By Marcy Anderson Sanford
In May 2005, Clarence Swearengen was in a very low place. He had been through a divorce two years earlier, and his father’s health was declining. He knew that he was about to lose his job coaching at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee, with Buzz Peterson. Up to this point, he had experienced great success as an All -SEC basketball player for the University of Tennessee and professional basketball player in Europe and as a coach at University of Tennessee and the University of Memphis; however, at that moment, his life was looking very bleak, and he consoled himself with drugs and alcohol and spiraled out of control. But, as they say, “When one door closes, another one opens,” and for Clarence it was his now wife (Rhonda) who stood in support of him and the guidance of his professional mentor, David Dowling, and his friends, Bert Bertelkamp and Wayne Booker, that helped him through his darkest time and guided him through a new door. One which would result in him inspiring young people and helping them to live their best lives, no matter what obstacles they face.
He started volunteering at Knox County Schools, became a substitute teacher, then full-time teacher, administrator and is now the Talent Acquisition Specialist for Knox County Schools. Along the way he started a mentoring program to help students in need navigate the hardship and challenges they face. It started with four students at Vine Middle School. Today Clarence’s Real Talk Mentoring Inc. program is offered at 10 different schools and has helped more than 10,000 Knox County students.
Students attend before school to hear mentors talk about their lives, the challenges they’ve faced and how they overcame them. Students also get to go on field trips to colleges, the Oak Ridge National Lab and local businesses. “We want to expose young people to the opportunity to dream,” said Clarence. “We want them to know that they can do anything they put their mind to. Anything is possible.”
“Most of the kids in the program don’t have a father at home, or at least one parent is in jail or on drugs, or both parents might be gone, and they are being raised by an aunt or grandmother. The reason I started Real Talk Mentoring was to make sure that I give students the opportunity to dream bigger, to expose them to college and to let them know that they have the same opportunities as anyone else, but they must connect themselves with the right people. Many of our speakers have been through very dark days, but they found Christ, connected with like-minded people who wanted them to succeed, and now they are professionals, business owners and pastors. We want the kids in our program to see what success looks like amid all the other challenges they are dealing.”
“I almost lost my life because of drugs and alcohol. I want to make sure that kids know that it doesn’t matter what you go through, that everyone, with the right person pointing them in right direction, can do anything they want to do.”
One of the first students to go through the program, Pacifique Bauvgameshi, has since graduated from the University of Chicago, and is now living in New York City and working at Goldman Sachs. “I met Mr. C when I was in sixth grade at Vine Middle School. I thought I wanted to be an athlete, because that is what is shown on TV and in the media. Real Talk Mentoring was a gateway into the life I’m currently living because he brought in leaders that showed us it was possible to live a good life without being a professional athlete. It gave us a sense of community built around black men and young black boys who didn’t necessarily have those role models in our households,” said Pacifique.
“Mr. C. built that community. I remember going to visit college campuses and how that sparked my entrepreneur journey. Real Talk literally changed my life. I don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t had it. When I look back at my friend group, all of us that went to Real Talk, all ended up at college. It was such a huge role in the men we became, and it changed my life and the trajectory of my life and my friends’ lives.” And as long as he can, Clarence will continue to do just that - build community, change lives and inspire young people to become the best versions of themselves, making the world a better place.