http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/285727.html
49er's Smith says 'You need to stay hungry'
Quarterback is committed to his work with foster children and to winning games.
By Matthew Barrows - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 1:14 am PDT Sunday, July 22, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
SAN DIEGO - The San Pasqual Valley at the northernmost edge of this sprawling city must look like it did 100 years ago. One-lane roads curve around lush citrus groves. Homemade signs at makeshift stands advertise tomatoes, strawberries, avocados, and - here's something you might not have seen in 1907 - ostrich eggs and ostrich jerky.
Aside from the wild animal park and the site of a skirmish in the Mexican-American War, there's not much to see. It's a rare piece of Southern California time and bulldozers have forgotten.
Two years ago, in the midst of what had to have been the most exhilarating week of Alex Smith's life, you would have found him winding his way through this lonely valley.
It was six days after San Francisco made him the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. He had just become an instant celebrity and a guaranteed millionaire. Indeed, he would be one of the wealthiest 21-year-olds in the country when he signed his name to a contract three months later.
Why wasn't he throwing a lavish party or buying himself a fancy new ride? Why, just days after shaking hands with then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue amid a lightning burst of strobe lights in New York City, was he driving through a quiet agricultural valley with nary a camera crew in sight? To best understand the player who, more than any other 49er, is responsible for trying to guide the team back to the playoffs this season, you first must meet his parents, an Idaho-raised couple who worked hard before their son became famous and who work even harder two years later.
Pam Smith, who accompanied Alex on his trip into the San Pasqual Valley that day, is deputy director of health and human services for San Diego County and is a well-respected champion of two all-too-easily-discarded groups: foster children and the elderly.
Doug Smith is the principal of Helix High School, which in football circles is famous for producing Alex Smith and New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush. Among educators, it is better known for sending kids from the gritty and ethnically diverse La Mesa area to college at a rate of 85 percent.
On the office wall above his desk, the man who raised the 49ers' franchise quarterback has arranged black and white posters from Apple's "Think Different" ad campaign -- Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, Jane Goodall and Wynton Marsalis. Twenty feet away, on the far end of the office, there's a much smaller picture of Doug and Alex minutes after the quarterback led Helix to its second high school championship in 2001. It nearly disappears when someone opens the door.
Mike Murphy, a family friend since Alex was 5, said football always was a part of the Smith household. But it was no more important than oldest daughter Abbey's softball games or youngest daughter MacKenzie's soccer.
"I don't think football was the most important thing. Ever," Murphy said. "Pam still jokes about wanting to send Alex to Harvard because she didn't think there was any future in this."
What the Smiths soon realized was that few recent Harvard graduates would have brighter futures -- and more influence -- than their son. And shortly after he was drafted, Alex Smith began to wonder how he could parlay his popularity into something worthwhile, something bigger than the game he played.
The answer came on his drive into the valley.
* * *
His destination was the San Pasqual Academy, which, tucked into the base of towering foothills and surrounded by venerable rose bushes, looks like a thriving vineyard or the type of place well-heeled couples might rent out for a wedding. In fact, it's a first-of-its-kind school for foster students from San Diego County. Opened in 2001, 135 students live, work and take classes on the 238-acre campus. In addition, about 16 retirees -- Pam Smith's touch -- pay reduced rent and in exchange provide a nurturing environment and a sense of constancy, both of which the students never have had.
Alex Smith was supposed to spend an hour or so. Instead he spent the day.
One of the things that captured his imagination was the school's eight-on-eight football team, which had enjoyed great success in the San Diego region, including wins against its polar opposite, La Jolla Country Day.
But another contrast was more compelling.
Smith was 20 years old at the time of his visit. The students were just a couple of years younger. He could relate. Then again, he couldn't.
He had been raised in a strong family, after all, and he knew that despite all the success his career might bring, he would rely on his parents for years to come.
