GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – Cliff Avril made a special delivery on Thursday to his high school — pizza for the whole staff at Clay High School.
While Avril retired from the NFL last year, he remains plugged in to his community. Clay High athletic director Jay Stilianou said that Avril stays in touch and reaches out from time to time. On Thursday, he said Avril called up and asked if he could provide lunch to the staff.
👀 what @cliffavril did today. Provided 🍕🍕 for all the teachers at Clay High.
— Clay High Football (@ClayHSFootball) May 23, 2019
Why??? In Cliff’s words “it’s a small gesture for all the hard work they do”@CFreemanJAX @JustinBarneyTV @MiaOBrienTV @Seahawks @Sports4Jax pic.twitter.com/mnNwn3DY51
“Cliff does stuff like that all the time, cleats, gloves, things like that, people just don’t know because he doesn’t say anything, he’s not a peacock, strutting around and showing his feathers, he has always done things for the right reasons,” Stilianou said. “Cliff is a great person, absolutely awesome. He’s everything you would want from someone who’s gone on and represented your school and your community.”
Avril was a star in multiple sports at Clay, but his best was football. He graduated in 2004 and signed with Purdue.
Avril played in the NFL for 10 seasons, his best years coming with the Seahawks. He was a third-round pick by Detroit in 2008 and went on to sign with Seattle as a free agent in 2013.
He helped it win the Super Bowl in his first season with the Seahawks and was a Pro Bowler in 2016. Avril suffered a neck injury in 2017, and that would ultimately force his retirement. Avril finished his career with 299 tackles, 74 sacks and 29 forced fumbles.
Avril will host his sixth annual Family Fun Day at Clay High on June 23 from 1 to 5 p.m.