You don't normally see the Big East's all-time rushing leader working at the YMCA of Kanawha Valley.
You don't normally see the 2009 Grey Cup MVP there.
Nor do you see WVU's all-time rushing leader.
"Unless," said Avon Cobourne, who is all of the above, "if your wife is from Charleston."
Indeed, thanks to an assist from the former Rebecca Courts, a proud graduate of Capital High, Avon is calling. He's calling, that is, Charleston home.
Cobourne is working full-time in the Capital City after giving up a job as a running backs coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He's now the YMCA's membership and marketing director, but with a wide berth to work with kids.
And what a wealth of experience he has to pass on to the Kanawha Valley's youth.
"This all started about two years ago," Cobourne said. "I was working with [now deceased] Obi Henderson and he kept saying, 'You need to come help me with some of these kids.' I'd do some things, though, and have to leave to coach. ... I didn't want to get super-committed because I'd have to leave. That's what's happening to young people around here. People come into their lives and then they leave."
Cobourne, however, took a pay cut not to leave, but to arrive. Now, he's not only anchored in his beloved United States, he's doing what he's always wanted - helping with a community.
"That's something I've wanted to do since going to the NFL and having a platform to reach young people," Cobourne said. "I'm done with excuses. I want to help other people. I'm all in."
As he was on the football field. Go ahead, check the stats. Atop WVU's all-time rushing list you'll find 1. 5,164, Avon Cobourne, 1998-2002. That's ahead of Pat White (4,480), Noel Devine (4,315), Amos Zereoue (4,086), Steve Slaton (3,923) and "The King" Artie Owens (2,648).
Check the final Big East football records. Again you'll find Cobourne No. 1 - ahead of ex-Rutgers star Ray Rice. ("That will NEVER be broken," said Cobourne with pride). Indeed, about the only applicable WVU rushing mark Cobourne doesn't own is the single-season record of 1,744 yards held by Slaton. Cobourne had 1,710 in 2002.
"I'm still upset Coach [Rich Rodriguez] put Steve back in the game," Cobourne laughed.
Cobourne, now 38, fondly remembers his days in Morgantown. That 2002 season marked the greatest one-year turnaround in Big East history, from 3-8 in Rodriguez's first season at WVU to 9-4. Quarterback Rasheed Marshall and Cobourne were at the center of it.
"The biggest moment for me was in our last home game, against Boston College," Cobourne said. "I broke the record [then held by Zereoue] and the fans lifted me up. My teammates threw Gatorade on me. That was my best moment. Having all my teammates and the fans on the field lifting me up and chanting, 'Avon, Avon.' I remember it vividly."
Cobourne's road to that moment, however, wasn't paved. His childhood was difficult and his rising star as a football player fell in high school because of an ACL injury. He held offers out of Holy Cross High in New Jersey from schools like Notre Dame and Tennessee before they were pulled.
"That ACL though was a blessing in disguise," Cobourne said. "If I didn't tear my ACL I'd probably have gone to Tennessee. But the same year I came out, Jamal Lewis came out. He was a Pro Bowl [NFL] back."
WVU's Don Nehlen, however, took a chance on Cobourne.
"One of Coach Nehlen's assistants once told me, 'You know why you got the scholarship? Your high school coach was Tom Madiera, who [had been a graduate assistant] for Coach Nehlen. He said you'd be back.'"
The record books show the faith was repaid. Yet Cobourne had struggles ahead. Despite all the yardage, he went undrafted in 2003 but did make Steve Mariucci's Detroit Lions team (along with other ex-Mountaineers James Davis and Barrett Green). At 5-foot-8 and with less-than-blazing speed, however, he was soon in NFL Europe with the Cologne Centurions.
"I think I still would have been successful [in the NFL] were I more mature," Cobourne said. "The lesson I learned from the NFL I took to the CFL. I could have had a 10-year career in the NFL - maybe not at running back, but on special teams - but I wasn't mentally prepared. I'd never been a backup or played special teams."
With Detroit in 2003, he had 10 carries for 27 yards.
"On the field I always gave 100 percent," Cobourne said. "But I wanted to be the star and sometimes you have to bide your time and do what you need to do. I left Detroit because I was immature and wanted to play and didn't think I'd have an opportunity even though I was playing special teams and the coach loved me."
Finally, though, the light came on, and in Canada, with the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Cobourne thrived.
"I played special teams," he said. "They wanted me to play defense, so I played [weak-side linebacker] for a year. I'd never played defense in my life. As an all-time leading rusher you can understand how humbled I was. I'd learned, though, when one door closes, another opens."
That door flew wide open at the end of 2007 when he returned to running back. He became the Alouettes' starter there in 2008 and finished with 1,557 all-purpose yards. He was a Canadian Football League All-Star in 2009 and was named the Grey Cup MVP.
"That [MVP] honor I give to all my teammates," he said. "That game was one of the games of the century. It was one of the great Grey Cups ever. We were down 17 at halftime. We kept fighting and it went down to the last kick. We missed the kick, but they had too many men on the field, so we had another opportunity. We kicked it in."
Montreal defeated Saskachewan 28-27 that day.
So Cobourne knows about perseverance. He knows about discipline. He knows how to learn lessons. He knows how to bide time and make the most of opportunities.
Like the one ahead of him in Charleston. Cobourne can affect change in the Kanawha Valley's youth by teaching what he's learned.
"That's the reason I'm so passionate about this," Cobourne said. "The first thing is I'll have their ear because of my past, the NFL, the CFL, and the hardware to catch their attention. And then I can bring everything else to the table.
"That's a beautiful thing."
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.