Today we’d like to introduce you to Darrion Clinton.
Hi Darrion, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
For most of my life, I was known as a basketball player. I always had dreams and aspirations of being a professional athlete like every other kid similar to me. Throughout my school years, basketball was all I knew. I did not know how to do anything else. I was always a good student, but I knew all I needed to do was the bare minimum to pass and be eligible to play basketball, which led me never to explore my full potential in the classroom. During my senior year of high school, my basketball season was a roller coaster. It consisted of many highs and lows, but I had a goal to be a D1 collegiate athlete. So I “ENDURED” the mental, physical, and emotional challenges of being a high school athlete, competing for a D1 athletic scholarship. As my high school year prolonged, I picked up some small interest from D1 colleges, but not enough interest for them to give me an official offer. As the year prolonged, my basketball dreams slowly deteriorated, and I was losing hope in receiving a college offer, but I continued to “ENDURE.” We got to the end of the season, I still had no college offers, and it got to a point where I would be talking to the U.S. Marines recruiters every once in a while when they visited our school because I felt as if I was running out of options, until one day my basketball coach called me and told me that a junior college was interested and they were ready to offer me. After the first junior college interest came, another one came indirectly. I visited both schools, and they offered me a scholarship. It wasn’t the Division 1 offer that I aspired to, but I looked at it as a stepping stone and was excited to get another opportunity to play the game I love. The plan was to do two years of junior college and transfer to a division 1 school. I committed to one of the junior colleges. Signing my letter of intent was one of the best days of my life. That day I noticed that I beat the statistics, giving me a sense of pride. I started my first year of college optimistic and excited about what the year would bring. My confidence was sky-high, and I felt like I could conquer anything. I came in thinking I would be the star player on the team averaging 20 points a game, but little did I know it would be challenging, and everyone on my team had the same mindset. College basketball is a huge transition from high school basketball. It changed from a game of love to a business game, and I wasn’t mature enough to handle it. That season as a freshman, I only averaged three minutes a game at the max. I felt like my talent was being wasted, but looking back on it, I noticed they weren’t wasted. They were being developed and saved, but being young and immature, I couldn’t see that waiting my turn was a part of the process. I had no patience, so I decided to transfer schools.
I transferred to another Juco in North Carolina. This was the fresh start I needed. The school was smaller, but it was good because they cared about their athletes more. I came in that year feeling unstoppable like I did my first year. It all started well for me. I was playing well and being recruited by some of the top Division 2 programs, but my mind was still on playing Division 1 basketball. My sophomore season was good but not good enough to pick up a Division 1 offer. I decided to commit to a Division 2 school in West Virginia. Still, being the stubborn person I am and always betting on myself, I decided to de-commit from that same school shortly after, aspiring to pick up a D1 offer. That summer after my sophomore season, I attempted to find a Division 1 school to attend. However, the thing is, I still had a few more college credits to receive to Achieve my Associate’s degree.
I was fortunate to get advice from a high major division 1 basketball coach. He told me that returning to junior college and achieving my AA degree would give me the luxury of being accepted to any School I wanted to attend. So I took his advice and returned to my junior college, not as a player, but as a manager for the basketball team. This was my first time taking a step away from my dear love. I took a year off from playing basketball to acquire my associate’s degree. So by becoming manager of the college basketball team I once played for. I went from being a starter on the team the previous year to washing sweaty uniforms, carrying heavy equipment, recording games, and doing any other chores a team manager has to do. I didn’t look at it as a bad thing, though, because in exchange, I was getting a free education and housing, and I had a free gym to workout in to perfect my craft at basketball, so when I did return to the game, I would be more than ready. While working on my degree, I worked on my game just as much. I lived in the gym. I sometimes put up 1000 shots daily, resulting in my fingertips starting to bleed because I was shooting so much. I was obsessed with the game, I wanted to become as good as possible, and I did. During that year, I became the best basketball player I have ever been in all my years of playing. A few more Division 2 schools offered me a scholarship to play for their program, but I turned them down. I had tunnel vision on playing Division 1 basketball. Even though I worked on my game 24/7, I was still considered a regular student because I technically wasn’t on a team. Honestly, it felt good being a regular student. It was very refreshing, and I could explore new areas of my mind in my free time.
Fast forward to the end of the school year. I had conquered my associate’sassociate’s degree. The next step was to find a college to attend and play for. That summer, a big exposure camp was coming up for basketball players to play in front of college coaches with the potential of picking up an offer. I planned to attend the camp and pick up the D1 offer I had been working for. This camp was going to be my big break. I was at the top of my game And had all the academic requirements that I needed. I felt that unstoppable feeling again, but suddenly I was hit with a left hook. That left hook was Covid-19. I caught the virus and was forced to quarantine for two weeks. The thing about the two-week quarantine was that it overlapped the same week that the exposure camp was supposed to be, quickly crumbling my master plan. So I sat in my room surrounded by four walls for two weeks.
