Pros vs. Joes No. 10: Boca Raton is home for Yvenson Bernard, but Oregon State remains close to his heart
The Bernards and their children — Legend, 6, and Major, 3 — moved from Tualatin to Yvenson’s hometown of Boca Raton, Fla., last fall (courtesy Yvenson Bernard)
Yvenson Bernard is no longer an Oregonian, but he’ll always be a Beaver.
That’s the message I got when I talked to the former Oregon State running back great, who will be one of the celebrities picking NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games in the “Pros vs. Joes” Bracket Challenge on kerryeggers.com.
“I would not have changed my college experience for anything,” Bernard says via phone from his native Boca Raton, a city of about 100,000 located on Florida’s southeastern coast. “I loved my time at Oregon State.”
Bernard, 37, wife Michelle and their two sons — Legend, 6, and Major, 3 — moved to Boca Raton five months ago from Tualatin, where the Bernards had lived for the previous three years. Since 2019, Yvenson (pronounced “Eh-ven-sun”) has worked as a financial advisor for Capstone Wealth Advisors of Salem.
During the pandemic, it became evident to Bernard that he could work from anywhere. A return to the sunny climes of the city in which he was raised was appealing.
“In our business, the world became Zoom,” he says. “I realized I didn’t need to be in the office. I could be remote. My clients are everywhere. Many of them are in Oregon, but a lot of them are in New York, California, Arizona … they’re spread all over the place.
“I fly back (to Oregon) every other month for a week to meet with clients there, but otherwise, I’m back in Florida now. Boca Raton is a great place to raise our kids, and I’m super happy with my career right now.”
Bernard’s previous job proved to be a great training ground for his current one. From 2015-19, he worked in fund-raising for the OSU Foundation.
“Doing that job forced me to come out of my shell,” he says. “I was used to people approaching me and starting any conversation. I never had to step out and say, ‘Hi, what’s your name? What do you do?’ It took me out of my comfort zone. My people skills developed. It opened up a lot of opportunities for me.”
One of the people Bernard met was former OSU punter Mike Fessler, a financial advisor for Edward Jones in Oregon City. Bernard worked with Fessler there for a year before moving over to Capstone.
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I covered Yvenson for the Portland Tribune during his years (2004-07) playing for Mike Riley, a 5-9, 205-pound mixture of toughness, durability, agility and a knack for hitting a hole at just the right time. During his career, he rushed for 3,862 yards (third on the school career list behind Ken Simonton and Jacquizz Rodgers) — and 38 touchdowns (fourth on the career list). Bernard was also an excellent receiver out of the backfield, catching 118 passes for 790 yards and three scores.
I know where Yvenson gets his hardiness. His parents, Yvens and Josette, were immigrants who came to Florida on a boat from Haiti in the mid-1970s.
“They met on the boat, connected and became a couple soon after that,” Yvenson says.
After settling in Boca Raton, Yvens did custodial work and Josette cleaned houses to begin with. After awhile, Yvens started work at a dry cleaners, and ended up owning the business and running it with his wife.
Those were humble beginnings for Yvenson and brother Giovani, seven years his junior. But the boys enjoyed a happy childhood nonetheless.
“My parents wanted my brother and me to grow up in a nice environment, in a place that was clean and where education was a priority,” Yvenson says. “I give a lot of praise to them for being willing to sacrifice to give us opportunities.”
Recently, Yvenson looked up his boyhood home on Zillow.
“I found out the tiny little house we lived in — 1,250 square feet — is valued at $1.2 million,” he says. “Couldn’t hardly believe it. Things have changed quite a bit since I was here growing up in the ’80s and ‘90s.”
Josette died of thyroid cancer in 1999, when Yvenson was 14. His father went through some tough times after that, at one point losing his business to bankruptcy.
Sports was a safe haven for the kids. After a fine two-sport high school career in Boca Raton (he was taken by Minnesota as an outfielder in the 30th round of the 2002 MLB draft), Yvenson followed safety Sabby Piscitelli — one year ahead of him in school — from Florida to join former Miami Hurricanes coach Dennis Erickson at Oregon State.
“I grew up a huge Hurricane fan,” Bernard says. “I fell in love with the style of offense Coach Erickson was running and with the coaching staff (at Oregon State); they were my kind of guys. I kind of had that ‘Miami attitude.’ Not to say I was cocky, but I believed in myself.”
Bernard was in Erickson’s last recruiting class with the Beavers. A week after the signing date, the coach left for the San Francisco 49ers. His predecessor at OSU, Mike Riley, was hired to succeed him.
“I was in the outfield shagging balls, and somebody yelled at me, ‘Your coach just left Oregon State,’ “ Bernard recalls. “I was like, ‘What?’ But I didn’t think about transferring. A commitment is a commitment.
