Poly’s Mr. Perfect--Force Behind String of 5 Shutouts : One of Best Prep Defensive Backs Has 15 College Offers

Mark Carrier, the dream of mothers and coaches, stood on the grounds of Long Beach Poly High School, and as the white sea gulls swooped in on their daily scavenger hunt, a girl in a cheerleading uniform swooped in on him.

This was not entirely unexpected, because here was a football hero known to all in a school known for football, and the excitement of homecoming was in the air. A campus rally had just concluded.

LaTonya Gale locked the hero in an embrace.

“He’s my secret brother,” she said. “All the varsity cheerleaders pick a star football player to be their secret brother. You bring them goodies on Friday night, eat pizza together, go to parties together.”

She does not keep secret her adulation of Carrier.

“You don’t call him conceited,” Gale said. “He’s good in academics, everyone looks up to him at school, he doesn’t start any trouble . . . he’s the nicest guy on campus.”

Her praise gushed forth but Carrier’s head failed to enlarge--it never has, to anyone’s knowledge. He just stood there looking like the All-American boy in his neat clothes--slacks, shirt and jacket, his cheek next to hers, a smile beneath his mustache.

“He got ‘Mr. Hunk’ last year,” Gale said. “See those legs.”

Heavy Academic Subjects

Carrier, obviously the dream of the female students, too, finally tore himself away and went to his locker to decide what to study that night, studying being a major priority of his. The books inside were on chemistry, advanced international marketing, algebra and American political behavior.

Those subjects and football formations spin constantly through his mind, creating a pressure that he handles successfully. He has a B average in Poly’s Center for International Commerce, a demanding college-preparatory program.

But it was time to put academics aside for a few hours. Carrier put a uniform and helmet on his 6-foot-2, 175-pound body and went to football practice, out on a scruffy field that has nurtured so many great players, and put “those legs,” long and muscular, to work. Hard work.

“I want to be considered one of the great ones here,” he said. He already is.

Carrier, a 17-year-old senior, is in his third season as the starting free safety for Poly, undefeated at 7-0 and the No. 1-ranked team in the Southern Section and ranked fourth in the country by USA Today.

Last season he was the Moore League’s Player of the Year on defense. College scouts say he is one of the best defensive backs on the West Coast.

Offers From 15 Colleges

Fifteen colleges have told Carrier they want him on their campus, or more correctly, in their football stadium, next fall, including UCLA, USC, Stanford, Washington, Iowa and Notre Dame.

“I’m far away from a decision,” he said. “I don’t put heavy concentration on it; that’s just added pressure.”

He said he is looking for a school with a good football program and a good academic program. He is well prepared to master both and does not believe, despite how good everyone says he is, that in four years he will be playing for big money in the National Football League.

“Playing in the NFL is a dream,” he said, “so I’ll go for the career. If I have a chance to go pro, I’ll take it.”

He hopes, he said, that the career will be sports broadcasting.

“People say I have a good voice, I want to use it,” he said in a voice rich and resonant. “I’m a sports nut. I love to study sports.”

Carrier has many football talents.

In the lingo of Dick Lascola, who runs the Scouting Evaluation Assn. in Fallbrook, they include: “ability to run . . . very quick . . . aware of situation . . . plays under control . . . takes good pursuit angles (to ball carrier) . . . diagnoses plays well.”

Hates Making Mistakes

Mike Maloney, who coaches the Poly defensive backs, said of Carrier, “Besides being a great athlete, he’s probably the smartest person I ever coached. It’s like having a coach back there. Mark’s like the perfect kid. We kid around but he’s all business when the game starts. He’s a perfectionist. He hates to make a mistake.”

Merle Cole, an assistant coach who played at Poly in the late 1960s, said Carrier “might be one of the best athletes (to ever play) here, and I saw Gene Washington and Tony Hill and all those guys.”

“One word is very important around here: character,” Cole emphasized. “We don’t point fingers and say someone messed up. He’s the ultimate player when it comes to character.”

