Hairston is getting to the Point

By Joe Mason
Times Sports Editor

Eric Hairston needed a change of scenery.
At the start of his junior year at Jules E. Mastbaum High School, Hairston was a member of the Panthers football team.
But at the time, he started running with the wrong crowd and, by his own admission, he made a couple of dumb mistakes.
So, seeking structure, he decided to transfer to Frankford. Hairston, who lives across the street from Cardinal Dougherty High School in East Oak Lane, made that decision because his older brother, Chris, attended Frankford and was a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).
"He got a lot out of the ROTC, and I was looking for the same thing," Hairston said.
"It was hard because when I transferred in October (2004), I couldn’t play football until I got a physical," he continued. "Then after I got to Frankford, our first game was against Mastbaum. I didn’t play, I didn’t have my physical yet, but it was weird being on the same field as all my old teammates."
The transfer has certainly paid off.
At Mastbaum, Hairston was just a linebacker from September until the season’s end at Thanksgiving.
This year at Frankford, he’s a member of the ROTC all year long, he’s a standout linebacker on a football team that won the Public League championship, and now he’s trying to help the Pioneers claim their 10th straight Public League wrestling crown.
Oh, and the ROTC, that has helped him plenty.
After learning a lot about the military and experiencing all kinds of new disciplines, he has made a decision on his future.
"I’m going to West Point," said Hairston, who maintains a B average in the classroom. "I have to go to the prep school . . . I go there in June for a year . . . but they said I have what it takes.
"It’s weird because you have to have good grades, which I have, and you have to have high SAT scores," he added. "I did OK on them, but I’m taking them again. You need an eight-hundred to play sports in college, and I have that. But I want to get over one-thousand, at least over one-thousand. That’s my goal now."
Signing up for a military academy isn’t an easy decision, especially during a time when the country is at war. Hairston admits he’s a little nervous about his decision. But he’s also confident in his calling.
"I really think this is what I was meant to do," added Hairston. "I want to either be a pilot, a helicopter pilot, maybe into infantry, but I also wouldn’t mind being a scientist because I love things like physics.
"I mean, yeah, I’m a little nervous about going over," he said. "My mom (Sherry), she’s nervous too. She’s not one-hundred percent supportive about me going into the military, but she’s one-hundred percent supportive of me. She knows this is what I feel I’m suppose to do, so she gives me support."
She’s also supportive of his athletic career — a career that Hairston believes will help him with his future endeavor.
Hairston believes his transfer to Frankford will help him at West Point because he’s now in much better shape.
After all, he’s now a wrestler.
"Wrestling is weird because it gets you in such great shape," Hairston said. "I didn’t really think about it, but last year in gym class, Coach (Bob) Peffle came up to me and asked me about wrestling. He knew I was big and strong from football, and I thought about it.
"I never wrestled before; Mastbaum doesn’t have a team," he continued. "But I figured what else am I gonna do? So I came out and it’s paid off."
Hairston hasn’t gained any weight. When he went out for the wrestling team, he weighed in at 160 pounds.
He’s still the same weight, but it’s a much different kind of weight. And he needs all that strength and stamina considering he’s certified for the 160-pound weight class, but he usually bumps up to the 171 weight class.
"I’m a lot more defined, a lot stronger, and my stamina . . . you don’t even know how much my stamina has improved," he said. "I come out here and run, run and run. We all do. Wrestlers are in the best shape.
"I think that’s going to help me a lot," he added. "I went to this boot camp last summer, it was a week, but it felt like forever. But I really think I did pretty good there because of all the work I put in with the wrestling team. We’re in great shape."
They’re also in pretty good shape in the standings.
Frankford has won the past nine Public League wrestling titles. This year the Pioneers are under the leadership of Chris Vicente, who is filling in for Bob Peffle while he takes the season off to recover from hip-replacement surgery.
Vicente, who served as an assistant under Peffle, offers much of the same coaching style. But he’s very big on endurance and stamina, something that Hairston knows will help him — both on the mat and at West Point.
"I always say there’s football practice, which is hard, and then there’s wrestling practice, which prepares you for anything," Hairston said. "Now there’s wrestling practice and there’s a Coach Vicente wrestling practice. He’s killing us in practice, but it’s going to help.
"Right now, we’re not ready to win the championship, but we’re getting there," he said. "And we will get there because we’re running and working so hard in practice."
His work ethic is just one of the things that make Hairston such a valuable commodity in the Pioneers’ lineup.
"The first thing that sticks out about Eric is that he’s a nice, good kid," Vicente said. "He’s also a really hard worker and he’s getting a lot better.
"Last year he would come out and because he’s big and strong, he’d just try to throw (his opponent)," the coach said. "Now he goes out and he’s a wrestler. He’s come a long way in a year."
You could say that Hairston is the model student, the model wrestler and has hopes of being the model solider.
But he’s also a model.
"Yeah, I don’t think a lot of people on the team know — I hope they forgot, maybe — but I do a little modeling," Hairston said with a huge smile. "I did some stuff for Barbizon Modeling, mostly runway stuff.
"Sometimes people are surprised because I’m a football player, but I like it," he added. "I’ll definitely look to do it after I’m done at West Point. It’s a job that pays a whole lot."
But the runway and makeup can wait. Now it’s all about getting ready for life in the military.
"I’m really excited now," he said. "I’m thinking about my future and everything. I really want to serve the country, do what I can and get that experience. I really feel like that’s what I was meant to do, and I’m really looking forward to it." ••
Sports editor Joe Mason can be reached at 215-354-3035 or jmason@phillynews.com