“The first time we had a team meeting, Coach Riley opens his mouth and I was like, ‘You’re kidding.’ He sounded more like a math or biology professor than a college football coach. But I wouldn’t have changed anything. The dude is amazing. He has done everything and more for me. What a great time it was to be a part of the football program at Oregon State.”
It didn’t start great. During Bernard’s first year at OSU, junior Steven Jackson was the starting running back.
Bernard: “Crazy as it sounds, I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to beat him out.’ And no, I didn’t. It put me in my place a little bit.”
Bernard redshirted, then played sparingly the next season behind senior Dwight Wright. He rushed six times for 20 yards, caught two passes for 19 yards and returned a few punts and kickoffs.
I remember vividly talking with Riley during August training camp about the running back situation in 2005, Yvenson’s sophomore season. He was in competition with Jimtavis Walker — ironically a transfer from Florida — JC transfer Nate Wright and talented freshman Patrick Fuller at the position. At one point, Yvenson was running No. 3 on the depth chart.
But once he got rolling, Bernard was not to be stopped. He rushed for 1,321 yards and 13 touchdowns as a sophomore, 1,307 yards and 12 TDs as a junior and 1,214 yards and 13 scores while earning first-team All-Pac-12 honors as a senior. The Beavers were 3-0 in bowl games during his career; his final two teams went 10-4 and 9-4.
Yvenson will forever be remembered for the diving two-point conversion that beat Missouri 39-38 in the 2006 Sun Bowl. What he considers his career highlight, though, came in his final home game in 2007, a 28-23 win over Washington. With his father and brother among the 45,959 in the stands at Reser Stadium, Bernard carried 36 times for 154 yards in the victory over the Huskies.
“I remember being the last player introduced before the game,” Yvenson says. “The crowd went wild. The fans were so crazy for our team. Those stands were packed for every game. It was the first time my dad had ever seen me play live in college. It was the moment where my brother decided, ‘I want to play this game and make it big.’ ”
After rushing for 177 yards and earning Offensive Player of the Game honors in a 21-14 Emerald Bowl win over Maryland, Yvenson went undrafted in the NFL. The St. Louis Rams brought him to camp as a free agent but he failed the physical. Bernard wound up playing parts of three seasons with Winnipeg and Saskatchewan in the CFL, gaining 358 yards on 58 carries while catching 18 passes for 160 yards.
Bernard ranks third on Oregon State’s career rushing list behind only Ken Simonton and Jacquizz Rodgers (Courtesy OSU Athletics)
“But my heart wasn’t in it,” he says. “The CFL wasn’t where I wanted to be.”
Younger brother Giovani — at 5-9 and 205, the exact dimensions of Yvenson — got the chance to fulfill his promise after a fine career at North Carolina. Gio, 30, is a nine-year NFL veteran now playing for Tampa Bay after eight seasons in Cincinnati, where he became one of the best receiving backs in the league.
“I love it,” Yvenson says. “It’s fun to watch what he’s done. I’m so proud of him to be able to keep that thought of me not making it (to the NFL) in his head. I know he has always been, ‘I’m going to make it for my bro.’ He’s done that and more.”
After his CFL career ended, Yvenson returned to Corvallis and worked one year (2014) as a grad assistant for Riley. By that time, Yvenson was married to the former Michelle Williams, an Albany native whom he met during a foray at Tailgaters Sports Bar his senior year at OSU.
Yvenson Bernard and Michelle, his wife of eight years (courtesy Yvenson Bernard)
“Coaching was fun, but it’s a huge time commitment, and we were looking at beginning a family,” Bernard says.
Now Yvenson is working normal hours in financial consulting, which allows him to watch his oldest son play soccer games.
“Legend has been nominated to be in the All-Star Game, so he is doing well,” he says. “He’s playing baseball, too. I’m going to keep him out of football for probably two more years. I want him to just play flag football and enjoy the game at first.”
Bernard has been impressed with the work of current OSU football coach Jonathan Smith.
“I enjoyed watching them last season,” he says. “I went to three or four games, including a couple of road games. Jonathan is doing an amazing job. It’s fun to watch him coach. He has a passion for making sure former players are engaged and part of the program. That’s been a good thing to see.”
Over the past six years, Bernard has made an annual ritual of flying to Las Vegas to meet friends and enjoy the first weekend of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. He may go again this year.
“I go for the food and drinks,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t gamble. I watch my friends lose money.”
He’s not sure how he will do in the “Pros vs. Joes” competition, but he is eager to try.
“We’ll give it a shot,” he says. “I won’t disappoint.”
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