Chris Alexander, the Heavily Recruited Track and Football Standout, Puts Academics First : Prep Athlete: The Hawthorne High star has narrowed his choices to Washington State and UCLA.

It’s nice to be wanted, especially by most of the schools in the Pacific-10 Conference in two sports.

Hawthorne High School football and track star Chris Alexander is happy about his situation. Most of the Pac-10 schools have been recruiting him in football because of his steady performance last season, but many recruiters also want him to run track. He says he has narrowed his choices to Washington State and UCLA.

Athletics occupy only a portion of Alexander’s life, however. The senior, who will compete in the Football 50-meter dash Jan. 19 in the Sunkist Indoor track meet at the Sports Arena, places a higher priority on academics.

“What really makes me want to go to college is a quality education, and then comes a quality athletic program,” Alexander said. “I know what I want to go into, sports medicine, so that’s going to be my main goal in school, not sports.”

His athletic accomplishments shouldn’t be overlooked, though.

In football last fall, the 5-foot-9, 178-pound tailback carried the ball 122 times for 1,133 yards and 17 touchdowns, in addition to a 99-yard kickoff return in the Southern Section playoffs. He was named the Bay League Co-Most Valuable Player and helped Hawthorne to a 9-2 record and a share of the league title with Palos Verdes.

In track last spring, he placed fifth in the state 100-meter final in 10.53. The Cougars have won three straight state titles and six of the last seven.

Track Coach Kye Courtney said: “Alexander is our top returnee and we can’t afford to lose him at any point this year. He’s a blue-chipper.”

What about this track season? Courtney said Alexander will run the 100 and 200 and anchor the relays, filling the shoes of Curtis Conway, who led Hawthorne to last year’s state crown.

But Alexander downplays his elevated status:

“Too many guys say too much at the beginning of a season and then can’t live up to their mouths.”

Alexander had something to prove in football after missing most of the 1988 season with a broken right forearm. After surgery that included pins in the bone, he was determined to play again, despite the advice of his mother, Adelina Barnett, and his doctors, who wanted him to give up football.

“I had to play again because I would have felt like I let myself down,” he said. “It was pride. But if I didn’t feel like I was strong enough to do it, I wouldn’t have.

“I would have considered myself a quitter if I didn’t at least make a try at coming back.”

Not being able to play football was one of the hardest things he has had to endure. “I just couldn’t even go to watch the games.”

Until this year, Alexander had performed in the shadow of Conway, who quarterbacked the football team for three seasons and was the state 100 champion last spring. But Alexander says it didn’t bother him.

“We carried a load in the 400 relay and my times were almost as good as his, but it’s always more of a team challenge than an individual one,”

Alexander wants to compete in the 100 for the thrill of the individual challenge. In the 100, it’s just him against the clock.

He says he wasn’t very good when he started track in ninth grade. But by the 10th grade he had worked hard enough to run respectable times. It has never been easy for him, though.

“Running is definitely the hardest thing that I have to do, The endurance required is just amazing. It’s always just running and more running.”

Courtney: “He has the stamina to do well in track, but he still has to work hard to handle all of the work we put on him.”

Football was originally the sport Alexander took up in his off-season from track to keep in shape. Now it looks as though it is the sport that will get him a college scholarship.

“The football coaches say that I’m the kind of player who has a hidden potential,” he said. “Now that I’ve got the skills and fundamentals down, that talent is beginning to show.”

The arm injury has changed his outlook on sports and his future. Before, he didn’t think his playing days would end. Now he knows that he has to plan for that time.

“My talent for football and track won’t always be here. Even without injuries, age will eventually take my abilities away from me. That’s why I have to take my education seriously.”

Alexander is taking it seriously. He carries a 3.0 grade-point average, although he says he slacked off in his junior year. He has an NCAA-qualifying score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, which will allow him to compete as a college freshman.

He expects to get his scholarship in football but says all college coaches he has spoken with also want him to run track.

“Being on two athletic teams is going to be difficult, but not impossible if I work hard,” he said.

The biggest change as Alexander prepares for college is that football will become his main sport and track will be No. 2. That means a change in attitude and a little weight gain.

The football attitude has to take over, he says. “Nobody is going to frighten me, I’ll just run around them. If they do hit me, I’ll just get up and go again.”

The thought of injuring his arm again doesn’t frighten him. He figures that if he can make it through a season of Hawthorne’s hard-hitting style of football, he can play anywhere.

“When I first came back, I was timid about hitting,” he said. “But I found out that I couldn’t be and still be effective. I just decided that I would hit as hard as I could. It worked.”