He’s Now the Toast of Both Coasts

When Jedidiah Hall phones home to Chesapeake, Va., the family member most excited to hear his voice is his dog, Harley.

“As soon as I put the phone down, he [Harley] sniffs and licks it,” said Hall’s mother, Debi.

Harley used to sleep in Jedidiah’s room. The two were best friends. After Jedidiah left home last summer, Harley lay by his room waiting for Jedidiah to return.

There are many sacrifices taking place in the Hall family to enable the 6-foot-7 Jedidiah to attend his senior year of high school thousands of miles from home.

“It was kind of hard to make the decision to let him go, but any parent who has the best interest of their child at heart has to consider it,” Debi said. “We felt the opportunity he had was worth the cost.”

Hall is attending Montclair Prep, a 380-student private school that’s built on the grounds of a former motel in the East San Fernando Valley. Hall lives on campus in a small boarding facility, sharing a room with a student from Japan.

Hall receives two meals a day, washes his own dishes and cleans his own laundry. It’s almost as if he started college a year early.

He came from Atlantic Shores Christian School in Virginia Beach, Va. He wanted to attend a prep school on the West Coast for academic and basketball reasons.

His former coach was the son-in-law of Montclair Prep assistant Greg Jones. Hall arrived last summer, liked his experience and decided to stay.

The Mounties gained not only a future NCAA Division I basketball player but also an 18-year-old who can serve as a role model for his fellow students.

To attend high school so far from home and to do it in a city as large and diverse as Los Angeles requires maturity.

What’s particularly intriguing about Hall is his educational background. He was a homeschool student until he reached 11th grade. In fact, all four Hall children, ranging in age from 11 to 18, have been taught at home by their mother. Jedidiah’s Scholastic Assessment Test score is 1,120.

“Our attitude was not so much to protect them from the outside but to prepare them,” Debi said. “We taught them to be independent, to make their own decisions, to stand on their own, to not succumb to peer pressure.”

Said Jedidiah: “We had long discussions. There are some temptations, but they’re easy to say no to. I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs. I’m committed to being the best athlete I can be.”

Hall’s father works for the Christian Broadcast Network. He has traveled to Los Angeles, but no other family members have visited the area. They should be proud of Jedidiah’s quick transition to the Southern California lifestyle. Except he’s starting to like it a little too much.

“I don’t want to go back,” Hall said. “I want to go to college here.”

Cal State Northridge, USC and Loyola Marymount are among the schools closely monitoring Hall’s progress in basketball. Already, the reviews are impressive.

He can shoot, dunk, rebound, run the court and play defense. In his first summer game last June, his dunk against Simi Valley sent the game into overtime.

When the Mounties eventually beat Simi Valley, his teammates excitedly told Hall: “This is the No. 1 team in the Valley.”

With Hall, the Mounties will be a top 10 team this season and contend for the state Division V championship. The basketball experience, combined with his academic load and living on his own, provides Hall with a sneak preview of the coming years.

“For all practical purposes, it’s like college,” he said. “It was one of the things that appealed to me. I felt to come out here would make the transition easier.”

Hall has been a busy tourist. He has gone to Dodger and Laker games, visited Disneyland and Magic Mountain and hung out at the beach. And what about surfing?

“I don’t know if they can find a surfboard long enough, but I’d be willing to try,” he said.

He enjoys the Southern California weather. But when it rained recently, he wondered why “everybody freaks out.”

His parents gave him an 800 number to call home--although his mother advises, “We could probably fund a college education on phone calls.”

If only Montclair Prep allowed dogs in its boarding rooms, everything would be perfect.

Harley will have to continue communicating with Jedidiah by phone. He’ll be barking plenty when the reports start coming in on Jedidiah’s basketball success this winter.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.