The Rampage #4 March 2020

The Rampage

Artwork

20

Chris DeBerry

Finds His Calling at Bluefield College

by Kaleigh Compton

Communication • 2020

B luefield College senior Chris DeBerry originally came to Bluefield College to play football to prove himself to other schools who showed no interest in his football ability. When things did not go as planned, he proved himself in another area of life — creativity. A native of Richmond, VA, DeBerry is a communication major and graphic communication minor at BC. He agrees that his coming to a small town was a big change for him. “Originally it was really just because I wanted to ease the burden on my parents,” DeBerry said about his decision to attend Bluefield College. “I had other (football scholarship) offers, but they were out of state and it was more money to go there. I didn’t really know anybody at the other schools because they weren’t real big schools in the first place. I knew somebody that was here, and they had been trying to recruit me ever since I was a sophomore… I was like ‘okay, I guess I will go here.’” Despite making BC his choice for college, DeBerry admits it was initially just a temporary destination. “I never planned to be here for all four years,” he said. “I had other schools that basically wanted me to prove myself (in football) on this level first because I was undersized.” His plan was to transfer to Marshall University the following year, but after getting injured during his second week of training camp, his plans changed. “The worst part about it was, all I really had to do was not get injured,” DeBerry said. “I tore some ligaments in my ankle, so I was in a boot for a couple of weeks. I ended up twisting my ankle during a play, and I think I was out for three weeks.” When Marshall heard about the injury, they changed their mind on offering DeBerry a football scholarship. But even though he got injured, he was still able to earn a starting role for BC as a freshman. The younger players on the team were originally told they might not be spending a lot of time on the field, but that was subject to change after some of the older players got injured. “It ended up turning out to where we were playing a lot as freshmen,” DeBerry said. In addition to overcoming his football injury and the change of plans it caused, DeBerry said another major obstacle he has faced as a BC student has been dealing with isolation.

Chris DeBerry

“In Richmond, I had my family and my brothers. When I came here, the only person I knew ended up leaving the following year, and I was just like ‘wow,’” DeBerry said about feeling alone at BC. “When I first got here, my grandma had recently passed (away) and that was one of my closest family members. I just isolated myself in football, and I just played.” DeBerry said that after his freshman football season ended he began to question why he was still at BC. He said he spent a lot of time in reflection to find the answer to that question. “I then found my relationship with God again,” DeBerry said about his reflection time. “I decided to stick it out here. I was happy I ended up staying, because I got to build relationships. I just wanted to finish what I started here.” Recognizing his talents in his communication and graphic communication studies, the Town of Bramwell, WV, recently contacted DeBerry and asked him to make a promotional video of the town for an HGTV contest.