Third Time Is the Charm for Haslip : Football: His determination to handle the SAT matches USC’s determination to offer him a scholarship, and both are winners.

Annie Haslip can’t recall everything she did last May, but there was one day she says she will never forget.

It was a sunny weekday when the mailman brought the news she and her family had been waiting for: Kenny Jr., her oldest son, had scored enough points on his college entrance exam to get a football scholarship to USC.

Months of stress were relieved by that single sheet of computer paper. Annie quickly drove from the family home in Altadena to Muir High in Pasadena to share the news with her son.

“She couldn’t wait until I got home from school,” Kenny said. “She wanted to show me and all of my coaches that I finally did it. She was waving the paper around like a proud mom. It was a nice moment for all of us.”

Haslip is a wide receiver and defensive back who signed a letter of intent with USC in February. The scholarship was contingent, however, on his scoring at least 700 points on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the minimum required for athletic eligibility.

After twice coming up short, Haslip took the test again in April. Aware that he was running out of time, Haslip didn’t think about the possibility of losing his scholarship. He spent little time preparing for the first two tests but took the third seriously and spent three weeks studying with a tutor.

“I really felt a lot of pressure at the time,” he said. “A lot of people were aware I was having trouble with the test, and some asked me if I was going to go to a junior college. That was something I never thought about.”

Haslip, 18, said that when he saw he had scored 800, he quickly called the coaches at USC with the good news.

The rest of the day was set aside for celebrating with family and friends.

“It would have been easy for my wife and I to give up on our son,” said Haslip’s father, Kenny Sr.

“We were so proud of the way he handled all the pressure, and we just kept telling him not to give up. We knew things would work out the way they were meant to.”

Pressure is nothing new to Haslip, who started at defensive back his junior season on a team that went 11-1 after losing in the Southern Section Division II semifinals the previous year.

The two-sport standout had a successful track season as well, going undefeated in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and winning a State title.

Football recruiters were impressed with Haslip’s speed, which he displayed last fall, intercepting five passes and returning two kickoffs for touchdowns. But the Mustangs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and finished a disappointing 8-3.

There were also problems off the field. In November, Haslip got the result of his second test, which showed he had finished 10 points shy of the needed 700. Considering him an academic risk, many recruiters backed off.

Haslip was leaning toward Colorado as the signing date neared, but the school did not offer him a scholarship.

USC was one of the few schools that did not give up.

“I tried not to get too stressed out and let any of this embarrass me,” Haslip said. “It’s a tough test, but I knew it was something I could pass if I put my mind to it. I never thought about not passing it.”

Haslip went on with track season as he awaited the result. He established himself as the top hurdler in the nation early in the season.

Clyde Turner, Muir’s track coach, said he and Kenny often talked about the SAT.

“I just told him if he put as much effort into the test as he does his athletics that he would be fine,” Turner said.

When the good news arrived, Haslip turned all his attention to track. He finished the season undefeated once again in the 300 hurdles and also added a State title in the 1,600 relay.

Before he reports to practice at USC next month, Haslip is spending this week preparing for the 43rd Shrine all-star football classic. The game matches the 32 best graduating seniors from Northern California and the top 32 from Southern California. It will be played Saturday night at 7 at Citrus College in Glendora.

“I want to show that I’m one of the top players in the state, athletically and academically,” Haslip says with a laugh. “I’ve got a lot to prove.”