Just Back From Russia With Love

Steve McKeon is back on American soil after spending the last two years as a Mormon missionary in Russia and Armenia.

The former Hart High quarterback made a simple request after landing Wednesday afternoon at LAX and returning home to Valencia. He wanted to visit the nearest In-N-Out Burger and eat a double double.

“I never in my life had trouble finishing a double double,” he said. “I couldn’t finish. It was foreign to me.”

On Saturday, McKeon celebrated his 22nd birthday, with family and friends just beginning to sense the changes he has undergone.

“I got a lot of answers to life’s questions,” he said.

Besides returning home fluent in Russian and gaining a new appreciation for being an American, McKeon was greatly influenced by the time he spent exploring his own spirituality and meeting people from different backgrounds.

“I lived their life, I ate their food, I spent time with them all day,” he said. “I’ll never forget it. I learned you can go anywhere in the world and the language changes but people don’t.”

He completed his first year at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1996-97, playing quarterback for the junior varsity team. Then he left school and headed off to a destination randomly selected by his church--Volgagrad, Russia.

How could the Russians let an Army Cadet roam freely around their country? In the Cold War era, McKeon would have been accused of being a CIA agent. This time, he faced the wrath of Russians upset with America’s involvement in Kosovo.

“They asked, ‘What is your country doing?’ ” he said. “I was like, ‘You’re talking to the wrong guy. I haven’t read a newspaper in two years. I haven’t watched a TV in two years. I just want to talk about Jesus Christ.’ ”

Wearing a white dress shirt, tie, slacks and black Nike high-top boots, McKeon found himself talking about football, too. He asked his father, Joe, to mail him a highlight video from his days at Hart in 1994-95, when he passed for 6,256 yards and 63 touchdowns. He showed the tape to astonished Russians.

“It was quite entertaining,” McKeon said. “[The people] thought American football revolved around Newhall Hart.”

He spent 10 months in Russia and 10 months in Armenia, learning Russian so well that he plans to offer Hart offensive coordinator Dean Herrington a new code system for the passing game in Russian.

“We’ll figure out a Russian alphabet system for him to use,” McKeon said.

Football meant everything to McKeon before his mission. But two years away from the game left him wondering if he wanted to return.

Only after watching tape in Armenia of the Brigham Young-California game on Thanksgiving and seeing former Hart quarterback Kyle Boller in action for Cal did McKeon begin to regain his hunger for football.

“It kind of lit a desire and fire to play college football,” he said. “I was telling everybody, ‘I know that guy [Boller].’ I was awe-struck. What an amazing kid.”

He’ll return to Army in January, go through spring football practice and decide whether to continue playing.

One thing is certain: He’s going to keep working on learning Russian.

“They don’t have dive right, dive left in Russian,” McKeon said. “I don’t know how to say quarterback option in Russian.”

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Christian Dunbar, the 25-year-old first-year boys’ basketball coach at Alemany, deserves special recognition for having the courage to accept a position few others wanted.

Then to have his team start the season 3-0 with a little more than two weeks of practice is a sign that players are responding to the ex-Chatsworth guard.

“They’re playing real hard right now,” Dunbar said. “I’m having a great time.”

Reny Maynard, a senior guard with excellent scoring skills, has led the Indians in the opening week. . . .

Fernando Lopez, the City Section high jump champion from Taft, has a recruiting visit scheduled to Wake Forest. . . .

A lucky high school track coach in the East San Fernando Valley or Glendale area is going to get a great Christmas present. Adia McKinnon, among the top girl 400-meter runners in the nation, is transferring to the region from Illinois. She has signed with UCLA and is searching for a school to attend beginning in January. . . .

Track coach Mel Hein of Taft returned to teaching this week, three months after undergoing emergency brain surgery for an aneurysm.

“It was the worst headache I’ve had in the world,” Hein said.

Hein’s wife, Judy, was a hero for immediately calling 911 and saving his life.

“I’m lucky I had a wife who knew what to do,” Hein said. . . .

Kyle Dowden, a 14-year-old freshman at Camarillo, is a golfer to watch.

He finished second for his age group in the Ventura City Junior Championships in the summer and is ready to do battle with the best in high school. . . .

Call them Burroughs’ fabulous four. Pitcher Rory Carey, third baseman Tim Murphy, first baseman Mike Williams and catcher Mike Silva are sophomore baseball players that are going to help Burroughs challenge Hart for the Foothill League title this spring. . . .

Former Chaminade basketball player Scott Long has become the first freshman since 1995 to start for Navy. . . .

Former Westlake receiver Joey Cuppari made his first start for Colorado State two weeks ago against UNLV and caught his first touchdown pass. . . .

Former Burroughs receiver Kyle Cremarosa, a freshman at Harvard, caught 33 passes this season. There are going to be lots of schools upset they didn’t recruit him out of high school.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422 or eric.sondheimer@latimes.com