In that two-week time frame, I emailed over 50 different d1 programs, wondering how I could get a spot on their team, and I have yet to receive a response from any of them. Time was going by slowly, and I needed something to do to pass it by, so I started to write a book. I thought it was impossible until I started to do it. My book’s name is “More,” It will be released in the Summer of 2023. Starting to write my book in this period was the shift of me becoming a creator and made me realize that I could do whatever I put my mind to. I went through the summer still waiting for an opportunity to come my way, but nothing ever came. The summer flew by in a blink of an eye, and it was a week and a half left until the fall semester started back, and I did not have a school to attend. This was a puzzling time in my life. I had two options: either I could quit and let all my hard work go to waste, or I could “ENDURE.” I chose to “ENDURE.” I was short on time, so I had to devise a plan quickly. I sat in my thoughts, trying to figure out my next move. As I explored my thoughts, I revisited my conversation with the high major D1 coach. I remember he said once I got my associate’s degree, I would be eligible to attend any school. A low-major Division 1 school was 30 minutes from my house and was the University Of South Carolina Upstate. So I took the initiative and called the admissions office, and they told me everything I needed to get admitted to the school. I scrambled together everything that was required. It was a hassle, but I got the job done, and within a week, I was admitted into the University Of South Carolina upstate. So here I am, sitting in a classroom of a division 1 school. I was on the right track to making my dream come true. I “Endured” all of the trials and tribulations, the bleeding fingertips from shooting so many jump shots, the sweaty washing jerseys, the long hours studying, overcoming a virus, and so on. I made it through it all, I felt unstoppable at this point, but the job wasn’t done yet. I still wasn’t on a basketball team. So I planned to attend the basketball tryouts, make the team as a walk-on, and earn a scholarship. I’ve been working on my game for a year and felt more than ready. On my first day on campus, I immediately went to find the coach’s office once my classes were finished. The campus was small, so his office was easy to find. I walked into the building where it was located with my head held high and a robust posture. Here I was, feeling that unstoppable feeling again.
I met with the coach and told him who I was and my plan of trying out for the team. He asked me a few questions about myself, and I answered. Once we got more acquainted, he told me there wasn’t a set date for tryouts yet and that I should check back in with him in a week. From that point, I visited his office once a week for a month and a half. Every time I returned, the date still needed to be set. In the meantime, I was still working on my game, ensuring I was prepared for my time. One day a coach texted me from a small school in Mississippi. He told me they had a spot for me on their team, and there was still time to transfer to their school. I still hoped the tryouts would happen for USC Upstate, so I declined his offer. Then one day, all the hope that I had was crushed. I went to the coach’s office to ask him about the tryouts again with the optimism that I would get the answer I wanted, but instead, he said there would be no tryouts for the team this year due to Covid-19 restrictions. I was devastated; all my hard work and dedication went down the drain, or at least I felt like it did. I dwelled on my shortcomings for a day or two, but the “Endurance” in my spirit kept me going, and I thought of my next move quickly. I decided to reach out to the basketball coach from the college in Mississippi. I told him my situation, and he was still willing to have me. He told me all these great things about the school, and it’s basketball program. It made me excited to go. It was mid-semester upstate, but that didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to hoop. When I look back on it, that was a poor mindset, but you aren’t living life if you don’t take risks. So I dropped all my classes upstate, sent all my transcripts to the college in Mississippi, got admitted, bought the earliest plane ticket, and was out.
I arrived at the school in Mississippi ready to show what I could do. Within a week, I practiced with the team and enrolled in my classes. My major was Business Administration, and I had three classes that semester. I was playing pretty well, and it felt good to be back on the court, but something still wasn’t right. Not being a college athlete for a year allowed me to see a vision of endless possibilities beyond the game of basketball. I was already in the process of writing my first book. I wondered what else I could do outside of basketball. I loved music, so I came up with the idea of starting my record label, but what would I call this record label? I thought about words that described my character, and the one word that resonated with me was “Endure.” Endure records were the seed of this blossoming flower. I shortly noticed that just a “record label” had limitations. I wanted to do more. I wanted to create a platform that uplifts under-the-radar individuals, and I knew I could do that by hosting events where upcoming artists could perform, and there were plenty of more things that I wanted to do, like write books, produce movies, and more. So I concluded that a record label wasn’t exactly what I needed. So I sat on the idea while I continued to get ready for my first basketball season back. As I got acclimated to the school, I slowly noticed how unorganized, dysfunctional, and unprofessional it was. Many of the great things the coach told me about the school weren’t aligned. I don’t want to go into much detail on how bad this school was, but there were days that I wasn’t eating, the living conditions were horrible, and the list of bad treatment goes on, but I felt like God put me there for a reason. I continued playing basketball and ignored all the negative energy surrounding me. At the same time, I was still brainstorming about my new forming business, “Endure.” Whenever I thought about what I would name it, I kept seeing the word “Pro” in my mind. So I googled words that started with the prefix “Pro,” and “Prosperity” was one of the words, which means “success.” So there I was, sitting at a desk in my dorm room, experimenting with my thoughts, and I came up with “Endure Prosperity”(Endure pro), which means we don’t stop at success for ourselves. We must conquer success for our friends, families, community, and world. Once I came up with the name, I immediately called my friend Nafee Rahnick, now my business partner. When I told him the name, I could tell that it sounded foreign to him. He liked it, though, and I have stuck with it since then.
