Kevin Clemens faced abject poverty as he grew up in Kankakee two decades ago.

He recalls sleeping on the kitchen floor with the oven turned on and the door pulled open. It was the only source of heat available in the place he lived.

These days, he enjoys a "very comfortable life'' working in the corrections field in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he lives with his wife and one child.

He has been in that line of work since 2008, when he ended a professional football career. He was a fullback for Jacksonville, Seattle and Philadelphia in the National Football League, and also played in the Arena Football League.

When asked what he attributes his meteoric rise in life to, Clemens answers without hesitation — his former football coach at Kankakee High School, Alec Anderson.

"He was the first positive male figure I ever had in my life,'' Clemens said. "He was the first person to ever talk to me about going to college. ''

Clemens was among many of Anderson's former players who were shocked to hear the news of his death. Anderson, 54, was found dead Wednesday night at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, where he served as athletic director. He was the victim of an apparent heart attack.

"I just kind of feel blank right now,'' Clemens said Thursday, hours after learning of Anderson's passing. "There is so much I wish I could have said to him.''

A 1994 graduate of Kankakee, Clemens most remembers his senior year when Anderson helped put him on a path to success. It's not a path Clemens necessarily embraced at first.

"I didn't want to go to college,'' he said. "I told him college was for smart people. But I liked him so much I didn't want to let him down.''

His mother, Gweneth Clemens, didn't own a car, so Anderson drove him to his college visits. Clemens first attended the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, then transferred to Grand Valley (Mich.) State.

Anderson didn't forget him after he left Kankakee. Clemens said he was astonished to see his old coach at his college games, and sometimes he brought Gwenethalong so she could watch her son play.

Clemens admits he and Anderson made somewhat of an odd couple, and the same held true for his Kankakee teammates.

"We were all black, and he was a white coach who wore cowboy boots and a 10-gallon hat,'' Clemens said. "We couldn't have been more from different sides of the fence.

"He was tough on us, but we knew there was a reason. We knew he cared.''