All Campbell Seems to Lack Is a Cape

Colin Campbell wears wire-rim glasses, giving a Clark Kent-like quality to someone you’d never imagine could dunk a basketball off an alley-oop pass.

In fact, if he were standing among a group of high school students, no one would pick him out as one of the fastest, most athletic teenagers in California.

It’s as if he turns into a superhero whenever he puts on a uniform. His powerful legs start churning and everyone can see the athletic gifts he possesses.

Campbell, a 6-foot-4 senior at Ventura High, is the only four-year varsity basketball starter in school history. He’s also one of the fastest 400-meter runners in the state. He finished seventh last year in the state 400 final in Sacramento and plans to compete for USC next season.

In basketball, he runs faster to the huddle on a timeout than some players move for a layup. The anticipation of seeing him unleash his speed is always in the backs of the minds of those who know his capabilities.

“He can run forever,” Cougar basketball Coach Dan Larson said. “It’s not even close. He goes coast to coast.”

Campbell’s favorite play is when the opposition has a fastbreak and he can sprint from behind and make a block when the player with the ball appears headed for an uncontested layup.

But Campbell doesn’t show off his speed continuously. It’s as if he saves it for the most dramatic moments.

“I try to use it selectively so that I’m not sprinting around all over the place and tired after the first quarter,” he said. “I use it when I find it necessary.”

This season, Campbell is averaging 17.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in helping Ventura win 14 of its 16 nonleague games.

Every season he has made improvement, just like in track. Basketball, though, is what he does for fun. Track is where he plans to make his name, particularly in the grueling 400, where the best runners cross the finish line feeling simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated.

“It’s like your hamstrings, calves and butt turn into steel wool, and you’re trying to drag yourself along,” Campbell said. “The final 100 is the hardest physical experience you can put yourself through.”

And he loves it, the pain, the preparation, the training, all designed to keep him running faster and faster.

Last spring, he faced David Gettis of Los Angeles Dorsey for the first time. Gettis is the two-time defending state 400 champion. It opened his eyes to the challenge of becoming the best.

“I learned you’re the top guy in the county, but you don’t realize what it means to be really fast until you face a David Gettis,” he said. “He’s unbelievable.”

Campbell does the little things well on a basketball court -- setting screens, deflecting passes, making open shots. His outside shots achieve so much arch that sometimes it looks as if the ball might hit a light fixture attached to the gym ceiling.

“It’s just how I’ve been shooting,” he said.

Campbell is one of several outstanding athletes playing for Ventura. Pepperdine-bound volleyball player J.D. Schleppenbach is a 6-4 senior starter, and 6-4 junior Nick Palmer is a future standout, averaging 15.8 points and 8.8 rebounds. Together, Palmer and Campbell could put on an entertaining halftime dunk contest.

Campbell has a 4.0 grade-point average, scored 1,310 on the SAT and wants to become an electrical engineer.

He’s so humble that he refuses to admit to taking it easy on his basketball teammates while running line drills. He always wins, but his coach has a suspicion.

“I think he holds back because he doesn’t want to make them look bad,” Larson said.

Larson calls Campbell a “throwback” to a time when players did whatever a coach asked and never questioned the motive.

Campbell said he has a simple philosophy about life.

“I always try to listen to what other people say,” he said. “You can’t learn anything unless you listen.”

Campbell’s senior season at Ventura should produce plenty of memorable moments in basketball and track.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.