Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Editor’s Note: This feature originally ran on February 26, 2025 in the 2025 Progress edition (Chambers County Is…). The Progress edition is a publication produced annually by the Valley Times News. If you would like to pick up a copy of the 2025 Progress edition, please visit our office at 4002 20th Ave Suite E in Valley.

You would be hard-pressed to find someone in Chambers who doesn’t know, or at least doesn’t know of, the Storys. There is Krissie Story, who coaches Lanett Volleyball and owns and operates a daycare, the Learning Treasure Preschool, in the area. The oldest son Kristian was Mr. Football Alabama and plays at Kentucky and the younger son Caden is playing for Clemson. 

But if it weren’t for Clifford, husband to Krissie and father to Kristian and Caden, the Story name may not have been synonymous with the city of Lanett. 

“I was coaching at Auburn High High School, and this job came open,” Clifford said. “I just wanted to see what the interview process was like to become the head coach. And I interviewed for it, and I ended up being one of the finalists. And then I came back for a second interview, and they offered me his job.”

He came to the front office to meet with the Athletic Director, Superintendent and board before being confirmed for his first head coaching position. 

“They just made me feel welcome, feel at home…I saw the board members. Miss Gwen Harris Brooks, she hired me in high school…she was one of the supervisors in the mill, and so she gave me my first job,” he said. “I just knew then that it was God sent.”

That was in 2009. Since then, he has led Lanett to two state football championships, fostered other programs as the athletic director, and helped send athletes to FBS and other top-tier schools. His accomplishments have not gone unacknowledged by the district. In February 2024, Lanett City Schools approved a recommendation to name the high school’s football field in his honor. 

“I saw a need, and I knew the kind of person that I am. I just knew that I could come here and make an impact…Growing up, I had a lot of respect for Lanett. That was our biggest rival when I was in high school. So, I wanted to be a part of this program. And I always knew that they had a lot of good athletes. They had good support from the city,” he said. 

He was born and raised in LaFayette and played for the Bulldogs before attending Jacksonville State. His transition from a Bulldog to a Panther was fairly smooth. 

“I’m Panthers, 150 percent.  I go against the Bulldogs when we play Lanett, that’s the only time I go against them. I’m still invested there. My parents live there. I got land there and hope to go back there one day. But, you know, it’s just one of those things, when you get a job, you just fall in love with the people in the community, and that’s where you become invested. I still love LaFayette. It’s all love. [My family] understands,” he laughs. 

Despite being the most successful coach in the city’s history, coaching was not a part of the plan. 

“I originally wanted to be a physical therapist…I was working for this clinic, and I just couldn’t continue to put [patients] through that kind of pain,” he said. “I remember, I was dealing with this old lady, and she had just had back surgery…[She] had to come in and start physical therapy and break up all that scar tissue. And she was just crying, telling me she was hurting. And so I looked at my supervisor. He was like, you just got to keep going. I couldn’t do it.”

It was soon after that when he got a call from his former Defensive Coordinator at Jacksonville State.

“He was the head football coach at Weaver High School and asked me to come and help. I fell in love with the game,” Clifford said. 

He coached at a couple of schools, including down the road at Auburn High School, before seeing Lanett was hiring. The rest was football history. After 14 years in charge, he announced in 2023 that he would be stepping down as coach. 

“I really didn’t want to leave. I just had to make the best decision for my family. I had Kristian playing at Alabama at the time, Caden was playing at Clemson, and so it was taxing on my body,” he said. “The way I coach, I didn’t want to short change Lanett, so I want to give somebody an opportunity to be able to come in and give them everything that they could give them.”

He continues to serve as the Athletic Director and Director of Transportation and Safety for Lanett City Schools. But, now he has time to travel to see his sons play at the college level. 

Just because he stepped down from one role, does not mean Clifford is not still a fixture in the community. 

“I’m very active in my church. We do a lot within the community. I do a lot of speaking at churches. I talk to youth a lot…With the success I was able to have on the field, for me to be able to get student-athletes to the next level. I’ve learned a little bit on how to touch kids, how to reach kids, so that’s my passion,” he explained. 

The Lanett coach said it doesn’t just go for kids in the city but across the county and area. 

“I always try to be a helping hand in whatever way I can. I help clean up the community…When we have the net cleanup day, I load up a bus of kids…We help the Fuller [Center] projects, build houses,” Clifford said. “So I’m just investing in it, I’m not gonna be here if I wasn’t all in.”

Sports are still a big part of his and his family’s lives. Kristian is in his final year of eligibility and is talking with NFL teams. Caden is making waves at Clemson. Krissie just finished another successful season as the Volleyball coach. Clifford said he talks with his successor as head coach, RJ McDonald, often offering guidance and advice where he can. It is clear when he talks that Clifford believes in the power of sports to lift up a community. 

The coach said he stays in the city because of how special it is. 

“This is a great community. I just want people to really understand, don’t base what we are now and think that’s who we are. Because if they invest in us and they bring their kids here and help grow the community, and everybody comes together,” he said. “Bring some positive to the table and some ideas to help us grow…Put some of it in action, and just see what we can be.”

“When things get hard, people want to quit. But sport is one of those things that you will have its highest and you will have its lowest, but if you do the thing that you are supposed to do, your high is gonna outweigh your lowest,” he explained. But you just gotta be willing to put in the work.”

He said he always tells his athletes, “When I start caring more about you caring, then that’s a problem because if you want to be successful, then these are the things it’s going to take…What you do now will affect you later.” 

When asked who best exemplifies the area, Clifford struggled. He said many people are working to progress Lanett and the Greater Valley Area. Some names he mentioned were Tifton Dobbs, owner of Dobbs Transportation; Kelsey Barnes, who is featured in this year’s progress for his ministry and community work; Dr. Bertha Hodge, pastor of OH Ministries; Tre McCants, a teacher at Lanett High School; and LCS Superintendent Jennifer Boyd. One name stood out, however.

“My wife, [Krissie Story] is the owner of a daycare right here, Learning Treasure Preschool,” Clifford said. I’ve seen kids walking through those doors…when they left, they had learned all their sight words. They had learned everything they needed to do to progress to the next level. Those things are important. You know, when you lay the foundation early, it means a lot, especially for a kid.”

Clifford and the Storys will always be tied to Lanett, and he’s just fine with that. 

“For me to leave this place, it’s gonna have to be something tremendously special…I don’t want to leave,” he said. “This is a great community.”