Turner Awards Scholarships to Ventura High Students

Eric Turner recalls attending year-end school assemblies and watching a select group of straight-A students and gifted athletes walk away with all the scholarships and awards.

He used to be one of them.

That’s why Turner, 26, an All-Pro free safety for the Cleveland Browns, showed up Friday at a senior farewell rally at his alma mater, Ventura High.

Not to receive, but to give.

Turner, a 1986 graduate, delivered two $1,450 scholarships he has agreed to annually award deserving Ventura students through 1999. One was for the most improved student, and the other to a student who exemplified strong leadership qualities.

“I wanted to recognize the student who maybe didn’t have a 4.0 [grade-point average] or 3.9 but still made great improvement or great strides,” Turner said. “I wanted to do something a little different, and I felt this would be good.”

The rather unusual amount of each award is easily explained. Double the number is 2,900--the next-best thing to a Turner trademark. Turner wears No. 29 for the Browns, just as he did while earning All-American honors at UCLA.

Ventura jersey No. 29 was retired during a ceremony just before Turner announced the scholarship winners. Never mind that Turner wore No. 7 for Ventura in the years he earned just about every prep football award imaginable.

“That number is the way these kids know him,” said Chris Taylor, who coached Turner in basketball and is a guidance counselor at Ventura. “These kids weren’t here when he was in school so [No. 7] has no significance.”

Neither scholarship award-winner saw Turner play for Ventura, but both are familiar with his handiwork for the Browns.

Eric Blair, who was recognized as the most improved student, and Brian Fasulo, who received the leadership award, were starters for the Ventura football team last fall.

Blair, who has a 3.2 grade-point average and plans to attend Ventura College, said he occasionally has played basketball with Turner at a local athletic club.

“He gave me a ride home one time and was talking to me about getting an education and following your dreams,” Blair said.

“My dream is to be a rapper. He told me if that was my dream, go for it. He said to just stick with it, stay in school and don’t be gettin’ high or none of that.”

Blair played defensive back for the football team, earned All-Channel League honors as a wrestler, and competed in the sprints and jumping events in track.

Fasulo, the senior-class president, played center on the football team, forward and center on the basketball team, and threw the shotput and discus in track.

A 3.9 student, Fasulo plans to attend Humboldt State, major in math and try out for the basketball team.

Turner chose Blair and Fasulo after receiving nominations from school officials.

“I felt it was important to come back and be able to touch people where I went to high school,” Turner said. “You know, it started here. . . .

“This is where I was born and raised, and to come back and to be able to do something and see some of these young kids doing positive things, that’s what it’s all about.”

Turner earned a degree in history from UCLA in 1991, the same year in which the Browns made him the second pick of the NFL draft.

A hard-hitting, 6-foot-1, 207-pounder, Turner led UCLA with 93 tackles as a senior, giving him 369 in his career, the fourth-best in school history.

Last season, Turner led the NFL with nine interceptions--second-most in team history--and made the Pro Bowl for the first time.

Taylor told students who packed the school’s gymnasium that he was proud that Turner parlayed his experience at Ventura into a four-year degree and a professional career.

“But I’ll tell you what,” Taylor added. “I’m a little more proud of Eric for becoming a real contributor to those less fortunate and for being willing to help others accomplish their dreams.”

Cougar football Coach Phil McCune, who was defensive coordinator during the years Turner roamed the Ventura secondary, noted the rarity of a professional athlete coming back to his educational roots.

“Not many people come back to their high school and offer to give something back,” McCune said. “And when you think about it, where is it needed most? Right here.

“I know the two recipients today are two needy young men who are well deserving of this, so I’m really happy.”

Turner’s wife and young son attended the ceremony, along with his mother, Joan Bailey, who said her son considered his years at Ventura important in his development.

“He had discipline and he had people here who were actively concerned with him as an individual and not just as an athlete,” Bailey said.

But make no mistake. They do remember him as an athlete.

Asked to recall Turner as a player, McCune offered a quick, two-word reply:

“Great hits.”

Then he added, “I remember one time he was making a play on a pass and he hit our equipment guy, who was watching the game on the sideline. Knocked him clear under our bench. Knocked him out. Our timer, who was across the field, said he saw the bottoms of his shoes as he was going down. Horizontal in the air.”

A big hit then. A big hit again.