In the often-profane world of football, Carrier keeps his act clean.

“If he says, ‘Damn,’ he’ll say, ‘I’m sorry,’ ” said April Garrett, a junior at Poly and a student trainer.

Carrier has always avoided the trouble that can be found in the inner-city neighborhood around Poly, which is at 1600 Atlantic Ave.

Security Generates Safe Feeling

Security is tight at the school. Only one gate is open during the day; that beneath the sign that reads, “Enter to learn, go forth to serve.” A guard there checks visitors thoroughly.

“People call it Poly Prison,” Carrier said. “People think it’s bad because we’re caged in. There’s no trouble here, you feel safe. We’re cool. This is definitely my second home.”

He is known as a model of good behavior.

“Trouble? That’s not Mark,” said wide receiver Chris Roscoe, a blue-chip prospect himself and a friend of Carrier’s since they were 9-year-old kids who played together in the neighborhood and dreamed of someday being Poly football stars, whom they thought were like pros.

“For him to blow his top, you have to push him to the limit,” Roscoe said. “He’s very disciplined.”

Carrier’s mother, Marie, can remember a time when her son had a bad temper, which developed seven years ago after his father, Willie, was crippled in an auto accident at the time Willie and Marie were getting a divorce.

The youngster conquered it.

“He’s been cool,” Marie said. “He’s a very considerate young man. He has a deep sensitivity to other people’s needs. He’s every mother’s dream.”

Special ‘BEACH’ Jerseys

Late last Friday afternoon, Carrier and his teammates were in their locker room, which pulsed with loud music, dressing for the homecoming game with Wilson High. They put on gold pants and green jerseys that had “BEACH”in white letters across the front.

Carrier chewed furiously on his mouthpiece and waited for those long final hours before the game to pass.

“I don’t like pregame or half time,” he said. “Screw the band coming in. Let’s buckle the helmets up and play football.”

In a dance studio next to the locker room the players gathered, dropping their helmets and shoulder pads on the wooden floor with a thud.

“Sit down and quiet down,” said Jerry Jaso, a co-head coach. “A lot of people will be at the game. Let’s show these people what we’re all about. We’re excited about playing--we respect our opponents but don’t fear them. Let’s run around like 11 wild men on defense tonight. We work our butts off in practice all week and have fun on Friday night.”

Game in Veterans Stadium

The players sat cramped in a yellow school bus moving through the dark neighborhood toward Veterans Stadium.

“Think about the game, think about the game. No one should be talking,” someone said.

There had been an informality, but now it was time to get serious. And this is the Poly way.

“We’ve got discipline but not the regimented military type,” said assistant coach Cole. “These are kids of the ‘80s. We understand where they are coming from.”

There was a large crowd of Poly fans at the stadium.

“Pol-eeeeee, Pol-eeeeee,” they yelled.

They were enthusiastic and, Carrier said, hard to please.

“Poly fans are the worst to play for,” he said. “They expect you to win every time, and big. If you lose . . . oh shucks, we better not let that happen.”

An Automatic Shutout

The Poly defense had not been scored upon this season, but Wilson, led by quarterback Bobby San Jose, posed a threat.

“Everybody expects us to shut them out automatically,” Carrier said.

So the Jackrabbits shut Wilson out automatically, 47-0. It was their fifth shutout of the season; they have now outscored their opponents, 166-13. (Offensive errors led to opponents’ scoring.)

Carrier and his defensive teammates played aggressively and enthusiastically and allowed Wilson only 39 yards and two first downs.

It had been another perfect night for Poly, a night of smiles, cheers and high-fives. And Mark Carrier had again given some memories to the people who mattered most.

Marie Carrier had been at the game and on the way home the players called to her from the bus as she waved to them while passing in a car.

Willie Carrier had been at the game too, by himself, in his wheelchair.

“I couldn’t ask for a better son,” he had said.