Like all foster children, the students at San Pasqual would be cut off from their de facto parents, San Diego County, at age 18. If they complete high school, most students get a $400 check and a pat on the back. Great job, kid! Now hit the bricks.
"I tried to imagine what that would be like, how hard it would be," Smith said. "And I just couldn't imagine doing all that stuff alone. College by itself is so daunting."
Smith did more research. Within two years of students leaving the system, he found, almost a third of foster children are homeless and one in four find themselves behind bars. When asked, 75 percent say they want to go to college but just one in 10 do so. Only one in 100 ends up graduating. Most troubling, many former foster kids end up abandoning their own children.
It was a sad and vicious cycle, and Smith decided he would use his status to do something to end it.
* * *
A few months later, he and his family began forming the Alex Smith Foundation, which the quarterback has run with a zeal rarely shown by professional athletes, especially ones as young as Smith.
He started by donating $10,000 to Fostering Futures, a small nonprofit in the Bay Area that helps former foster kids transition out of the system. In April, he traveled to Sacramento to testify on behalf of a bill that would give foster youths better support to go to college.
Smith's message to legislators: He's doing his part, but the state should be doing more. The bill currently is in the Senate Appropriations Committee and must clear the Senate before reaching the governor's desk.
Last month, he launched his most ambitious venture yet -- a program called Guardian Scholars that will send 10 former foster children to San Diego State. Smith's foundation not only provides five years of tuition, but takes care of all the extras -- housing, mentoring, counseling, books, a food budget -- typically provided by a mother and father.
One of the 10 students is Sarah Pauter, who has been in the foster care system since she was 1. Ambitious and an excellent student, Pauter, 18, wants an undergraduate degree in nursing and an advanced degree in law. She was prepared to go deep into debt until she received a surprise phone call earlier this year. The person on the other end said there was a man named Alex Smith, who was starting a program for students just like her. Was she interested?
"Who?" Pauter recalls asking. "It's probably some dead, rich, white guy."
On the contrary. At 23, Smith could very well be the league's youngest starting quarterback when the season begins.
His age also makes him a unique benefactor.
After his first visit to San Pasqual Academy, Smith surprised the students by making a return visit. No one ever had visited twice, they said. And to kick off his Guardian Scholars program, the quarterback took the 10 students bowling and then out to dinner.
"Alex really wanted to know these kids," said Michael Eichler, the director of the Consensus Organizing Center, which helps run Guardian Scholars. "As an organizer, that's what you want the funder to do. The idea is to have a deep relationship.
"But that hardly ever happens."
And if filling the shoes of Joe Montana and Steve Young isn't pressure enough, the success of the Guardian Scholars initiative has everything to do with Smith and the 49ers' on-field success. Smith has jump-started the program with a $500,000 donation. The plan, however, is to eventually provide for 50 students at once, something that will require corporate partners. As his name recognition increases, so the thinking goes, the donations will follow.
Is this too much for a young man to handle? Should his charity work be more challenging than his work between the hash marks? Will his hair turn gray before he turns 24? Don't worry, Smith says, he lets that hair down every so often.
This past winter, he took a dozen friends and family to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. And in May, he bought a box at Oracle Arena so he and his offensive linemen could watch a Warriors playoff win over the Dallas Mavericks.
But that lavish party in his honor has yet to be thrown. And he has yet to buy that fancy new ride -- or any ride at all, for that matter -- a conspicuous abstention in a parking lot teeming with shiny new Escalades and Hummers, and one that hasn't escaped the notice of teasing teammates.
"Trent (Dilfer) thinks it's hilarious that I haven't bought a car yet," Smith said of his backup. "I don't need to have a giant Hummer. I don't need diamonds on me. That stuff, for me, is a waste."
He pauses before he goes on.
"I want to win games," he continued. "I want to be remembered. I don't think you can stay hungry when you're living that plush lifestyle. You need to stay grounded. You need to stay hungry."
About the writer: The Bee's Matthew Barrows can be reached at mbarrows@sacbee.com.
