Stewart Made Major Impact

Andre Stewart had the accolades to show how he starred as a running back at Newport Harbor High. And his teammates, coaches and opponents will keep their memories of how he went about becoming Orange County’s leading rusher and the best player on an undefeated, championship football team.

Stewart was killed in an automobile accident early Sunday in Riverside County. He was 18.

His backup on the Newport Harbor football team, senior Ryan Brill, recalled how Stewart played with passion.

An opposing coach, Irvine’s Terry Henigan, said Stewart was among the best--and toughest--runners his team had ever faced.

Stewart’s coach-to-be, Saddleback College’s Mark McElroy, said the running back “had all the talent in the world.”

“He was one of those guys, most all the kids on the campus liked him,” Newport Harbor football Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “It wasn’t just the athletes or a certain group of kids, but he was one of those kind of guys who crossed over into all the different groups; he could hang with just about any type of person on our campus.”

That is part of what made Stewart special. At a school whose student population is 75.5% white and 0.9% African-American, Stewart fit in, largely because of his sense of humor and infectious smile.

Stewart arrived at Newport Harbor as an eighth-grader from San Jose, where trouble had started to follow him. His mother, Sonja William, who had moved to Orange County two years earlier, recognized that. Concerned about the presence of drugs and gangs in her son’s neighborhood, William had Andre--who had been living with his father--join her in a community where he had little in common with the lifestyle.

Yet, he managed to fit. “He wasn’t an outcast at Newport Harbor; he fit in the same as everyone else,” Brill said. “He wasn’t singled out for any reason, other than being a spectacular athlete. He had friends everywhere at Newport Harbor. You could not find one person at school that would say a bad thing about Andre Stewart.”

In a December interview, Stewart told The Times, “I didn’t know how it would be in this school, but I found out that if you were nice, people were nice back.”

Stewart made an impact socially, especially as he became more comfortable in his new environment. And he made a huge impact on the football team.

Stewart, 5 feet 9 and 170 pounds, blossomed as a senior and was a first-team running back on The Times’ Orange County all-star squad. He rushed for a county-best 2,380 yards, a school record, and scored 26 touchdowns. His last touchdown, an 18-yard runagainst Irvine in the Southern Section Division VI championship game, helped spark a 19-18 come-from-behind victory by the Sailors, who finished 13-0-1.

Stewart’s touchdown came right after his 43-yard run turned the momentum in a game that Newport Harbor trailed, 18-6.

Quarterback Chris Manderino said Stewart did something unusual at halftime of that game by addressing the team, which trailed, 12-3. “He went about football in a businesslike manner,” Manderino said. “But this was one of those times when he felt he needed to say something. He was the guy most people looked to to make the big play.”

Stewart’s championship-game performance, 33 carries for 159 yards, drew praise from Irvine defensive coordinator J.C. Clarke: “He never takes a play off. . . . He’ll run as hard for a two-yard gain as a 10-yard gain.”

Henigan said Sunday that Stewart was incredibly tough, both physically and mentally.

“We’ve had some recruiters come by here lately, and we’ll tell anyone that he’s the best running back we’ve faced in a long time,” Henigan said. “We had some running backs this year that we hit and hit, [but] Andre kept coming back. He did it in the first game, and he did it in the final. He earned the respect of every Irvine football player. We couldn’t get to him mentally--we couldn’t get him to back off.”

Stewart’s only real shortcoming was in the classroom, where he struggled. “Otherwise,” Brinkley said, “he probably would have gone Division I right out of Newport.”

Stewart commuted to Newport Harbor after his family moved to Fontana about two months ago.

Less than two weeks ago, Stewart and his mother met with McElroy, the football coach at Saddleback, to discuss Andre’s future in football. William called McElroy the next day to say Andre decided to attend Saddleback.

“There was no question in Coach Brinkley’s mind that Andre was a Division I [caliber] football player, and there was no question in my mind that he was going to get that opportunity,” McElroy said.

“We were very excited about the opportunity to coach a talented young man, but more important than his talent, he was articulate, enthusiastic, had a smile. He carried himself really well. We were impressed with him every bit as much as a human being as we were a football player.”

Stewart also competed on the track team as a sophomore and junior, running the 400-meter relay, and the 100- and 200-meter sprints. But his passion was football.

“Andre had a lot of things in his life that were up in the air, and I think football--the coaching staff, the players--gave him a sense of solidarity and security,” Brill said. “I think he felt really comfortable in the football atmosphere that Newport gave him.

“All around, he was an amazing athlete, a great competitor.”