I continued to go to basketball practice and prep for the upcoming season. I was trying to have a positive outlook on my situation but felt hindered. Sadly to say I was slowly losing my passion for basketball. I felt the longer I played basketball, the less I would grow mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I was imprisoned, and nobody could see it but me. I wanted out but had to find the courage to walk away from the game I love, but this time for good. I just needed an extra push to take that leap, and one day I got that push. As I said, I was enrolled in three classes, a few weeks passed by, and I only attended two of those classes because I had yet to receive an email from the third class teacher, nor did I ever get any direction where the class was. I brought this to my coach’s attention, and he investigated it, and it just happened that the third class they enrolled me in wasn’t even offered that semester. My coach told me not to worry about it and that I would automatically get an “A” for that class. It didn’t sound right to me, but I went with it. The season started, and I had a slow start in the first two games, but I started to figure things out by game three. Game four came around, and little did I know that was the last college game that I would ever play. I pulled my hamstring that game, so my minutes were limited, but my team won. That is all that matter to me at the time. My coach called me into his office a few days after our fourth game. He told me I was ineligible and could only play again once I finished my academics. I was ineligible because the third class that I never attended and wasn’t even offered that semester made me short of three credits that I needed to play. This was my first time not being able to play because of my academics. I was furious. Here I am with a pulled hamstring and one incomplete class. The hamstring was more bearable than the incomplete class. Being ineligible was burning a hole in my soul. So I was at a crossroads. Either I could stay and put in the work to get back on the court or pack my things, go home, and embark on a new journey. I prayed about it and talked to my family. Ultimately it came down to what I wanted in life. One day the team had an away game, and I had to stay back with the redshirts because I was ineligible. I went to the admissions office and dropped all my classes. I wasn’t ready to go home yet, so instead of me buying a plane ticket to South Carolina. I bought a ticket to New York City. One of my best friends lived there, and he wanted me to come so I could reset. So I packed all my bags and was on the first flight out to the big city.
I arrived in New York City, and it was a breath of fresh air. My friend I was staying with is a professional basketball player, so I saw life from a different point of view. I sat in his house, scarred mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually by everything I went through for the past 6 months chasing my hoop dreams. My friend had his chef cook me dinner, and I nearly cried once I took my first bite of the gourmet food. It showed me how frail I had gotten. My friend had practiced a lot, so I spent quite some time alone. When alone, I tend to gaze out the window, looking at the beautiful city of New York from the 32nd floor. The name “Endure Prosperity” was all I had at that moment, but all of the skyscrapers showed me the endless possibilities Endure Pro could have accomplished. So I wasted no time and started to build my business. From my journey, I noticed that we all have a purpose in life. So the goal is to find our purpose and make sure that every step we take in this voyage called life is towards our purpose.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Of course, there have been challenges. If one doesn’t have any challenges in their life, then 9 times out of 10, they live a complacent life. One challenge that I’ve had to overcome is making the necessary sacrifice for me to be in a position to grow. To get to my point in life right now, I have sacrificed time, relationships, and joy to a certain extent. The thing about it is that I am nowhere near where I want to be in life yet. I know many more sacrifices must be made to get there, and I am prepared to make the necessary sacrifices as long as they are morally straight.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Endure Pro?
Endure Prosperity, Endure Pro for short, is my business. Endure Pro is a full-service entertainment business. Our mission is to restore peace, harmony, happiness, and love into the Hearts of individuals through entertainment. We have produced our first show called “Off the Court Moves,” which you can find episodes on our website. We are about to host our second event in August 2023. “The Dreamer Expo” will be a networking event for the creative minds of Greenville, South Carolina, to connect, and we are looking to have our first book launch this year. We offer event planning, production, and brand-building services, and we also have a beauty care division called Lady Endure that offers lash, lip, and hair services.
What matters most to you?
My family and my personal growth are what matters most to me. My family matters so much to me because they are my motivation, they keep me going, and I want to pour life into them just as much as they pour life into me. My personal growth is at the top of my list, too, because I want to blossom into the full human being that I am supposed to be and enjoy the fruits of being the best version of myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.endure-pro.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/endure_pro?igshid=YWJhMjlhZTc=
