49ers' Smith says 'You need to stay hungry'

SAN DIEGO - The San Pasqual Valley at the northernmost edge of this sprawling city must look like it did 100 years ago. One-lane roads curve around lush citrus groves. Homemade signs at makeshift stands advertise tomatoes, strawberries, avocados, and - here's something you might not have seen in 1907 - ostrich eggs and ostrich jerky.

Aside from the wild animal park and the site of a skirmish in the Mexican-American War, there's not much to see. It's a rare piece of Southern California time and bulldozers have forgotten.

Two years ago, in the midst of what had to have been the most exhilarating week of Alex Smith's life, you would have found him winding his way through this lonely valley.

It was six days after San Francisco made him the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. He had just become an instant celebrity and a guaranteed millionaire. Indeed, he would be one of the wealthiest 21-year-olds in the country when he signed his name to a contract three months later.

Why wasn't he throwing a lavish party or buying himself a fancy new ride? Why, just days after shaking hands with then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue amid a lightning burst of strobe lights in New York City, was he driving through a quiet agricultural valley with nary a camera crew in sight? To best understand the player who, more than any other 49er, is responsible for trying to guide the team back to the playoffs this season, you first must meet his parents, an Idaho-raised couple who worked hard before their son became famous and who work even harder two years later.

Pam Smith, who accompanied Alex on his trip into the San Pasqual Valley that day, is deputy director of health and human services for San Diego County and is a well-respected champion of two all-too-easily-discarded groups: foster children and the elderly.

Doug Smith is the principal of Helix High School, which in football circles is famous for producing Alex Smith and New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush. Among educators, it is better known for sending kids from the gritty and ethnically diverse La Mesa area to college at a rate of 85 percent.

On the office wall above his desk, the man who raised the 49ers' franchise quarterback has arranged black and white posters from Apple's "Think Different" ad campaign -- Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, Jane Goodall and Wynton Marsalis. Twenty feet away, on the far end of the office, there's a much smaller picture of Doug and Alex minutes after the quarterback led Helix to its second high school championship in 2001. It nearly disappears when someone opens the door.

Mike Murphy, a family friend since Alex was 5, said football always was a part of the Smith household. But it was no more important than oldest daughter Abbey's softball games or youngest daughter MacKenzie's soccer.

"I don't think football was the most important thing. Ever," Murphy said. "Pam still jokes about wanting to send Alex to Harvard because she didn't think there was any future in this."

What the Smiths soon realized was that few recent Harvard graduates would have brighter futures -- and more influence -- than their son. And shortly after he was drafted, Alex Smith began to wonder how he could parlay his popularity into something worthwhile, something bigger than the game he played.

The answer came on his drive into the valley.

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His destination was the San Pasqual Academy, which, tucked into the base of towering foothills and surrounded by venerable rose bushes, looks like a thriving vineyard or the type of place well-heeled couples might rent out for a wedding. In fact, it's a first-of-its-kind school for foster students from San Diego County. Opened in 2001, 135 students live, work and take classes on the 238-acre campus. In addition, about 16 retirees -- Pam Smith's touch -- pay reduced rent and in exchange provide a nurturing environment and a sense of constancy, both of which the students never have had.

Alex Smith was supposed to spend an hour or so. Instead he spent the day.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Matthew Barrows can be reached at mbarrows@sacbee.com.