A senior at Point Loma High, who has achieved great success in the classroom and athletics, will be carrying a cherished memento to Massachusetts after signing a national letter of intent earlier this month to play football at prestigious Harvard University.
Tim O’Brien, who stands 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs in at 260 pounds, will pack a special dictionary he received a decade ago from his second grade teacher at Grant Elementary School in Mission Hills.
When Valerie Goodpaster gave her young student the gift, she penned a message inside that has motivated O’Brien ever since.
“Spelling was my weakest subject,” O’Brien recalls, “and she wrote me a little note telling me to always pursue the highest level I can achieve and not to settle for anything less. I’ve kept that dictionary with me throughout middle school and high school as a reminder always to do my best.”
And that he has. O’Brien carries a 4.6 grade point average, tutors both as part of the school’s Link Crew program mentoring freshman students and in math classes. He also interns in the sports medicine program on campus in conjunction with Point Loma Nazarene University.
Ironically, O’Brien never played football until his freshman year at Point Loma, where he enrolled after his K-8 years at Grant.
“My first contact sport was in eighth grade when I started playing rugby,” O’Brien noted, “and I had a blast. That sparked my interest, and I thought high school football would be a good chance to meet new people, after coming from a small school.”
The Pointers successful football program proved a great fit for the new freshman. “I fell in love with the sport, fell in love with the team in all aspects,” O’Brien said. But O’Brien never thought of himself as an emerging star.
“I’ve just always wanted to help the team,” O’Brien said. “I’ve never viewed myself as different from any other athlete.”
But Pointer head football coach Mike Hastings saw something special in the first team All-CIF player he calls “Big Tim.”
“Having him on the field was like having another coach,” Hastings said. “He not only knew every one of his assignments perfectly but those of every other player.”
“Listening to the coaches at practice allowed me to pick up everybody’s assignments,” O’Brien explained. “I knew every play from every spot. It really helped me communicate on the field and gave me an edge.”
O’Brien, who earned honors as a defender, also was utilized as a tight end in the Pointer offense, where his height allowed him to reach over smaller defenders to make catches. He led the Dogs with 14 receptions for 317 yards (22.6 average) and two touchdowns, accounting for 54 percent of the team’s passing yardage in the 2014 season.
O’Brien had decided he wanted to go to a smaller, liberal arts college with a high academic profile, but the recruiting process still proved challenging.
“It was definitely a roller coaster,” he said. “It started in April or May of my junior year. Coaches would stop by the school, talk to Coach Hastings, meet me in class and watch me work out. They took my highlights (video) and went back to decide where I sat in their recruiting ranks.”
During his senior year, O’Brien sent updated video highlights on a weekly basis to Cornell, Columbia and University of Pennsylvania, along with Harvard.
On the last day of school before winter break, O’Brien received his first offer – from Cornell.
“That was the craziest time. I had not been in contact with Cornell, but they gave me an offer the first day I met with them. Harvard, who I’d been in contact with the most, kind of disappeared, but came back after the New Year and they offered. There were lots of curveballs.”
Harvard coaches project their new recruit as an offensive tackle with the possibility of time as a tight end.
“My attitude is to work hard over the summer and show up, come August, and see where they need me,” he said.
The Ivy League is an NCAA Div. I conference, but member schools do not offer athletic scholarships.
“Their offer entails supporting your application,” O’Brien explained. “All athletes at the school go through the normal admission profiles.”
Athletes who have received offers, however, are identified during the screening process, providing “an extra bonus,” according to O’Brien.
Financially, Harvard operates on a need basis, O’Brien says, and he will be submitting aid applications to offset some of the enormous costs.
O’Brien’s undergraduate goals involve a focus on applied mathematics and chemistry, while utilizing Harvard’s extensive network of summer internship opportunities preparing for a possible career in lab work or designing new algorithms in math.
And O’Brien will not be the first university athlete in his family.
“I come from a family of swimmers,” O’Brien said with a grin. “My mom (Valorie Seyfort) was a two-time national champion swimmer at USC, my dad (Pat O’Brien) was a scholarship swimmer at the University of Denver, and my brother Jason is a freshman currently swimming at USC.”
Sharing his many talents has been a highlight of O’Brien’s time at PLHS.
“I get personal satisfaction seeing a kid finally get an answer that’s been bugging him for awhile,” O’Brien said. “I have a gift, and I see it as something to help others get to where I am.”
While “everyone (at PLHS) has had an impact on my life,” O’Brien identified English teacher Cynthia Hedges, Hastings, football assistants Tom Kamfonik and Paul Lawrence, as key figures.
In addition, O’Brien cited biology teacher Sylvia Maas who “changed my view on what I could do in the classroom. She took my skills to a whole other level.”
O’Brien has excelled and matured at Point Loma High School into a young man who will bring many talents and gifts to Harvard University this summer. Along with that treasured dictionary from his past.