Family Move Enables Smith to Step Out in Style : Prep football: Talented Oak Park junior running back flourishes in suburban enclave after leaving gang-ridden Carson.

Tarik Smith figured the sound of occasional gunfire simply came with the territory when you lived in a gang-infested urban neighborhood in Southern California.

However, four years ago, a gunshot did far more than just shatter the evening silence of the Carson neighborhood in which Smith and his family lived.

For openers, the blast was in close enough proximity to frighten Rick and Betty Smith into huddling 12-year-old Tarik and his younger brother in a rear bedroom.

Secondly, the couple soon learned that the shot had claimed the life of a neighborhood boy not much older than their two children.

Ultimately, the shot changed Smith’s life.

“I wasn’t really scared because I was so used to it,” Smith said. “I saw gang fights and heard screaming and it never really bothered me and it never really bothered my little brother. It just worried my parents.”

Enough to cause them to immediately begin searching for a new home. Within a year, the family moved.

Nearly four years later, Smith, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior tailback for Oak Park High, would appear to have no worries.

This season, his first as a varsity starter, Smith has rushed for 1,724 yards and 20 touchdowns to emerge as the region’s second-leading rusher. He has helped thrust Oak Park (10-1) into tonight’s Southern Section Division IX quarterfinal against visiting Cerritos Valley Christian.

Smith, who reportedly runs a 4.4-second 40-yard dash and is deceptively strong, has rushed for more than 200 yards in three games and has averaged 9.5 yards a carry.

“He’s very fast, but he’s always a threat to lower his shoulder and run over someone--which he has done,” Oak Park Coach Dick Billingsley said. “My first impression of this kid is that he had a lot of raw talent. But over the last year, his confidence has really come out.”

Sitting on a trainer’s table after practice, Smith reflected on his family’s sudden uprooting and how his life has evolved.

One wall of the room is covered with newspaper clippings, most of them featuring Smith, who has become one of the most popular students on campus.

“From the minute he walks in the door until he goes to bed at night, the phone is ringing and ringing for him,” Betty Smith said. “He’s always attracted kids like a magnet.”

Smith, who attended Ambler Gifted Magnet School in Carson for six years, has spent most of his academic life tackling advanced course work. He is thoughtful, bright and more talkative than most 16-year-olds. “I guess I’m pretty lucky,” Smith said. “I had parents who cared enough and we were able to move away.”

It wasn’t easy. Despite increasing danger, the Smiths considered Carson home and had grown close to many neighbors during their 12 years there. Living in Agoura meant a lengthy commute for Smith’s father, who works as a computer engineer in El Segundo.

Besides, Tarik didn’t want to move.

“He pleaded and resisted,” Betty Smith said. “It was very difficult for him to accept the idea that his friends would not be a rock’s throw away.”

Tucked away in the serenity of eastern Ventura County, Smith would be safe from the dangers of drive-by shootings and gang violence. But he soon discovered he was one of only a few blacks in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class community.

“I was looking around at the streets and I said, ‘Mom, there are no black people out here,’ ” Smith said. “She said, ‘I know, I know. But you just have to live with it.’

“My first day of school, I was nervous. My biggest fear was going into the classroom. I walked in and it was just me.

“I was always afraid that someone might crack a racist joke. But they never have.”

Smith remains one of only a handful of blacks at Oak Park and one of only two on the football team. He admits he felt shy and uncomfortable at first. But those feelings soon faded.

“It might have been a little hard on him at first, but Tarik is such a good guy, he made friends quickly,” said wide receiver Jeff Gibbons, a three-year varsity member. “It’s hard not to like him.”

Like many youths in Carson, Smith aspired to suit up for Carson High, the perennial City Section 4-A Division power. But he probably looked forward to playing more than his friends because it would be his first chance to play at all.

Smith’s parents prohibited him from playing youth football after they discovered that he suffered from a knee-joint disorder associated with rapid growth.

Smith’s bones were growing faster than his muscles, doctors said, but the condition was not serious and would disappear as he grew older. However, it caused Smith’s knees to swell in pain when he ran and his parents worried that he might suffer greater injury.

That pain seemed insignificant compared to the disappointment he endured while watching his friends play football. “I begged my parents to let me play,” Smith said. “I tried every excuse I could think of. I said I would fall down if someone was about to hit me. They kept saying no.”

As a result, Smith did not play organized football until his freshman year at Oak Park. He rushed for more than 900 yards on the sophomore team. Last season, he joined the varsity and gained more than 400 yards as a reserve.

This season, Smith stands a good chance of being voted Tri-Valley League player of the year after the Eagles shared the league title with Carpinteria and St. Bonaventure.

In last week’s 49-29 first-round win over Cathedral, Smith rushed for 223 yards and three touchdowns and also returned an interception 28 yards for a score.

“Every team we’ve played this season has keyed on him and they still can’t stop him,” Gibbons said.

Still, Smith is aware that Oak Park is not Carson. Aware, but not bothered.

Smith, who has scanned the Carson roster and spotted several familiar names, keeps up on high school sports news. And he knows that some critics might dismiss his efforts because of Oak Park’s level of competition. The 11-year-old school has an enrollment of 499.

Smith is quick to assert that he more than measures up.

“I would like to see just how good I would be playing out there,” Smith said. “But I like it here. I think I’m bigger and faster than most tailbacks. If you’re a good back, you’re a good back.”

Smith’s senior year will draw a flood of attention, Billingsley said. “College recruiters will find a good athlete wherever he plays.”

Smith’s top concern is improving his admittedly sub-par 2.4 grade-point average, which he attributes to a cavalier attitude.

His mother, after worrying about everything from her son’s knees to his short walks to the neighborhood park, believes Smith will meet the academic challenge.

Smith has expressed an interest in studying business and engineering in college. This past summer, he spent three weeks working for his father’s computer firm.

“I am so thrilled for him because he’s finally doing what he wants to do and he’s having fun doing it,” Betty Smith said.

“I would love to see him go to a major university and play football because that’s what he wants to do. I just don’t know how college football and an engineering curriculum will mix.”

There’s probably nothing to worry about.