Sports

The best of T-bird times: A football legacy of life lessons

Years passed before they truly grasped the impact of their glory years, before they understood how their primal sport, and the man who led them, fortified and shaped them into the men they became.

At the time, of course, they were just teenagers who wanted to win football games and honor the players who came before them.

And they did a lot of that at East High — three straight state championships under Bruce Shearer from 1985-87 and a 29-game winning streak that stood as the pillar of Alaska excellence until Soldotna matched it earlier this decade and then set out on its current 42-game streak.

They're in the mid-40s now, and Saturday afternoon they gathered at their old school to be celebrated on the day the school's stadium, replete with artificial turf and a gleaming scoreboard, was dedicated.

More than two dozen players and Shearer were honored at halftime of top-ranked East's fitting 40-20 win over second-ranked Dimond, and cheers washed over them from stands full of spectators, and family and friends, and old teachers and administrators.

But on a bluebird day when the sun returned from its long absence and the Chugach Mountains furnished a glorious backdrop, those former East players didn't recount all the wins and titles as much as they savored lessons learned and childhood friendships still alive, and cherished.

"It was kind of a fraternity of sorts, a brotherhood," Jason Sperling recalled, pointing to the field that in his era was mud, dirt, rocks and occasional grass. "The first hard work I ever did was on this field. I picked up so many rocks. And I must have puked beneath those goal posts 10 times."

ADVERTISEMENT

He was an outside linebacker and a flanker then. These days he's a mortgage banker in Kirkland, Washington, near Seattle. He said Shearer taught him respect and discipline, the value and honor of hard work, and the notion that giving yourself to something larger is a virtue.

"We would run through walls for him," Eugene Chang was saying now, glancing over at Shearer as the old coach talked to players who formed a circle around him. "Whatever he said, we would do. He was a disciplinarian, but we thought he was so cool. He had this swagger."

Shearer, who began his Alaska coaching career in Kenai and, after his East years, guided Chugiak to a state championship, was also an exceptional girls basketball coach and track coach. He lives in Burlington, Washington, and is in his 46th year of teaching — his last, he said.

He noted, with a grin, that he's the head JV boys golf coach at his school, a job that entails playing much golf. He's earned it.

Shearer in his Alaska years was always one of those coaches who looked like he could drop down and give you 20 push-ups, easy. And he was a guy who looked like he might tell you to drop and give him 20.

At 66, he still looks like pounding out those 20 wouldn't be asking much of him. He's still got the tight, trimmed mustache, and the same tiny twinkle in his eye. He could always do deadpan.

Sperling recalled that when a player moaned about something, Shearer was quick with a wink and some words: "Sounds like a personal problem to me."

So he was tough, but fair.

"You could depend on him," Clyde Burleson was saying now. "His word was his bond. If he needed to get on us, he would. If we didn't practice right, we'd start practice over.

"He was about excellence."

[Read about No. 1 East's 40-20 win Saturday over No. 2 Dimond]

Burleson was East's star running back, so smooth and powerful he could run over an opponent, or away from him. And he had the coolest nickname — Clyde the Glyde.

He remembers Shearer pulling him from blowouts early in the second half, which is how he learned about sportsmanship and sharing. The lesson: Play with dignity, play for each other, share the opportunity and the success.

"We were like family," said Burleson, who a few years ago returned to Alaska and works security at his alma mater. "We were really tight."

They were a diverse bunch — African-Americans, whites, Asian-Americans, Samoans. They were family — funny how that's also a word that gets used a lot at Soldotna, and at defending large-school state champ West, which has seized three titles in the last six years. Maybe there's something to it.

"It was always about team — 'we, not me' ," Chang said. "I still think football is the ultimate team sport. You're equals."

Chang is an orthopedic surgeon in Anchorage these days. He's usually on the sidelines at East games, attending to injured players from both teams. He and his wife, Andrea, also an East graduate, donated the scoreboard for the new stadium, and he would be fine if no one knew that. Humility is part of that sportsmanship Burleson spoke of learning, one of the gifts Shearer imparted on his players.

ADVERTISEMENT

"He taught you how to be a leader, how to be a good person," Andy Parent was saying now.

Parent, who was an all-state guard, is a dealer relationship manager for Subaru and lives in Kirkland, just down the street from his friend and old teammate, Sperling.

"And he taught you how to always be prepared," Parent continued. "That was the most important thing — we were always prepared."

And so no detail was too small to master, even something like lining up correctly, and at attention, for the national anthem.

Burleson recalls running out of his busted-up shoe during conditioning at practice one day. Shearer removed his cleats and gave them to Burleson — the conditioning needed to be completed. And when Burleson's turf shoes could not gain him secure purchase on a slippery field during a state championship game, Shearer gave Burleson his turf shoes.

Those were the years of state championships, and win after win after win, and the East players hold them dear then.

That's one part of their legacy as a team. Yet lessons learned — respect, hard work, humility, discipline, sportsmanship, nurturing relationships — are the legacy of a lifetime.

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

ADVERTISEMENT