49er's Smith says 'You need to stay hungry'
Quarterback is committed to his work with foster children and to winning games.
By Matthew Barrows - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 1:14 am PDT Sunday, July 22, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
SAN DIEGO - The San Pasqual Valley at the northernmost edge of this sprawling city must look like it did 100 years ago. One-lane roads curve around lush citrus groves. Homemade signs at makeshift stands advertise tomatoes, strawberries, avocados, and - here's something you might not have seen in 1907 - ostrich eggs and ostrich jerky.
Aside from the wild animal park and the site of a skirmish in the Mexican-American War, there's not much to see. It's a rare piece of Southern California time and bulldozers have forgotten.
Two years ago, in the midst of what had to have been the most exhilarating week of Alex Smith's life, you would have found him winding his way through this lonely valley.
It was six days after San Francisco made him the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. He had just become an instant celebrity and a guaranteed millionaire. Indeed, he would be one of the wealthiest 21-year-olds in the country when he signed his name to a contract three months later.
Why wasn't he throwing a lavish party or buying himself a fancy new ride? Why, just days after shaking hands with then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue amid a lightning burst of strobe lights in New York City, was he driving through a quiet agricultural valley with nary a camera crew in sight? To best understand the player who, more than any other 49er, is responsible for trying to guide the team back to the playoffs this season, you first must meet his parents, an Idaho-raised couple who worked hard before their son became famous and who work even harder two years later.
Pam Smith, who accompanied Alex on his trip into the San Pasqual Valley that day, is deputy director of health and human services for San Diego County and is a well-respected champion of two all-too-easily-discarded groups: foster children and the elderly.
Doug Smith is the principal of Helix High School, which in football circles is famous for producing Alex Smith and New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush. Among educators, it is better known for sending kids from the gritty and ethnically diverse La Mesa area to college at a rate of 85 percent.
On the office wall above his desk, the man who raised the 49ers' franchise quarterback has arranged black and white posters from Apple's "Think Different" ad campaign -- Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, Jane Goodall and Wynton Marsalis. Twenty feet away, on the far end of the office, there's a much smaller picture of Doug and Alex minutes after the quarterback led Helix to its second high school championship in 2001. It nearly disappears when someone opens the door.
Mike Murphy, a family friend since Alex was 5, said football always was a part of the Smith household. But it was no more important than oldest daughter Abbey's softball games or youngest daughter MacKenzie's soccer.
"I don't think football was the most important thing. Ever," Murphy said. "Pam still jokes about wanting to send Alex to Harvard because she didn't think there was any future in this."
What the Smiths soon realized was that few recent Harvard graduates would have brighter futures -- and more influence -- than their son. And shortly after he was drafted, Alex Smith began to wonder how he could parlay his popularity into something worthwhile, something bigger than the game he played.
The answer came on his drive into the valley.
* * *
His destination was the San Pasqual Academy, which, tucked into the base of towering foothills and surrounded by venerable rose bushes, looks like a thriving vineyard or the type of place well-heeled couples might rent out for a wedding. In fact, it's a first-of-its-kind school for foster students from San Diego County. Opened in 2001, 135 students live, work and take classes on the 238-acre campus. In addition, about 16 retirees -- Pam Smith's touch -- pay reduced rent and in exchange provide a nurturing environment and a sense of constancy, both of which the students never have had.
Alex Smith was supposed to spend an hour or so. Instead he spent the day.
One of the things that captured his imagination was the school's eight-on-eight football team, which had enjoyed great success in the San Diego region, including wins against its polar opposite, La Jolla Country Day.
But another contrast was more compelling.
Smith was 20 years old at the time of his visit. The students were just a couple of years younger. He could relate. Then again, he couldn't.
He had been raised in a strong family, after all, and he knew that despite all the success his career might bring, he would rely on his parents for years to come.
