Prep track: Leed in the lead

By Ed Piper

Haneef Shaheed had me on the first comment.

"I see you're wearing your Seattle Seahawks sweatshirt," I called out on the sidelines during the Viking girls soccer team's game at Mira Mesa High Tues., Jan. 27.

I hadn't met Shaheed, the father of Seahawks wide receiver Rashid Shaheed (who played at Mt. Carmel High), but I could tell he had something to do with a group of high school sprinters he was running through their paces.

I thought I was so clever. The Seahawks play in the Super Bowl Sun., Feb. 8, only a week and a half away. Haneef was, obviously, proudly wearing the blue sweatshirt with the playoffs going so well.

Shaheed's rejoinder: "I see you're wearing your Dodgers sweatshirt," he quickly responded. The Dodgers won their second World Series in a row in Oct./Nov. Who isn't going to show the logo off?

I was reminded, always be ready out in public. You're going to get called on your stuff.

Meanwhile, Leed Smoole of La Jolla High was running with the other students. Lo and behold, a man in a red sweatshirt walked by as I was taking photos of the Viking soccer game. He eyed me, and I eyed him. We couldn't tell until we were five feet away--my former principal in Juvenile Court schools, Tracy Thompson.

"Lalo," he addressed me. I used to go by that Spanish version of "Ed" or "Eddie". I can always tell where I know someone from by what they address me as.

Tracy was my principal while I was a long-term substitute teacher at Rancho del Campo in East County, then when I was hired at Camp Barrett on a permanent contract, he was my principal in the Mountain 
Region (so called, including Campo and Barrett).

I told his walking buddy, "He always told me he wore Marshall Faulk's number before Marshall Faulk." Number 28.

Tracy, a big, powerful man with muscular shoulders, played running back for SDSU back in the day. I misremembered his number as 45--he reminded me 28. I looked in my phone contacts, and I had it there correctly, entered years ago.

An incredible story, Tracy started as a teacher's assistant in Juvenile Court schools, then teacher, then principal, and finally Executive Director. He told me he retired two years ago.

He said, "You still doing this?" (taking photos and writing stories on La Jolla High sports). Me: "Yes, my 22nd year."

Meanwhile, Coach Shaheed was continuing his workout for sprinters with Leed and the others. I walked up to Leed, knowing him from track and football. "What is your school status?" I said, not quite sure why he was working out at Mira Mesa High. "High school." "Where do you go to high school?" "La Jolla," he told me. There are so many transfers these days, student athletes going to four different high schools in four years, that it is dizzying.

Another member of the workout group was doing high-knee double-tap steps quickly through metal devices on the end of the football field. I asked, "What do those do?" "They help us lift our knees for good form" in sprinting, she said.

"What is the name of the (track) club?" I asked, finally getting a picture of what was going on during the soccer game. "Rashid Speed," I think she said. "Rashid" for Haneef's son, since he's now a star in the NFL.