venables kept most of these details to himself. He shared bits and pieces of his story during devotionals with the Clemson football staff, but the full story? He wasn't ready for that.
By April of 2017, Venables had reached the pinnacle when his defense played a major role in Clemson getting past Alabama in Tampa. He'd become one of the top assistants in the game.
And he was also in a good place personally. Dabo Swinney and Clemson had given him the stability he so craved all his life, but also the opportunity for personal and spiritual growth.
So when he was contacted about the possibility of speaking at the Ripple of One event, he decided this was the time.
And there was really no doubt in his mind, no hesitation.
"I felt compelled to share," he said. "I believed that if my mom had the same opportunity of hope, belief, confidence and guidance that Ripple of One provides, then her life wouldn't have been near as hard or abusive."
Here's Enders' summation of what the Seneca-based Ripple of One is all about: "Empowering families to move beyond government assistance and into their full, God-given potential."
The fruition of this is complicated, though, because often getting a job and going off government assistance means bringing in less money than when you were unemployed. In 2010, Enders came up with an idea that fuses financial literacy, accountability, mentoring and tailored incentives for clients who become employed.
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-- Our FREE extended preview of The Story Of Brent Venables
Venables' mother Nancy needed a lot of this when she was accepting the wickedness of abuse in exchange for the financial stability provided by stepfathers who came and went.
The central theme to Venables' message that night was that without a test, there's no testimony.
"So many of these families get in that same rut," he told the crowd. "'There's no way for us. I don't deserve it. I'm not capable of it. I'm not smart enough. Who's going to watch my kids? Who's going to pay for my home? I can't leave this abusive relationship because he provides financial support, and my children need a father figure.'
"Many times it's the lack of belief, the lack of thinking the right thing, that paralyzes these families. Ripple of One is not only changing and positively affecting the lives of individuals, but it's impacting generations and communities both for years to come. Ripple of One is fuel for hope and belief in those families. The people representing Ripple of One bring out the very best qualities in its clients. You challenge them. You stretch them in ways they never thought they could be stretched. You've motivated them and inspired them."
He then looked at all the mothers in the crowd who might as well have been his mother all those years ago.
"You've got to bring the juice," he said. "Because if you don't, who will?"
And so Venables told his story for the first time that night. A group of almost 400 people were floored.
"He was very raw," Enders said. "Nobody expected it. He got choked up a couple of times, and I don't think he expected that. He brought home the 'why' of what we are trying to tell our clients. And I think he did it as much for himself as for our group. He finally got to share it.
"It was one of the most powerful testimonies I've ever heard. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, let's put it that way. His message was, 'We're all human. This is who we are. If I'd have had a Ripple of One in my family, it probably would've taken a different path.' He has walked in the shoes of our families."
When Enders first approached Venables about speaking to her group, he asked her to come to his office and educate him on the initiative. She arrived and, knowing he was a busy man, figured she had about five or 10 minutes. He shook his head and told her: No time limit. No deadline. Let's just talk.
Venables: "When I learned through Stephanie what they were about, I really felt my spirit telling me that I had to go speak and give my testimony. It was as though God was using me all along to help, to impact and to give a little hope while inspiring others to help Ripple of One.
"It only took 40-plus years, but God's timing is perfect."
A year later, another Clemson assistant coach with a wrenching but ultimately uplifting backstory came to the Ripple of One event as the keynote speaker.
Venables was there to introduce Tony Elliott.
"If you think my story was good," Venables told the crowd, "this one is going to knock your socks off."
Elliott didn't speak a word of football that night, either.
For more information about Ripple of One, go to www.rippleofone.org
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- The Story Of Brent Venables IV
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