Like all foster children, the students at San Pasqual would be cut off from their de facto parents, San Diego County, at age 18. If they complete high school, most students get a $400 check and a pat on the back. Great job, kid! Now hit the bricks.
"I tried to imagine what that would be like, how hard it would be," Smith said. "And I just couldn't imagine doing all that stuff alone. College by itself is so daunting."
Smith did more research. Within two years of students leaving the system, he found, almost a third of foster children are homeless and one in four find themselves behind bars. When asked, 75 percent say they want to go to college but just one in 10 do so. Only one in 100 ends up graduating. Most troubling, many former foster kids end up abandoning their own children.
It was a sad and vicious cycle, and Smith decided he would use his status to do something to end it.
* * *
A few months later, he and his family began forming the Alex Smith Foundation, which the quarterback has run with a zeal rarely shown by professional athletes, especially ones as young as Smith.
He started by donating $10,000 to Fostering Futures, a small nonprofit in the Bay Area that helps former foster kids transition out of the system. In April, he traveled to Sacramento to testify on behalf of a bill that would give foster youths better support to go to college.
Smith's message to legislators: He's doing his part, but the state should be doing more. The bill currently is in the Senate Appropriations Committee and must clear the Senate before reaching the governor's desk.
Last month, he launched his most ambitious venture yet -- a program called Guardian Scholars that will send 10 former foster children to San Diego State. Smith's foundation not only provides five years of tuition, but takes care of all the extras -- housing, mentoring, counseling, books, a food budget -- typically provided by a mother and father.
One of the 10 students is Sarah Pauter, who has been in the foster care system since she was 1. Ambitious and an excellent student, Pauter, 18, wants an undergraduate degree in nursing and an advanced degree in law. She was prepared to go deep into debt until she received a surprise phone call earlier this year. The person on the other end said there was a man named Alex Smith, who was starting a program for students just like her. Was she interested?
"Who?" Pauter recalls asking. "It's probably some dead, rich, white guy."
On the contrary. At 23, Smith could very well be the league's youngest starting quarterback when the season begins.
His age also makes him a unique benefactor.
After his first visit to San Pasqual Academy, Smith surprised the students by making a return visit. No one ever had visited twice, they said. And to kick off his Guardian Scholars program, the quarterback took the 10 students bowling and then out to dinner.
"Alex really wanted to know these kids," said Michael Eichler, the director of the Consensus Organizing Center, which helps run Guardian Scholars. "As an organizer, that's what you want the funder to do. The idea is to have a deep relationship.
"But that hardly ever happens."
And if filling the shoes of Joe Montana and Steve Young isn't pressure enough, the success of the Guardian Scholars initiative has everything to do with Smith and the 49ers' on-field success. Smith has jump-started the program with a $500,000 donation. The plan, however, is to eventually provide for 50 students at once, something that will require corporate partners. As his name recognition increases, so the thinking goes, the donations will follow.
Is this too much for a young man to handle? Should his charity work be more challenging than his work between the hash marks? Will his hair turn gray before he turns 24? Don't worry, Smith says, he lets that hair down every so often.
This past winter, he took a dozen friends and family to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. And in May, he bought a box at Oracle Arena so he and his offensive linemen could watch a Warriors playoff win over the Dallas Mavericks.
But that lavish party in his honor has yet to be thrown. And he has yet to buy that fancy new ride -- or any ride at all, for that matter -- a conspicuous abstention in a parking lot teeming with shiny new Escalades and Hummers, and one that hasn't escaped the notice of teasing teammates.
"Trent (Dilfer) thinks it's hilarious that I haven't bought a car yet," Smith said of his backup. "I don't need to have a giant Hummer. I don't need diamonds on me. That stuff, for me, is a waste."
He pauses before he goes on.
"I want to win games," he continued. "I want to be remembered. I don't think you can stay hungry when you're living that plush lifestyle. You need to stay grounded. You need to stay hungry."
About the writer: The Bee's Matthew Barrows can be reached at mbarrows@sacbee.com.
